When evaluating students, teachers use a variety of tools to ensure that learning stays on track. Formative assessments provide a glimpse of learning in progress, while summative assessments allow educators to look back at previous student performance.

Purpose

Through formative assessments, teachers determine students' strengths and weaknesses as they are learning concepts and adapt teaching strategies if needed. Summative assessments, on the other hand, document a longer-term picture of what students have learned or not learned, without time for teachers to make adjustments.

Time Frame

Formative measures of evaluation take a prospective or forward-looking approach, while summative measures tend to be retrospective or backward-looking. Ideally, teachers will utilize a combination of formative and summative ways during the school year to enable their students to reach their individual potential.

Formative Examples

Educators can observe students formally and informally, provide time for practice, offer feedback, comment on rough drafts of writing, encourage students to set goals and facilitate peer assessment. These formative examples provide time and practice for students to learn without fear of excessive grading before they have mastered a concept.

Summative Examples

Assessing summatively includes chapter or unit tests, report card grades, semester exams, district benchmark tests or official state standardized exams.

Role of Teachers

Effective teachers implement a balanced approach toward assessment, employing multiple formative and summative tools to evaluate learners with multiple intelligence levels and learning styles.

Role of Students

Students can use formative assessments throughout a unit of study to stay focused, ask questions or even adapt their learning strategies in time for final summative evaluations.

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Formative and Summative Assessments

Effective Teaching and Learning

Categories of Evaluation--Advice for Teachers