FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT FOR ACHIEVEMENTS AND PROGRESS OF STUDENTS PUPILS: THE CASE OF LITHUANIAN COMPREHENSIVE GENERAL EDUCATION SCHOOLS

Research studies demonstrate formative assessment is one of the factors making direct impact on school students' achievements and progress. In this research, formative assessment is analysed in the context of sustainability of feedback practice ensured by coherence of assessment types (diagnostic, formative, summative) and assessment approaches (assessment of, for, as learning). The procedure of assessment is regulated not only at the national level but also upon agreements within community of an education institution. Therefore, the analysis of the system for assessment of students' achievements and progress existing in an institution provided conditions to reveal the situation which determines practical manifestation of formative assessment in the process of (self-) education. The research showed that the essence, purpose of formative assessment, purposiveness of application, significance to students' achievements and progress was not fully comprehended, manifestation of it in documents was contradictory and fragmentary, usually only formal, without systematic approach. There was lack of coherence among different assessment types and assessment approaches, which does not allow obtaining feedback information which is significant to achieve different goals of (self-)education as well as seeking assurance of sustainability of feedback practice.