3. Assessment in education must, first and foremost, serve the purpose of supporting learning.

Formative assessment is defined as . . . frequent, interactive assessments of student progress and understanding to identify learning needs and adjust teaching appropriately.

          The purpose of assessment must be of supporting learning. Assessment can help teachers determine what their students know and can do. Then, this information helps teachers decide what to teach. In addition, assessment can help teachers determine how their students learn, and this information helps teachers decide how to teach.

          Based on students’ previous knowledge, teachers will be able to know what they will teach, and in that way students will find the connection with the previous information. For instance, if we are going to teach the future continuous tense to a group of students, they must have been taught the present continuous tense previously.

           Furthermore, assessment for learning can allow teachers to know and guide all their students as individual learners. As we teachers know, every single student is different. We, teachers, must focus on how students learn best. Each student has a different learning style, and we must look for a variety of activities to carry out in the classroom so that all students benefit from these activities. Finding and applying the most suitable activities for each learning style are part of effective planning.

           Finally, assessment for learning is most effective when its many aspects become integral to everyday teaching and learning and make up a framework of student classroom provision. This is not an overnight shift and requires patience, commitment and professional learning on the part of the teacher.