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10 Summative Assessment Examples to Try This School Year

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Turn math assessments into enjoyable experiences with Prodigy's game-based approach. Get ready for eager learners!

• Teaching Strategies
• A formative and summative assessment definition
• Difference between formative and summative assessment
• Pros and cons of summative assessment
• 9 effective and engaging summative assessment examples
• Helpful summative assessment strategies

When gauging student learning, two approaches likely come to mind: a formative or summative assessment.

Fortunately, feeling pressure to choose one or the other isn’t necessary. These two types of learning assessment actually serve different and necessary purposes. 

Definitions: What’s the difference between formative and summative assessment?

Formative assessment occurs regularly throughout a unit, chapter, or term to help track not only how student learning is improving, but how your teaching can, too.

According to a WestEd article , teachers love using various formative assessments because they help meet students’ individual learning needs and foster an environment for ongoing feedback.

Take one-minute papers, for example. Giving your students a solo writing task about today’s lesson can help you see how well students understand new content.

Catching these struggles or learning gaps immediately is better than finding out during a summative assessment.

Such an assessment could include:

• In-lesson polls
• Partner quizzes
• Self-evaluations
• Ed-tech games
• One-minute papers
• Visuals (e.g., diagrams, charts or maps) to demonstrate learning
• Exit tickets

So, what is a summative assessment?

Credit: Alberto G.

It occurs at the end of a unit, chapter, or term and is most commonly associated with final projects, standardized tests, or district benchmarks.

Typically heavily weighted and graded, it evaluates what a student has learned and how much they understand.

There are various types of summative assessment. Here are some common examples of summative assessment in practice:

• End-of-unit test
• End-of-chapter test
• Achievement tests
• Standardized tests
• Final projects or portfolios

Teachers and administrators use the final result to assess student progress, and to evaluate schools and districts. For teachers, this could mean changing how you teach a certain unit or chapter. For administrators, this data could help clarify which programs (if any) require tweaking or removal.

The differences between formative and summative assessment

While we just defined the two, there are five key differences between formative and summative assessments requiring a more in-depth explanation.

Formative assessment:

• Occurs through a chapter or unit
• Improves how students learn
• Covers small content areas
• Monitors how students are learning
• Focuses on the process of student learning

Summative assessment:

• Occurs at the end of a chapter or unit
• Evaluates what students learn
• Covers complete content areas
• Assigns a grade to students' understanding
• Emphasizes the product of student learning

During vs after

Teachers use formative assessment at many points during a unit or chapter to help guide student learning.

Summative assessment comes in after completing a content area to gauge student understanding.

Improving vs evaluating

If anyone knows how much the learning process is a constant work in progress, it’s you! This is why formative assessment is so helpful — it won’t always guarantee students understand concepts, but it will improve how they learn.

Summative assessment, on the other hand, simply evaluates what they’ve learned. In her book, Balanced Assessment: From Formative to Summative, renowned educator Kay Burke writes, “The only feedback comes in the form of a letter grade, percentage grade, pass/fail grade, or label such as ‘exceeds standards’ or ‘needs improvement.’”

Little vs large

Let’s say chapter one in the math textbook has three subchapters (i.e., 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3). A teacher conducting formative assessments will assign mini tasks or assignments throughout each individual content area.

Whereas, if you’d like an idea of how your class understood the complete chapter, you’d give them a test covering a large content area including all three parts.

Monitoring vs grading

Formative assessment is extremely effective as a means to monitor individual students’ learning styles. It helps catch problems early, giving you more time to address and adapt to different problem areas.

Summative assessments are used to evaluate and grade students’ overall understanding of what you’ve taught. Think report card comments: did students achieve the learning goal(s) you set for them or not?

😮 😄 😂 #reportcard #funny #memes #comics #samecooke #schooldays #music #classic #letsgo #gooutmore #showlove pic.twitter.com/qQ2jen1Z8k — Goldstar Events (@goldstar) January 20, 2019

Process vs product

“It’s not about the destination; it’s about the journey”? This age-old saying sums up formative and summative assessments fairly accurately.

The former focuses on the process of student learning. You’ll use it to identify areas of strength and weakness among your students — and to make necessary changes to accommodate their learning needs.

The latter emphasizes the product of student learning. To discover the product’s “value”, you can ask yourself questions, such as: At the end of an instructional unit, did the student’s grade exceed the class standard, or pass according to a district’s benchmark?

In other words, formative methods are an assessment for learning whereas summative ones are an assessment of learning .

Now that you’ve got a more thorough understanding of these evaluations, let’s dive into the love-hate relationship teachers like yourself may have with summative assessments.

Perceived disadvantages of summative assessment

The pros are plenty. However, before getting to that list, let’s outline some of its perceived cons. Summative assessment may:

1) Offer minimal room for creativity

Rigid and strict assignments or tests can lead to a regurgitation of information. Some students may be able to rewrite facts from one page to another, but others need to understand the “why” before giving an answer.

2) Not accurately reflect learning

“Teaching to the test” refers to educators who dedicate more time teaching lessons that will be emphasized on district-specific tests.

A survey conducted by Harvard’s Carnegie-Knight Task Force on the Future of Journalism asked teachers whether or not “preparing students to pass mandated standardized tests” affects their teaching.

A significant 60% said it either “dictates most of” or “substantially affects” their teaching. While this can result in higher scores, curriculum distortion can prevent students from learning other foundational subject areas.

3) Ignore (and miss) timely learning needs

Because summative assessment occurs at the end of units or terms, teachers can fail to identify and remedy students’ knowledge gaps or misconceptions as they arise.

Unfortunately, by this point, there’s often little or no time to rectify a student’s mark, which can affect them in subsequent units or grades.

4) Result in a lack of motivation

The University of London’s Evidence for Policy and Practice conducted a 19-study systematic review of the impact summative assessment and tests have on students’ motivation for learning.

Contrary to popular belief, researchers found a correlation between students who scored poorly on national curriculum tests and experienced lower self-esteem, and an unwillingness to put more effort into future test prep. Beforehand, interestingly, “there was no correlation between self-esteem and achievement.”

