Page 367 - DEDU504_EDUCATIONAL_MEASUREMENT_AND_EVALUATION_ENGLISH

Unit 31 : Formative and Summative Evaluation

• Formative evaluators may however be internally located, especially where the preferred Notes
model of formative evaluation is influenced by organisational learning concepts and
practices.
• Formative evaluation provides a rich picture of a programme as it unfolds. It is a source of
valuable learning not just prospectively for the programme but for future programmes as
well.
• Formative evaluation is highly complementary to summative evaluation and is essential
for trying to understand why a programme succeeds or fails, and what complex factors are
at work. Large scale programmes are often marked by a discrepancy between formal
programme theory and what is implemented locally.
• Summative evaluation looks at the impact of an intervention on the target group. This type
of evaluation is arguably what is considered most often as ‘evaluation’ by project staff and
funding bodies- that is, finding out what the project achieved.
• Summative evaluation can take place during the project implementation, but is most often
undertaken at the end of a project. As such, summative evaluation can also be referred to as
ex-post evaluation (meaning after the event).
• Summative evaluation is often associated with more objective, quantitative methods of data
collection.
• Summative evaluation provides a means to find out whether your project has reached its
goals/objectives/outcomes.
• Summative evaluation allows you to quantify the changes in resource use attributable to
your project so that you can track how you are the impact of your project.
• Summative evaluation allows you to compare the impact of different projects and make
results-based decisions on future spending allocations (taking into account unintended
consequences).
• Characteristics
(i) It is the procedure to assess or grade educators’ level of learning in certain period of time.
(ii) It tends to use well defined evaluation designs (i.e. fixed time and content).
(iii) It provides descriptive analysis (i.e. in order to give a grade, all the activities done
throughout the year are taken into account).
(iv) It tends to stress local effects.
• outcome evaluations investigate whether the program or technology caused demonstrable
effects on specifically defined target outcomes
• impact evaluation is broader and assesses the overall or net effects - intended or unintended
- of the program or technology as a whole
• cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analysis address questions of efficiency by standardizing
outcomes in terms of their dollar costs and values
• secondary analysis reexamines existing data to address new questions or use methods not
previously employed
• meta-analysis integrates the outcome estimates from multiple studies to arrive at an overall
or summary judgement on an evaluation question
• Summative Evaluation is carried out at the end or conclusion of a programme of instruction.
It is very useful to determine whether or not the broad aims, objectives or goals of the
programme have been achieved. Summative evaluation is judgemental in nature and is
offered as class tests, examinations set up like termly, yearly and external examinations like
‘o’ levels. ’A’ levels. The examinations used to design course grades and certify the learners.

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