Summative assessment

Summative assessment, summative evaluation, or assessment of learning is the assessment of participants in an educational program. Summative assessments are designed to both assess the effectiveness of the program and the learning of the participants. This contrasts with formative assessment, which summarizes the participants' development at a particular time in order to inform instructors of student learning progress. The goal of summative assessment is to evaluate student learning at the end of an instructional unit by comparing it against a standard or benchmark. Summative assessments may be distributed throughout a course or often after a particular unit (or collection of topics) . Summative assessment usually involves students receiving a grade that indicates their level of performance. Grading systems can include a percentage, pass/fail, or some other form of scale grade. Summative assessments are weighted more than formative assessments. Summative assessments are often high stakes, which means that they have a high point value. Examples of summative assessments include: a midterm exam, a final project, a paper, a senior recital, or another format. Summative assessment is used as an evaluation technique in instructional design. It can provide information on the efficacy of an educational unit of study. Summative evaluation judges the worth, or value, of an educational unit of study at its conclusion. Summative assessments also serve the purpose of evaluating student learning. In schools, these assessments can be in a variety of formats: traditional written tests, essays, presentations, discussions, or reports using other formats. There are several factors for designers of summative assessments to take into account. A summative assessment must have validity. That is, it must evaluate the standards or learning objectives that were taught over the course of the unit. Second, a summative assessment must be reliable: the results of the assessment should be consistent.