For some students, summative assessment can sometimes be seen as 'high stakes' testing due to the pressure on them to perform well. That said, 'low-stakes' assessments can also be used in the form of quizzes or practice tests.

Repeated practice tests reinforce the low self-image of the lower-achieving students… When test scores are a source or pride and the community, pressure is brought to bear on the school for high scores.

Similarly, parents bring pressure on their children when the result has consequences for attendance at high social status schools. For many students, this increases their anxiety, even though they recognize their parents as being supportive.

5) Be inauthentic

Summative assessment has received criticism for its perceived inaccuracy in providing a full and balanced measure of student learning.

Consider this, for example: Your student, who’s a hands-on, auditory learner, has a math test today. It comes in a traditional paper format as well as a computer program format, which reads the questions aloud for students.

Chances are the student will opt for the latter test format. What’s more, this student’s test results will likely be higher and more accurate.

The reality is that curricula — let alone standardized tests — typically don’t allow for this kind of accommodation. This is the exact reason educators and advocates such as Chuck Hitchcock, Anne Meyer, David Rose, and Richard Jackson believe:

Curriculum matters and ‘fixing’ the one-size-fits-all, inflexible curriculum will occupy both special and general educators well into the future… Students with diverse learning needs are not ‘the problem’; barriers in the curriculum itself are the root of the difficulty.

6) Be biased

Depending on a school district’s demographic, summative assessment — including standardized tests — can present biases if a group of students is unfairly graded based on their race, ethnicity, religion, gender, or social class.

In his presentation at Kansas State University, emeritus professor in the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, Dr. W. James Popham, explained summative assessment bias:

This doesn’t necessarily mean that if minority students are outperformed on a summative test by majority students that the test is biased against that minority. It may instead indicate that the minority students have not been provided with the appropriate instruction…

An example of content bias against girls would be one in which students are asked to compare the weights of several objects, including a football. Since girls are less likely to have handled a football, they might find the item more difficult than boys, even though they have mastered the concept measured by the item.

Importance and benefits of summative assessment

Overall, these are valid points raised against summative assessment. However, it does offer fantastic benefits for teachers and students alike!

Summative assessment can:

1) Motivate students to study and pay closer attention

Although we mentioned lack of motivation above, this isn’t true for every student. In fact, you’ve probably encountered numerous students for whom summative assessments are an incredible source of motivation to put more effort into their studies.

For example, final exams are a common type of summative assessment that students may encounter at the end of a semester or school year. This pivotal moment gives students a milestone to achieve and a chance to demonstrate their knowledge.

In May 2017, the College Board released a statement about whether coaching truly boosts test scores:

Data shows studying for the SAT for 20 hours on free Official SAT Practice on Khan Academy is associated with an average score gain of 115 points, nearly double the average score gain compared to students who don’t use Khan Academy. Out of nearly 250,000 test-takers studied, more than 16,000 gained 200 points or more between the PSAT/NMSQT and SAT…

In addition to the 115-point average score increase associated with 20 hours of practice, shorter practice periods also correlate with meaningful score gains. For example, 6 to 8 hours of practice on Official SAT Practice is associated with an average 90-point increase.

2) Allow students to apply what they’ve learned

It’s one thing to memorize multiplication tables (which is a good skill), but another to apply those skills in math word problems or real-world examples.

Summative assessments — excluding, for example, multiple choice tests — help you see which students can retain and apply what they’ve learned.

3) Help identify gaps in student learning

Before moving on to a new unit, it’s vital to make sure students are keeping up. Naturally, some will be ahead while others will lag behind. In either case, giving them a summative assessment will provide you with a general overview of where your class stands as a whole.

Let’s say your class just wrote a test on multiplication and division. If all students scored high on multiplication but one quarter of students scored low on division, you’ll know to focus more on teaching division to those students moving forward.

4) Help identify possible teaching gaps

Credit: woodleywonderworks

In addition to identifying student learning gaps , summative assessment can help target where your teaching style or lesson plans may have missed the mark.

Have you ever been grading tests before, to your horror, realizing almost none of your students hit the benchmark you hoped for? When this happens, the low grades are not necessarily related to study time.

For example, you may need to adjust your teaching methods by:

• Including/excluding word problems
• Incorporating more visual components
• Innovative summative assessments (we list some below!)

5) Give teachers valuable insights

Credit: Kevin Jarrett

Summative assessments can highlight what worked and what didn’t throughout the school year. Once you pinpoint how, where and what lessons need tweaking, making informed adjustments for next year becomes easier.

In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes… and, for teachers, new students year after year. So although old students may miss out on changes you’ve made to your lessons, new ones get to reap the benefits.

This not only improves your skills as an educator, but will ensure a more enriching educational experience for generations of students to come.

6) Contribute positively to learning outcomes

Certain summative assessments also provide valuable data at district, national, and global levels. Depending on average test scores, this can determine whether or not certain schools receive funding, programs stay or go, curriculum changes occur, and more. Burke writes:

Summative assessments also provide the public and policymakers with a sense of the results of their investment in education and give educators a forum for proving whether instruction works – or does not work.

The seven aims of summative assessment

Dr. Nancy P. Gallavan, a professor of teacher education at the University of Central Arkansas, believes teachers can use performance-based summative assessments at any grade level.

However, in an article for Corwin , she suggests crafting yours with seven aims in mind:

• Accompanied  with appropriate time and task management
• Achievable  as in-class activities and out-of-class assignments
• Active  involvement in planning, preparation, and performance
• Applicable  to academic standards and expectations
• Appropriate  to your students’ learning styles, needs, and interests
• Attractive  to your students on an individual and group level
• Authentic  to curricular content and context

Ideally, the assessment method should also measure a student’s performance accurately against the learning objectives set at the beginning of the course.

Keeping these goals in mind, here’s a list of innovative ways to conduct summative assessments in your classroom!

Summative assessment examples: 9 ways to make test time fun

If you want to switch things up this summative assessment season, keep reading. While you can’t change what’s on standardized tests, you can create activities to ensure your students are exhibiting and applying their understanding and skills to end-of-chapter or -unit assessments. In a refreshing way.

