Philippine E-Journals

Factors Affecting Formative Assessments: Basis for A Plan of Action For Its Effective Implementation

REGGIE R. YOUNG

Discipline: Education

 

Abstract:

The use of formative assessment has been gaining increasing currency in the educational world of today, especially compared to how little it had been used prior to the 21st century when teacher-focused education was the norm. The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the need for retaining student engagement and “buy-in,” and, fortunately, the virtues of flexible, conditional, and sensitive formative assessment have proven to be a fitting tool to the current moment. Prior to the pandemic, educational institutions of all sorts had acknowledged the importance of online learning modalities, wherein the students were engaged equally (or perhaps to a greater degree) compared to traditional, face-to-face instruction. Formative assessments, check-ins, communication, give-and-take are integral components of successful virtual learning—paradoxically, since the teachers and learners exist in separate spaces and (sometimes) different times. A survey was distributed to one hundred secondary teachers of District 3, Santa Rosa, Laguna in the Philippines. The survey contained categories pertaining to the teachers’ profile, the factors affecting implementation of formative assessments (namely, teaching- learning process, learner and teacher motivation, measurement and assessment, and communication), and problems encountered and recommendations by respondents in the implementation of formative assessments. The study concluded from the survey that the successful use of formative assessment is essential to online education, for it provides teachers the ability to gauge a student’s completion of a given objective, improve the teacher’s own efforts and delivery, and offer an effective opportunity for teachers to deliver feedback and improve communication. Furthermore, formative assessments allow students to partake of their own self-assessment and determine their own strengths and weaknesses pertaining to the objective at hand, as well as other related objectives more holistically. The study’s recommendations consist of school systems at home and abroad making extensive use of flexible assessment opportunities whenever possible and to make use of additional studies related to the effectiveness of responsive teaching modalities.