Subject Matter Experts are responsible for creating all of the course assessments.  This section includes a brief overview of each type of assessment (formative and summative), as well as provides some examples of the different types of assessments you might consider for your course.

Formative assessment refers to a wide variety of methods that teachers use to conduct in-process evaluations of student comprehension, learning needs, and academic progress during a lesson, unit, or course. Formative assessments help educators identify concepts that students are struggling to understand, skills they are having difficulty acquiring, or learning standards they have not yet achieved so that adjustments can be made to lessons, instructional techniques, and academic support.  As educators, we don’t want to design a curriculum that “puts all of the eggs in one basket” and only offers students one or two opportunities (high stakes) to demonstrate their knowledge and skills.  Instead, formative assessments should be embedded frequently throughout the lessons or modules to serve as checkpoints for both the students and faculty.    

The general goal of formative assessment is to collect detailed information that can be used to improve instruction and student learning while it’s happening. A formative assessment is used to inform in-process teaching and learning modifications.   

Summative assessments are used to evaluate student learning, skill acquisition, and academic achievement at the conclusion of a defined instructional period—typically at the end of a project, unit, course, semester, program, or school year. Summative assessments are defined by three major criteria:

• The tests, assignments, or projects are used to determine whether students have learned what they were expected to learn.
• Summative assessments are given at the conclusion of a specific instructional period, and therefore they are generally evaluative, rather than diagnostic—i.e., they are more appropriately used to determine learning progress and achievement, evaluate the effectiveness of educational programs, measure progress toward improvement goals, or make course-placement decisions, among other possible applications.
• Summative assessment results are often recorded as scores or grades that are then factored into a student’s permanent academic record.

What is the difference?

Summative assessments are commonly contrasted with formative assessments, which collect detailed information that educators can use to improve instruction and student learning while it’s happening. In other words, formative assessments are often said to be for improving learning and instruction, while summative assessments are for measuring learning.

Example:  As assessment expert Paul Black put it, “When the cook tastes the soup, that’s formative assessment. When the customer tastes the soup, that’s summative assessment.”

It should be noted, however; that the distinction between formative and summative is often fuzzy in practice, and educators may have divergent interpretations and opinions on the subject. ^[1]