Why not give them the opportunity to express their understanding in ways that apply to different learning styles?

Note : As a general guideline, students should incorporate recognition and recall, logic and reasoning, as well as skills and application that cover major concepts and practices (including content areas you emphasized in your lessons).

1) One, two, three… action!

Write a script and create a short play, movie, or song about a concept or strategy of your choosing.

This video from Science Rap Academy is a great — and advanced — example of students who created a song about how blue-eyed children can come from two brown-eyed parents:

Using a tool such as iPhone Fake Text Generator , have students craft a mock text message conversation conveying a complex concept from the unit, or each chapter of that unit.

Students could create a back-and-forth conversation between two historical figures about a world event, or two friends helping each other with complex math concepts.

Have your students create a five to 10-minute podcast episode about core concepts from each unit. This is an exciting option because it can become an ongoing project.

Individually or in groups, specific students can be in charge of each end-of-chapter or -unit podcast. If your students have a cumulative test towards the end of the year or term, the podcast can even function as a study tool they created together.

Credit : Brad Flickinger

You can use online tools such as Record MP3 Online or Vocaroo to get your class started!

4) Infographic

Creating a detailed infographic for a final project is an effective way for students to reinforce what they’ve learned. They can cover definitions, key facts, statistics, research, how-to info, graphics, etc.

You can even put up the most impressive infographics in your classroom. Over time, you’ll have an arsenal of in-depth, visually-appealing infographics students can use when studying for chapter or unit tests.

5) Compare and contrast

Venn diagrams are an old — yet effective — tool perfect for visualizing just about anything! Whether you teach history or social studies, English or math, or something in between, Venn diagrams can help certain learners visualize the relationship between different things.

For example, they can compare book characters, locations around the world, scientific concepts, and more just like the examples below:

6) Living museum

This creative summative assessment is similar to one, two, three… action! Individuals will plan and prepare an exhibit (concept) in the Living Museum (classroom). Let’s say the unit your class just completed covered five core concepts.

Five students will set up around the classroom while the teacher walks from exhibit to exhibit. Upon reaching the first student, the teacher will push an imaginary button, bringing the exhibit “to life.” The student will do a two to three-minute presentation; afterwards, the teacher will move on to the next one.

7) Ed-Tech games

Now more than ever, students are growing up saturated with smartphones, tablets, and video games. That’s why educators should show students how to use technology in the classroom effectively and productively.

More and more educators are bringing digital tools into the learning process. Pew Research Center surveyed 2,462 teachers and reported that digital technologies have helped in teaching their middle and high school students.

Some of the findings were quite eye-opening:

• 80% report using the internet at least weekly to help them create lesson plans
• 84% report using the internet at least weekly to find content that will engage students
• 69% say the internet has a “major impact on their ability to share ideas with other teachers
• 80% report getting email alerts or updates at least weekly that allow them to follow developments in their field
• 92% say the internet has a “major impact” on their ability to access content, resources, and materials for their teaching
• 67% say the internet has a “major impact” on their ability to interact with parents and 57% say it has had such an impact on enabling their interaction with students

To make the most of EdTech, find a tool that actually engages your students in learning and gives you the insightful data and reports you need to adjust your instruction

Tip: Teaching math from 1st to 8th grade? Use Prodigy!

With Prodigy Math, you can:

• Deliver engaging assessments: Prodigy's game-based approach makes assessments fun for students.
• Spot and solve learning gaps: See which students need more support at the touch of a button.
• Reduce test anxiety: Prodigy has been shown to build math confidence.

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8) Shark Tank/Dragon’s Den

Yes, just like the reality TV show! You can show an episode or two to your class or get them to watch the show at home. Next, have students pitch a product or invention that can help change the world outside of school for the better.

This innovative summative assessment is one that’ll definitely require some more thought and creativity. But it’s important that, as educators, we help students realize they can have a huge positive impact on the world in which they live.

9) Free choice

If a student chooses to come up with their own summative assessment, you’ll need to vet it first. It’ll likely take some collaboration to arrive at something sufficient.

However, giving students the freedom to explore content areas that interest them most could surprise you. Sometimes, it’s during those projects they form a newfound passion and are wildly successful in completing the task.

We’re sure there are countless other innovative summative assessment ideas out there, but we hope this list gets your creative juices flowing.

With the exclusion of standardized state and national tests, one of the greatest misconceptions about summative assessments is that they’re all about paper and pencil. Our hope in creating this list was to help you see how fun and engaging summative assessments can truly be.

10) Group projects

Group projects aren't just a fun way to break the monotony, but a dynamic and interactive form of summative assessment. Here's why:

• Collaborative learning: Group projects encourage students to work as a team, fostering their communication and collaboration skills. They learn to listen, negotiate, and empathize, which are crucial skills in and beyond the classroom.
• Promotes critical thinking: When students interact with each other, they get to explore different perspectives. They challenge each other's understanding, leading to stimulating debates and problem-solving sessions that boost critical thinking.
• In-depth assessment: Group projects offer teachers a unique lens to evaluate both individual performances and group dynamics. It's like getting a sneak peek into their world - you get to see how they perform under different circumstances and how they interact with each other.
• Catering to different learning styles: Given the interactive nature of group projects, they can cater to different learning styles - auditory, visual, and kinesthetic. Every student gets a chance to shine!

However, it's important to set clear instructions and criteria to ensure fairness. Remember, it's not just about the final product - it's about the process too.

Some interesting examples of group projects include:

• Create a Mini Documentary: Students could work together to research a historical event and create a mini documentary presenting their findings.
• Plan a Community Service Project: This could involve identifying a problem in the local community and creating a detailed plan to address it.
• Design a Mobile App: For a more tech-focused project, students could identify a problem and design an app that solves it.

