Evaluating the Impact of Formative Assessment Methods on Knowledge Retention and Learning Outcomes in Higher Education Institutions

Abstract

The current trends in higher education especially the meeting point between technological advancement and pedagogical change have redefined the assessment paradigm whereby formative assessment has become increasingly popular as a major platform of enhancing student learning. Contrary to summative assessments, formative assessments are a feedback-provision system that is both iterative and interactive in nature supplying timely feedback to the instructors and encouraging active participation. The study focuses on the study of the popularity and effectiveness of formative assessment treatment in educational organizations of higher education in the Delhi NCR region. The research defines the most prevalent formative evaluation techniques and evaluates the extent of the impression that these assessment procedures have on both quick-term knowledge conservation and long-term scholastic accomplishment. Despite the widely reported benefits of formative assessment, such as encouragement of the metacognitive awareness as well as increased student involvement and reflective learning, empirical evidence shows that there is a stark contrast between currently dominant impressions about the worth of formative assessments and how they are actually organized in practice. Statistical comparisons show only moderate or insignificant correlations between formative assessment practice and learning outcomes and shows how continuing issues in consistent and effective practice remain. In this vein, the research suggests that, on the one hand, the instructors tend to support formative assessment per se; on the other, the limitation of institutions prevents the best use of the concept. The conclusion presents the development of properly structured policy support and the faculty training connected with the integration of digital technologies aimed at filling the gap between the theory and practice of formative assessment facilitating the realization of meaningful and sustainable academic development as the contribution to the decreasing the gap between the formative assessment theory and practice.