Advantages and Disadvantages of Formative Evaluation

Advantages

Defined learning goals: Monitoring student progress regularly helps keep learning goals top of mind so students have a clear target to work towards and teachers can help clear up misunderstandings before students get off track.

Increased rigor: Practicing formative assessment helps teachers collect information that indicates student needs. Once teachers have an understanding of what students need to be successful, they can create a rigorous learning environment that will challenge every student to grow.

Improved academic achievement: Providing students and teachers with regular feedback on progress toward their goals is the main function of formative assessment that will aid in increasing academic achievement. Formative assessment helps students close the gap between their current knowledge and their learning goals.

Enhanced student motivation: Because formative assessment involves setting learning goals and measuring the progress towards those, this increases motivation. When students have a focus on where they’re aiming, results skyrocket.

Disadvantages

Time-consuming and requires resources: Formative evaluation is considered to be a the time-consuming process if they are followed on a monthly, weekly or daily basis. These evaluations are time and resource-intensive, this is because they are in need of frequent gathering of data, analysis, reporting as well as refinement of new implementation and how effective it should be.

Tiring process: Planning and exercising can be a tiring process and few recommendations cannot be implemented at all times. Hence this disadvantage leads many individuals to avoid the practice.

Trained and qualified professionals: In order to process the formative evaluation well qualified and trained individuals are required so that formative evaluation is carried over successfully and ended.

Develops challenges: There are a number of methodological challenges with formative evaluation at times of rapid refinement process which takes place when trying to evaluate the impact of the intervention. Also, the measuring of outcomes is made possible only when the variant used for intervention is implemented. Another disadvantage is the difficulty in determining the change in the intervention at certain outcomes.

Not appropriate for conflict resolution: Conflict resolution needs and initiatives are not met by the formative evaluation method. Formative evaluation is a method that improves work and is also not an end by itself.