Summative assessment strategies for keeping tests clear and fair

In addition to using the summative assessment examples above to accommodate your students’ learning styles, these tips and strategies should also help:

• Use a rubric  — Rubrics help set a standard for how your class should perform on a test or assignment. They outline test length, how in-depth it will be, and what you require of them to achieve the highest possible grades.
• Design clear, effective questions  — When designing tests, do your best to use language, phrases, and examples similar to those used during lessons. This’ll help keep your tests aligned with the material you’ve covered.
• Try blind grading  — Most teachers prefer knowing whose tests they’re grading. But if you want to provide wholly unbiased grades and feedback, try blind grading. You can request your students write their names on the bottom of the last test page or the back.
• Assess comprehensiveness  — Make sure the broad, overarching connections you’re hoping students can make are reasonable and fluid. For example, if the test covers measurement, geometry and spatial sense, you should avoid including questions about patterning and algebra.
• Create a final test after, not before, teaching the lessons  — Don’t put the horse before the carriage. Plans can change and student learning can demand different emphases from year to year. If you have a test outline, perfect! But expect to embrace and make some changes from time to time.
• Make it real-world relevant  — How many times have you heard students ask, “When am I going to use this in real life?” Far too often students assume math, for example, is irrelevant to their lives and write it off as a subject they don’t need. When crafting test questions, use  culturally-relevant word problems  to illustrate a subject’s true relevance.

Enter the Balanced Assessment Model

Throughout your teaching career, you’ll spend a lot of time with formative and summative assessments. While some teachers emphasize one over the other, it’s vital to recognize the extent to which they’re interconnected.

In the book Classroom Assessment for Student Learning , Richard Stiggins, one of the first educators to advocate for the concept of assessment for learning, proposes something called “a balanced assessment system that takes advantage of assessment of learning and assessment for learning.”

If you use both effectively, they inform one another and “assessment becomes more than just an index of school success. It also serves as the cause of that success.”

In fact, Stiggins argues teachers should view these two types of assessment as “in sync.”

They can even be the  exact same thing — only the purpose and the timing of the assessment determine its label. Formative assessments provide the training wheels that allow students to practice and gain confidence while riding their bikes around the enclosed school parking lot.

Once the training wheels come off, the students face their summative assessment as they ride off into the sunset on only two wheels, prepared to navigate the twists and turns of the road to arrive safely at their final destination.

Conclusion: Going beyond the test

Implementing these innovative summative assessment examples should engage your students in new and exciting ways.

What’s more, they’ll have the opportunity to express and apply what they’ve learned in creative ways that solidify student learning.

So, what do you think — are you ready to try out these summative assessment ideas? Prodigy is a game-based learning platform teachers use to keep their students engaged.

Sign up for a free teacher account  and set an  Assessment  today!

21 Summative Assessment Examples

Summative assessment is a type of achievmeent assessment that occurs at the end of a unit of work. Its goal is to evaluate what students have learned or the skills they have developed. It is compared to a formative assessment that takes place in the middle of the unit of work for feedback to students and learners.

Performance is evaluated according to specific criteria, and usually result in a final grade or percentage achieved.

The scores of individual students are then compared to established benchmarks which can result in significant consequences for the student.

A traditional example of summative evaluation is a standardized test such as the SATs. The SATs help colleges determine which students should be admitted.

However, summative assessment doesn’t have to be in a paper-and-pencil format. Project-based learning, performance-based assessments, and authentic assessments can all be forms of summative assessment.

Real Life Summative Assessment Examples

• Final Exams for a College Course: At the end of the semester at university, there is usually a final exam that will determine if you pass. There are also often formative tests mid-way through the course (known in England as ICAs and the USA as midterms).
• SATs: The SATs are the primary United States college admissions tests. They are a summative assessment because they provide a final grade that can determine whether a student gets into college or not.
• AP Exams: The AP Exams take place at the end of Advanced Placement courses to also determine college readiness.
• Piano Exams: The ABRSM administers piano exams to test if a student can move up a grade (from grades 1 to 8), which demonstrates their achievements in piano proficiency.
• Sporting Competitions: A sporting competition such as a swimming race is summative because it leads to a result or ranking that cannot be reneged. However, as there will always be future competitions, they could also be treated as summative – especially if it’s not the ultimate competition in any given sport.
• Drivers License Test: A drivers license test is pass-fail, and represents the culmination of practice in driving skills.
• IELTS: Language tests like IELTS are summative assessments of a person’s ability to speak a language (in the case of IELTS, it’s English).
• Citizenship Test: Citizenship tests are pass-fail, and often high-stakes. There is no room for formative assessment here.
• Dissertation Submission: A final dissertation submission for a postgraduate degree is often sent to an external reviewer who will give it a pass-fail grade.
• CPR Course: Trainees in a 2-day first-aid and CPR course have to perform on a dummy while being observed by a licensed trainer.
• PISA Tests: The PISA test is a standardized test commissioned by the OECD to provide a final score of students’ mathematic, science, and reading literacy across the world, which leads to a league table of nations.
• The MCATs: The MCATs are tests that students conduct to see whether they can get into medical school. They require significant study and preparation before test day.
• The Bar: The Bar exam is an exam prospective lawyers must sit in order to be accepted as lawyers in their jurisdiction.

Summative Test Ideas for Classroom Teachers

Whereas the above exams represent some of the most high-profile and high-stakes summative tests , summative assessment also takes place in everyday classrooms.

Below are some common ways teachers might create a summative test for their students:

• A performance: At the end of reading a history chapter on the Spanish-American War, students write a script and perform a play that highlight the key milestones and issues involved. The teacher provides a grade that will go on their final report card.
• An infographic: Students in a nutrition course are tasked with creating an infographic that details the issue of obesity in the United States.  
• A diagram: After learning about ocean animals in a biology class, students construct Venn diagrams comparing and contrasting whales and fish.
• A poster display: After one week of lessons about pollution, third graders work in pairs and make a poster display about Arctic animals and the effects of pollution.
• A slide deck demonstration: Students in an architecture course have to choose 3 architectural styles and then make a slide deck that shows examples of each and explain the differences.  
• Observational testing: Kindergarten kids have to demonstrate life skills by brushing their teeth, selecting the appropriate winter clothes, and tying their shoes independently. 
• Identifying errors in a program: Computer science majors are given 5 pages of programming code for 5 different apps, and must find the one error in each.
• Multiple choice exam: Students in a European history course are given a cumulative multiple-choice exam at the end of the term over all 7 chapters covered.   

