Types of Evaluation

There are two main levels of evaluation: program level and student level. Each of the two levels can involve either of the two main types of evaluation – formative and summative at various stages. Program evaluation has to do with the determination of whether a program has been successfully implemented or not. Student evaluation determines how well a student is performing in a program of study.

Formative Evaluation: The purpose of formative evaluation is to find out whether after a learning experience, students are able to do what they were previously unable to do. Its ultimate goal is usually to help students perform well at the end of a program. Formative evaluation enables the teacher to:

     1. draw more reliable inference about his students than an external assessor, although he may not be as objective as the latter;

     2. identify the levels of cognitive process of his students;

     3. choose the most suitable teaching techniques and materials;

     4. determine the feasibility of a program within the classroom setting;

     5. determine areas needing modifications or improvement in the teaching-learning process; and

     6. determine to a great extent the outcome of summative evaluation. (Ogunniyi, 1984)

Some of the questions often asked under this type of evaluation include:

     1. What is the objective of the lesson?

     2. What materials will be needed to teach this lesson?

     3. In what sequence will the different aspects of the topic be treated? How much time should be given to different aspects of the topic?

     4. What teaching techniques will be most suitable to transmit this knowledge or skill?

     5. What evaluation techniques would be used to assess student achievement? Will they be effective or not?

     6. What assignment or project should be given as part of or apart from class work?

     7. Has the objective been achieved?

     8. What progress are the students making? What difficulties are they encountering relative to the topic?

     9. What additional facilities or resources would enhance the knowledge or skills gained by the students?

     10. Are students’ needs and interests being met? Are the students able to transfer their knowledge or skills to other areas?

Thus, Formative evaluation attempts to:

    a. identify the content (i.e. knowledge or skill) which has not been mastered by the students;

    b. appraise the level of cognitive abilities such as memorization, classification,

comparison, analysis, explanation, quantification, application and so on; and

    c. specify the relationships between content and levels of cognitive abilities.In other words, formative evaluation provides the evaluator with useful information about the strength or weakness of the student within an instructional context.

Summative Evaluation:

Summative evaluation often attempts to determine the extent the broad objectives of a program have been achieved. It is concerned with purposes, progress and outcomes of the teaching-learning process.

Summative evaluation is judgmental in nature and often carries threat with it in that the student may have no knowledge of the evaluator and failure has a far reaching effect on the students. However, it is more objective than formative evaluation. Some of the underlying assumptions of summative evaluation are that:

    1) the program’s objectives are achievable;

    2) the teaching-learning process has been conducted efficiently;

    3) the teacher-student-material interactions have been conducive to learning;

    4) the teaching techniques, learning materials and audio-visual aids are adequate and have been judiciously dispensed; and

    5) there is uniformity in classroom conditions for all learners.

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