The Impact of Formative Assessment on High Achievers and Low Achievers – A Systematic Review

Abstract. Assessments are vital tools for evaluating what a student has learnt and to determine if a learning objective has been achieved. The effectiveness of either formative or summative assessment as an evaluation tool has been debated over decades around the world. This article presents a systematic review of the impact formative assessment on academically high or low achieving students. The related studies were identified through online searches of the educational journal databases: Science Direct, Web of Science and Springer Link. Fourteen published articles were identified as the most relevant to this study and the content and findings were analysed. The benefits and implications of this study on the educational system are further discussed in this article. Based on the Systematic review, tables are provided to summarise the research findings. Both groups; high and low achievers benefitted from implementing formative assessment in the classroom. There are two main domains where both groups specifically benefitted from; the cognitive and the affective. The limitations of the study include the small number of articles that relate to the impact of formative assessment in science-related disciplines. This review also focusses on the effects on formative assessment but there is no emphasis given on how formative assessment can be implemented effectively to have a meaningful impact