Summative vs Formative Assessment

Summative assessments are one of two main types of assessment. The other is formative assessment.

Whereas summative assessment occurs at the end of a unit of work, a formative assessment takes place in the middle of the unit so teachers and students can get feedback on progress and make accommodations to stay on track.

Summative assessments tend to be much higher-stakes because they reflect a final judgment about a student’s learning, skills, and knowledge:

“Passing bestows important benefits, such as receiving a high school diploma, a scholarship, or entry into college, and failure can affect a child’s future employment prospects and earning potential as an adult” (States et al, 2018, p. 3).

Five Summative Test Scenarios

1. performance-based summative assessment.

A traditional form of summative assessment usually involves a lot of multiple-choice and short essay questions. But it doesn’t have to be that way at all. Performance-based tests that involve authentic assessment can also be summative.

For example, at the end of each unit in an advanced radiology course, the instructor might provide students with 10 X-rays that show various diseases. The students have to work in pairs to identify the disease and indicate its stage of progression.

Of course, to make things interesting, the instructor also includes X-rays that don’t contain any diseases and others that are most commonly misdiagnosed by highly experienced professionals.

2. Presentation-Based Final Evaluation

In a university course in developmental psychology, the chapter on attachment styles usually sparks a lot of interest among the students. Assessing student learning through traditional paper-and-pencil tests doesn’t seem to capture the dynamic nature of the subject.

So, the professor locates some old footage from Mary Ainsworth’s original studies on the strange situations test . The videos are a bit grainy, but there is a lot of footage that show great examples of each attachment style.

To assess their understanding of each style, the students are sent home with a set of videos. They can watch them as often as they want but must return the next week and make a presentation to the class.

The presentation must involve showing the video, identifying the attachment style, and pinpointing the exact infant behavior that typifies that attachment category.

3. Portfolio Presentations

A university course for future kindergarten teachers is called Props and Stuff. The course involves teachers learning about prop theory and how to make their own materials for classroom instruction.

At the end of each unit, students have to make a specific type of prop, such as a sock puppet, pop-up book, or animal habitat diorama.

By the end of the term, students have produced a lot of very interesting props. As part of the summative assessment the class holds an exhibition where each student displays a selection of their props as part of their portfolio.

Each portfolio is evaluated by the other students (peer assessment) in the class based on a set of pre-determined criteria. The average of those scores will be the basis for their grade in the course.

4. Real-Life Simulation as Final Exam

Students in a course on leadership styles have spent the last 3 months reading chapters, writing papers, and debating case studies. They have memorized the names and dates of key historical scholars and can name plenty of modern leaders that fit certain styles.

However, the final assessment of their learning will be performance-based. The professor has prepared a set of job simulations that portray various scenarios in a corporate setting.

First, each student selects a card from the stack of simulation scenarios. Then they draw a slip of folded paper from a hat which identifies one leadership style.

While they engage the simulation, they must act according to the leadership style selected. The professor takes notes on their performance and keeps track of statements that reflect that style.

The final score is based on the number of times the student demonstrated the appropriate leadership style, either through statements or non-verbal behavior.

5. Interviews as Final Assessment

At the end of a history unit on the U.S. constitution, the teacher has decided to create a unique summative assessment that involves a simulated talk show interview.

Students will need to study the details of any 3 key historical figures involved in the writing of the constitution. They can choose from the list provided by the teacher.

The summative assessment will occur in the form of a talk show interview. One student will interview the historical figure by asking them questions about their life and their role in writing the constitution. There are 6 questions that are central to the unit’s content.

Grades will be based on if the student knows key facts that were covered in the unit about that figure. The more complete and accurate their answers, the higher their score.

Summative assessment allows teachers to determine if their students have reached the defined behavioral objectives . It can occur at the end of a unit, an academic term, or academic year.

The assessment usually results in a grade or a percentage that is recorded in the student’s file. These scores are then used in a variety of ways and are meant to provide a snapshot of the student’s progress.

Although the SAT or ACT are common examples of summative assessment, it can actually take many forms. Teachers might ask their students to give an oral presentation, perform a short role-play, or complete a project-based assignment. 

Brookhart, S. M. (2004). Assessment theory for college classrooms. New Directions for Teaching and Learning , 100 , 5-14. https://doi.org/10.1002/tl.165

Dixon, D. D., & Worrell, F. C. (2016). Formative and summative assessment in the classroom. Theory into Practice , 55 , 153-159. https://doi.org/10.1080/00405841.2016.1148989

Geiser, S., & Santelices, M. V. (2007). Validity of high-school grades in predicting student success beyond the freshman year: High-school record vs. standardized tests as indicators of four-year college outcomes. Research and Occasional Paper Series. Berkeley, CA: Center for Studies in Higher Education, University of California.

Kibble J. D. (2017). Best practices in summative assessment. Advances in Physiology Education , 41 (1), 110–119. https://doi.org/10.1152/advan.00116.2016

Lungu, S., Matafwali, B., & Banja, M. K. (2021). Formative and summative assessment practices by teachers in early childhood education centres in Lusaka, Zambia. European Journal of Education Studies, 8 (2), 44-65.

States, J., Detrich, R., & Keyworth, R. (2018). Summative Assessment (Wing Institute Original Paper). https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.16788.19844

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education.

• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/admin/ 25 Creative Thinking Examples
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Formative and summative assessments.

Assessment allows both instructor and student to monitor progress towards achieving learning objectives, and can be approached in a variety of ways. Formative assessment refers to tools that identify misconceptions, struggles, and learning gaps along the way and assess how to close those gaps. It includes effective tools for helping to shape learning, and can even bolster students’ abilities to take ownership of their learning when they understand that the goal is to improve learning, not apply final marks (Trumbull and Lash, 2013). It can include students assessing themselves, peers, or even the instructor, through writing, quizzes, conversation, and more. In short, formative assessment occurs throughout a class or course, and seeks to improve student achievement of learning objectives through approaches that can support specific student needs (Theal and Franklin, 2010, p. 151). 

