Summative assessment, also called summative evaluation or assessment of learning, is the assessment of participants in an educational program, designed to evaluate both the effectiveness of the program and the learning of the participants, typically by comparing performance at the end of an instructional unit against a standard or benchmark. It contrasts with formative assessment, which summarizes a participant's development at a particular point in time to inform instructors of a student's ongoing learning progress, and it usually involves a grade, whether a percentage, a pass or fail, or another scale, that is weighed more heavily than formative assessment. Summative assessments are often high stakes, meaning they carry a high point value, and can take the form of a midterm exam, a final project, a paper, a senior recital or a similar format.
Facts
Core ClaimSummative assessment, also called summative evaluation or assessment of learning, is the assessment of participants in an educational program, designed to evaluate both the effectiveness of the program and the learning of the participants, typically at the end of an instructional unit, in contrast with formative assessment, which tracks a participant's ongoing progress. 1 FAQs
How are summative assessment results used beyond grading students?
Schools use the results to find learning gaps and place students in intervention or enrichment programs.
Educators and school administrators use summative assessment data to help identify learning gaps, whether the data comes from classroom assessments or from district-wide, school-wide or statewide standardized tests. Many districts then place students into intervention programs that teach skills they have not yet mastered, or into enrichment programs for students who have mastered many skills.
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Summative Assessment
Wikimedia FoundationWikipedia lead section, first sentence
Summative assessment, summative evaluation, or assessment of learning is the assessment of participants in an educational program.
Lead paragraph
Summative assessment, summative evaluation, or assessment of learning is the assessment of participants in an educational program.
View the Source 2. Formative assessment (Wikipedia)
WikipediaOrigin section, sentence on Scriven coining the termsQuote, Origin section, sentence on Scriven coining the terms
Michael Scriven coined the terms formative and summative evaluation in 1967
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