ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses some procedures and issues in using assessment for summative purposes in primary school education. It considers the advantages and disadvantages of using tests and teachers' judgments for reporting what a child can do and understand at a certain time. The Early Years Foundation Stage Profile is an example of teacher/practitioner observation being used to summarize children's attainment at a certain time. The Teacher Assessment in Primary Science project has developed the pyramid model, which was published in Developing Principles and Practice in Primary School Assessment, into a tool to help teachers with both formative and summative assessment. The decisions, taken by child and teacher together, require consideration of goals, quality criteria and action to take – all features of using formative assessment. There are clear advantages in using teachers' judgments in terms of the validity of the results since teachers can collect information about a wider range of achievement and learning outcomes than formal testing allows.