In contrast, summative assessments evaluate student learning, knowledge, proficiency, or success at the conclusion of an instructional period, like a unit, course, or program. Summative assessments are almost always formally graded and often heavily weighted (though they do not need to be). Summative assessment can be used to great effect in conjunction and alignment with formative assessment, and instructors can consider a variety of ways to combine these approaches. 

Examples of Formative and Summative Assessments

Both forms of assessment can vary across several dimensions (Trumbull and Lash, 2013): 

• Informal / formal
• Immediate / delayed feedback
• Embedded in lesson plan / stand-alone
• Spontaneous / planned
• Individual / group
• Verbal / nonverbal
• Oral / written
• Graded / ungraded
• Open-ended response / closed/constrained response
• Teacher initiated/controlled / student initiated/controlled
• Teacher and student(s) / peers
• Process-oriented / product-oriented
• Brief / extended
• Scaffolded (teacher supported) / independently performed 

Recommendations

Formative Assessment   Ideally, formative assessment strategies improve teaching and learning simultaneously. Instructors can help students grow as learners by actively encouraging them to self-assess their own skills and knowledge retention, and by giving clear instructions and feedback. Seven principles (adapted from Nicol and Macfarlane-Dick, 2007 with additions) can guide instructor strategies:

• Keep clear criteria for what defines good performance - Instructors can explain criteria for A-F graded papers, and encourage student discussion and reflection about these criteria (this can be accomplished though office hours, rubrics, post-grade peer review, or exam / assignment wrappers ). Instructors may also hold class-wide conversations on performance criteria at strategic moments throughout a term.
• Encourage students’ self-reflection - Instructors can ask students to utilize course criteria to evaluate their own or a peer’s work, and to share what kinds of feedback they find most valuable. In addition, instructors can ask students to describe the qualities of their best work, either through writing or group discussion.
• Give students detailed, actionable feedback - Instructors can consistently provide specific feedback tied to predefined criteria, with opportunities to revise or apply feedback before final submission. Feedback may be corrective and forward-looking, rather than just evaluative. Examples include comments on multiple paper drafts, criterion discussions during 1-on-1 conferences, and regular online quizzes.
• Encourage teacher and peer dialogue around learning - Instructors can invite students to discuss the formative learning process together. This practice primarily revolves around mid-semester feedback and small group feedback sessions , where students reflect on the course and instructors respond to student concerns. Students can also identify examples of feedback comments they found useful and explain how they helped. A particularly useful strategy, instructors can invite students to discuss learning goals and assignment criteria, and weave student hopes into the syllabus.
• Promote positive motivational beliefs and self-esteem - Students will be more motivated and engaged when they are assured that an instructor cares for their development. Instructors can allow for rewrites/resubmissions to signal that an assignment is designed to promote development of learning. These rewrites might utilize low-stakes assessments, or even automated online testing that is anonymous, and (if appropriate) allows for unlimited resubmissions.
• Provide opportunities to close the gap between current and desired performance - Related to the above, instructors can improve student motivation and engagement by making visible any opportunities to close gaps between current and desired performance. Examples include opportunities for resubmission, specific action points for writing or task-based assignments, and sharing study or process strategies that an instructor would use in order to succeed.  
• Collect information which can be used to help shape teaching - Instructors can feel free to collect useful information from students in order to provide targeted feedback and instruction. Students can identify where they are having difficulties, either on an assignment or test, or in written submissions. This approach also promotes metacognition , as students are asked to think about their own learning. Poorvu Center staff can also perform a classroom observation or conduct a small group feedback session that can provide instructors with potential student struggles. 

Instructors can find a variety of other formative assessment techniques through Angelo and Cross (1993), Classroom Assessment Techniques (list of techniques available here ).

Summative Assessment   Because summative assessments are usually higher-stakes than formative assessments, it is especially important to ensure that the assessment aligns with the goals and expected outcomes of the instruction.  

• Use a Rubric or Table of Specifications - Instructors can use a rubric to lay out expected performance criteria for a range of grades. Rubrics will describe what an ideal assignment looks like, and “summarize” expected performance at the beginning of term, providing students with a trajectory and sense of completion. 
• Design Clear, Effective Questions - If designing essay questions, instructors can ensure that questions meet criteria while allowing students freedom to express their knowledge creatively and in ways that honor how they digested, constructed, or mastered meaning. Instructors can read about ways to design effective multiple choice questions .
• Assess Comprehensiveness - Effective summative assessments provide an opportunity for students to consider the totality of a course’s content, making broad connections, demonstrating synthesized skills, and exploring deeper concepts that drive or found a course’s ideas and content. 
• Make Parameters Clear - When approaching a final assessment, instructors can ensure that parameters are well defined (length of assessment, depth of response, time and date, grading standards); knowledge assessed relates clearly to content covered in course; and students with disabilities are provided required space and support.
• Consider Blind Grading - Instructors may wish to know whose work they grade, in order to provide feedback that speaks to a student’s term-long trajectory. If instructors wish to provide truly unbiased summative assessment, they can also consider a variety of blind grading techniques .

Considerations for Online Assessments

Effectively implementing assessments in an online teaching environment can be particularly challenging. The Poorvu Center shares these  recommendations .

Nicol, D.J. and Macfarlane-Dick, D. (2006) Formative assessment and self‐regulated learning: a model and seven principles of good feedback practice. Studies in Higher Education 31(2): 2-19.

Theall, M. and Franklin J.L. (2010). Assessing Teaching Practices and Effectiveness for Formative Purposes. In: A Guide to Faculty Development. KJ Gillespie and DL Robertson (Eds). Jossey Bass: San Francisco, CA.

Trumbull, E., & Lash, A. (2013). Understanding formative assessment: Insights from learning theory and measurement theory. San Francisco: WestEd.

