Summative and Formative Assessment
Assessments can serve different purposes in learning. While some assessments are intended to evaluate student learning through graded evaluations, other assessments may be designed to help guide students and to offer constructive feedback at different points in a course.
As you develop your course, it is important to consider what roles assessments will play and when they will happen. The two main types of assessment are formative and summative. Each one offers different opportunities for evaluating learners and supporting their accomplishment of the course outcomes and objectives. The table below shows the characteristics of formative and summative assessments.
| Formative | Summative |
|---|---|
| Used to monitor or track student learning over time | Used to evaluate student learning at a specific point in time |
| Typically, ungraded, or low stakes | Typically graded, often high stakes |
| Helps students to assess their strengths and weaknesses | Usually happens at the end of the learning process |
| Allows faculty to recognize and address learning gaps and challenge | May evaluate student work against a standard |
Formative Assessments
Formative assessments are checkpoints that let you see how students are progressing towards achieving the learning objectives inside a smaller unit of the course, like a module. Therefore, they should be no- or low-stakes, meaning that they do not make up a large part of the course grade.
Take a few moments to watch the following video on formative assessments.
Summative Assessments
A summative assessment is meant to compare the student’s skills and knowledge at the end of the course to the skills and knowledge outlined in the course outcomes. In contrast to formative assessments, which are assessments for learning, these are assessments of learning.
Watch the video below on summative assessments.
Formative and Summative Opportunities
Including both summative and formative assessments in a class is an important element of supporting student learning. Formative assessments make it possible for instructors and students to identify gaps in knowledge and skills that can then be addressed before completing summative assessments. Offering opportunities for low- or no-stakes assessments that include feedback to students gives them more opportunities to address things that are unclear or challenging, increasing their ability to ultimately meet the course outcomes and objectives.
Formative assessment examples:
- Submit a draft of coursework for feedback
- Write a “minute paper” of what was learned in class and what is still unclear
- Develop a concept map to explore knowledge and draw connections between concepts
Summative assessments examples:
- Midterm exam or final exam
- Major paper, essay, or report
- Presentation, pitch, or oral report
Aligning Formative and Summative Assessment
For a formative assessment to be effective is it critical that it is aligned to the summative assessment. This means using a case, question, or activity in the formative assessment that is like the one that will be used for the summative assessment.
You’ll find students disengage if the way you have them practice in class is not the same way you evaluate them. For example, don’t spend the in-class sessions debating educational practice in small groups and reporting back and then ask your students to complete a multiple-choice test on terminology and theorists that’s worth 40% of the grade.
It is important to note that while there are various assessment methods you can utilize in your course, they must fall into one or more types of evaluation factors as outlined in the Academic Collective Agreement. Continue to the next section to learn about the three evaluation factors at Niagara College.
A legal agreement between a group of workers or employees, who have organized themselves into a union or bargaining unit, and their employer. The bargaining unit must be formally organized according to relevant provincial labour laws.