Formative Assessment is a well-tried and tested method of assessment where the learners are at the heart of the process.
It is really a form of self-assessment – albeit guided by and facilitated by the teacher or tutor. If we are learners, it aims to identify areas where we are struggling, and adjust lessons and/or techniques of imparting knowledge in real time so that we feel the benefits immediately.
In non-linear type education (and growth) formative assessment is far more suitable than summative assessment.
In it there is a kind of dance, or continual adjustment, between our understanding and acquisition of skills and the methods of instruction.
In more modern settings, sometimes both formative and summative assessments are used in tandem. While formative assessments are an integral part of teaching (and we all, I am sure, remember teachers in class encouraging us to be honest and not be fooling ourselves in respect of how competent we are in a particular area) summative assessments are generally separate to the teaching altogether.
That is, we do exams without the assistance of teachers or peers, in a separate room, on our own. When I was in school (and later in university) assessment was virtually all summative and held a lot of fear for all of us – certainly for me anyway.
The education that I received in the Army was (in my view anyway) a lot more progressive than either school or university, in the sense that it was a mixture of formative and summative. Relationship was important – or, at least, I sensed that it was – as were practical matters.
If we are adults, and we have had poor experiences in education, formative assessment is generally to be favoured. This is because it facilitates the two-way knowledge flow that I have referred to many times already and that has so much potential (in respect of learning) for both participant and facilitator/tutor.
It allows this because it encourages feedback. It takes account of the root foundations and the (hoped for) increase in wisdom depicted above.
That is, as we get wiser we know that we are only fooling ourselves if we do not honestly self-assess!