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• Summative Assessment Ideas

Student Papers:

• Papers are a useful assessment technique when you want to analyze higher-level thinking and understanding of class material. Consider this method if you want to see your students practice analysis, application of the material in the form of an argument or thesis, interaction with conflicting perspectives, or flex their own creativity with respect to course material.
• When assigning papers, it's important to keep in mind the amount of reading and feedback needed.  Overloading yourself may lead to delayed feedback to students in addition to personal frustration. 
• For a more creative version of an academic paper, consider allowing students to use sources outside of only peer-reviewed articles and studies.
• Remember, you know your field . Perhaps bring in an expert or relevant scholar to help inspire students before they write their papers. If you know the author of a book you are using in your teaching, see if you can have them visit your class using Zoom. This provides students an opportunity to hear another voice of authority and ask questions or get inspiration.
• When constructing your paper, be sure to give clear grading guidelines . Creating a rubric for both yourself and your students will help alleviate the pressure when it comes time to grading for you or writing for them as you are giving them the key to success.
• If you have assigned papers before, consider handing out an exceptional sample paper turned in by a previous student. This will give your students a target to aim for.
• When you are doing your course design, consider breaking up the stages for your students, and assigning each separately. this will help them create a better paper with less stress and give you better papers at the end so you're not overwhelmed with avoidable errors. For example, assign an annotated bibliography, outline, thesis draft, rough draft, and final assignment.
• Washington University in St. Louis' writing assignment sequence video can be a helpful resource when adding writing assignments into your curriculum design.
• Washington University in St. Louis' effective writing video can assist in designing assignments that help students produce the best work possible.

Related Resources

The following resources address both online and in-person classes. However, most in-person techniques have online adaptations and if you'd like assistance, please let us know .

• What is plagiarism and how to avoid it?
• Rethinking Assessment of Hands-On Learning
• Specifications Grading
• Using peer review for writing assessments
• Creating more question items more quickly in Canvas
• Best practices for using Respondus LockDown Browser and Monitor

Resources from other institutions

• Good, Better, Best: Multiple Choice Exam Construction - Great introduction to writing high-quality multiple-choice items with examples.
• Writing Good Multiple-Choice Test Questions - Vanderbuilt Center for Teaching Guide. Similar to the above link, but includes a section on writing for higher-order thinking skills.

Student Portfolios, Physical, and Electronic:

• A portfolio can be a good, creative summation tool for the student's work over the course of a semester.
• Portfolios can be used to show the growth of the student as well, this can allow you to see how well the student is learning and implementing the material. Through looking over the student's progress, you are able to see their competency exiting the course.
• Additionally, students can gauge their own successes in the course, building confidence while allowing them to analyze their own performance and growth.
• Depending on what you want to observe, you will need to decide early on if you want a physical or electronic portfolio. If most portfolio works are translatable to paper, the choice could make less of an impact. However, if you want students to have the option to include other media (ex. music, video, websites), an electronic portfolio is preferable.
• Grading this form of the assignment should heavily weigh on the progress of the student over the course with details left up to the instructor.

Examinations :

• Examinations can come in many different forms and the most important first step is to figure out what types of questions will best help you see whether students understand course concepts in the way you intend.  Some examples of question types include the following: essay, problems to be solved, multiple-choice, completion (fill-in-the-blank), matching, and short answer.
• Regardless of the question types, it is important that they are clear and straightforward . While this applies to the material after your exam is written it should also apply to your layout. Do the questions make sense and are they presented in a way that is not confusing? Remember, just because it's straightforward to you, doesn't mean it's always going to be straightforward to the student. 
• Be sure not to include questions that require knowledge or skills that have not been taught in the course. Problems should often be constructed based on examples and exercises practiced in the course with graduating difficulty.
• Do not overload your exams! Make sure the amount of work you are requiring from your students is possible to complete in the exam time.
• Avoid double jeopardy. If your exam question relies on a correct answer to a previous exam question, try reworking it so the problem is fresh and independent of other test material.
• After writing your exam, give your mind a break before revisiting to classify what kind of questions you've written. For example, are they: translation, application, synthesis, evaluation, interpretation, or recall questions? Figuring this out will help you ensure you have a well-rounded exam.
• Be sure your exam is fair. By considering the material your exam is covering, the types of questions you are asking, and the ability your students will have to complete their exam, you can double-check to be sure you are not favoring a specific group of your students and that everyone has a fair chance to succeed.
• A second opinion can be useful. If you have a trusted peer, or better, a teaching assistant, for your course, ask them to review the exam. 
• After tests are graded and returned, keep the exam for your records. It can always be helpful as a reference for future classes.
• If you are more focused on multiple-choice, consider Vanderbilt's multiple choice question guide .
• If you are interested in using exams as a learning tool, consider Vanderbilt's test-enhanced learning guide .
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Eberly Center

Teaching excellence & educational innovation, what is the difference between formative and summative assessment, formative assessment.

The goal of formative assessment is to monitor student learning to provide ongoing feedback that can be used by instructors to improve their teaching and by students to improve their learning. More specifically, formative assessments:

• help students identify their strengths and weaknesses and target areas that need work
• help faculty recognize where students are struggling and address problems immediately

Formative assessments are generally low stakes , which means that they have low or no point value. Examples of formative assessments include asking students to:

• draw a concept map in class to represent their understanding of a topic
• submit one or two sentences identifying the main point of a lecture
• turn in a research proposal for early feedback

Summative assessment

The goal of summative assessment is to evaluate student learning at the end of an instructional unit by comparing it against some standard or benchmark.

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 senior recital

Information from summative assessments can be used formatively when students or faculty use it to guide their efforts and activities in subsequent courses.

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Miss Glitter Teaches

Bringing a dash of sparkle to tired teachers

in Math , Planning · November 29, 2022

5 Easy and Fun Summative Assessment Ideas

Tired of giving a boring summative assessment to your students? Me too! And honestly, my students are tired of taking a boring unit tests. In an effort to up the engagement in my classroom, I went looking for fun summative assessment ideas. Luckily I found 5, tried and true ideas that will really spice up your classroom and help you understand what your students do and don’t, know.

What are summative assessments in education

Before we get much further, we should tackle this question, what are summative assessments in education? Well, there are 2 types of summative assessments. 

