Summative Assessments

In distinguishing summative from formative assessment, Ainsworth and Viegut (2006) concluded if the “result from an assessment can be used to monitor and adjust instruction in order to improve learning for current students, the assessment can be said to be formative. If not, the assessment is summative” (p. 27).

While formative assessments serve as check-ins on how much learning is taking place during instruction, summative assessments are administered after a unit has been taught to provide students, teachers, administrators and parents with feedback and information. Their purpose is to measure students’ aptitude of knowledge as it is matched or compared to the aligned standards of the unit.

Examples of Summative Assessments

PSSA, PSSA-M, PASA
PVAAS
W-APT, WIDA Access Placement Test
ACCESS for ELLs

TerraNova
Stanford 10
End of Unit
Final Exams-Keystones

Click here for more information on these summative assessments

Since summative assessments are spread out over a long period of time, they are excellent indicators of overall performance.

The benefits of Summative Assessments include:

Indicating student progress after a meaningful point of time, including end of a unit of study.
Indicating how effectively educational programs are meeting learning goals.

Back