The first type is the over-arching, end-of-year state testing. These are given by the state to assess what students learned and retained at the end of the school year. They are given usually in April or May and the teacher has no control over what is on the test. This data can be used on educators’ evaluations or simply communicated to the parents and teachers so that they know how students did on them. 

This data is typically delayed and isn’t too useful because teachers have a new set of students by the time scores are released.

The second type of summative assessment is one that is along the lines of a unit test. Teachers usually write the unit test and then create a unit that teaches those topics and standards. This data is more real-time, however, a unit test is given at the end of the unit so teachers can use the data to see how well students met the standards. 

This type of assessment is helpful in planning reteaches and spiral reviews throughout the school year. Summative assessment can also be used as data points for special services like special education or gifted and talented. 

Usually, Summative assessments make up a large portion of students’ grades, so there is more buy-in on the students’ end to do well.

Summative Assessment vs Formative Assessment 

Making a summative assessment vs formative assessment is often a big debate in classrooms and subject teams. There is a difference between giving a summative assessment vs formative assessment and it mainly is set on your purpose.

Summative assessments are to give final, overarching data about entire units of study. Formative assessments are mostly given as checkpoints along the way toward a summative assessment. Both summative and formative assessments are valuable and should hold weight in both unit planning and in a student’s grade book.

My favorite formative assessment is giving math exit tickets. I like to know how my students are progressing after learning new content and exit tickets give me the perfect lens to use. All of my math exit tickets dos and don’ts are in this blog post. I also tackle the debate on are exit tickets formative or summative.

What makes a good summative assessment

What makes a good summative assessment? There are a few key components to a summative assessment. 

The first thing that makes a good summative assessment is application questions. Students should be asked to apply their knowledge of the content to real-world scenarios. These questions or prompts aren’t a one size fits all or even have an entirely correct answer. Students should have the ability to apply what they have learned to different scenarios and different types of questions. Think levels 3 and 4 of the Depths of Knowledge. 

Another thing that summative assessments should have is a scoring rubric. Especially if you go the route of a project, students should know how they will be graded and you should know how to hold students accountable. 

A good summative assessment will also focus on exactly what skills and concepts you need to assess. This usually isn’t the time to focus on fluff or even past standards. Hone in the summative assessment questions to what you need students to know. This is especially important if you are using standards-based grading.

Fun summative assessment ideas

Now that we know what makes a good summative assessment and the difference between a summative assessment and formative assessment, let’s dive into fun summative assessment ideas. 

Summative assessments don’t have to be boring! Shake things up with some of these ideas. Some fun summative assessment ideas include choice boards, debates, math poster ideas, one-pagers, and presentations.

Choice Board Templates

Wanting to use a student-centric learning method in your classroom? Choice board templates are an easy way to incorporate more student voices in your grade book. I love using choice boards because students get to pick the way they show their content knowledge. 

This also takes into account different learning styles. Some students will want to create a song or rap, other students will want to create vocabulary cards and others will want to make a quiz on the content. I let students pick from 6-9 different options to ensure that every student finds something they want to work on. 

This is a great way to summarize information from a unit. You as the teacher can gather information about what students do and don’t know yet on a particular topic. Students will feel like they aren’t even learning or stressed about a big unit test.

If you are looking for a set of choice board templates, I have a set of blank ones up in my Teachers Pay Teachers shop. They are fully customizable to fit your topic, subject, and grade level. Be sure to check them out here .

Using a debate in your classroom is sure to engage even your more reluctant learners. I find that my students who ‘hate math’ come alive during a debate. Some students are just more passionate and getting to use their voice to share their ideas is their best skill. I like to do at least 1 debate a school year to give students this experience. 

While I think debates work easily in a subject like social studies or language arts, they can totally work for math or science. Critiquing the reasoning of others is a Mathematical Practice in Common Core. So this could be as simple as putting up an error analysis question or having students work to help each other find mistakes. I usually preface these types of lessons with a growth mindset. What growth mindset activities do I use? Check out this blog post to learn more!

Math Poster Ideas

Want to let students visually show off their knowledge? Math posters are a great way to get students thinking and showing what they know. I like using math posters as fun summative assessment ideas because the opportunities are endless. 

I round up a bunch of different math poster project ideas in this blog post so be sure to check it out.

Fun Summative Assessment Ideas: One Pagers

This is a newer idea to me but one that I have used all the time if I need a quick and engaging lesson. Essentially the idea is to have students brain-dump everything they know about a topic or concept onto one page. There are so many ways to make these creative summative assessment ideas work in your room. 

I will sometimes have students start one at the beginning of the unit and add to their one-pager each week until the end of the unit. I have also used this as a way to hit key vocabulary terms for a unit. 

At the core, one-pagers are a summative assessment. They are asking students to share everything they learned about something. Which is exactly what makes a good summative assessment. 

Just like with math posters, this is a summative assessment that needs a rubric. Be sure to create one before you begin so that students know exactly what they need to do and what information they need to include on their one-pager.

Presentations

Giving students the ability to practice presentation skills is a good life skill. Presentations never go away but giving students the time and space to hone their skills is important. I like to give at least one presentation summative assessment each school year. 

This doesn’t have to be a speech in front of the class. I’ve also given a presentation summative assessment but had students create videos. This is a different way to give a presentation without students actually memorizing a speech to say in front of the whole class. 

Ideas for this include teaching a topic from the unit to the class. Or you can incorporate theories or periods in history to discuss. I’ve used this idea more in my science classes than math, but you could have students share out different ways to solve a complex problem or even share information about important people in math history. This would be a great end of the year activities for middle school ideas. I share more end-of-the-year activities in this blog post if you are feeling inspired. 

More fun summative assessment ideas

Looking for more fun summative assessment ideas? These blog posts share out even more ideas on creative summative assessment ideas. 

• 25 of the Best Alternative Assessment Ideas
• 10 Amazing Assessment Ideas
• Using Nontraditional Summative Assessments in Secondary Classrooms
• 30 Formative Assessment Activities: Distance & Face-to-Face Learning
• Formative and Summative Assessments: A Teacher’s Guide

I’d love to know even more fun summative assessment ideas. Drop your favorites in the comments below!

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