Formative vs summative assessment: what each is for

Formative assessment checks learning while it is still happening, so you can change the next step. Summative assessment measures what students have learned at the end of a unit, term or course. The two use the same kinds of tasks, such as questions, tests and projects. The difference is the purpose: formative work guides teaching, and summative work supports a judgement about a grade or a pass.

The Carnegie Mellon Eberly Center describes the formative aim as gathering feedback that the teacher and students can use to improve the work in progress. Its guidance treats the purpose, not the format, as the deciding factor: a formative and a summative assessment can look alike and differ only in what they are for.

The difference in one table

A worked example: the same topic, two assessments

Take a unit on fractions. In week two, you give a five-question quiz on adding fractions with unlike denominators. You do not put the score in the gradebook. Instead you look at which question most students missed. Twelve of twenty-four students got question four wrong, the one where the denominators need a common multiple. You spend the first ten minutes of the next lesson on that step. That is formative work: the result changed what you did next.

At the end of the unit, you give a fifteen-question test that covers the whole topic, and it counts toward the term grade. You are now asking how much each student has learned, and the result goes into a judgement. That is summative work. The two assessments can share questions, but they answer different questions.

Examples you can use this week

Formative checks are quick. An exit ticket asks two or three questions at the end of a lesson, and it is the easiest habit to start. Our exit ticket questions guide has a list you can adapt. A poll works for a yes-or-no or choose-one check, such as which step students found hardest. A draft review, where students mark one another against a checklist, gives feedback before the final version.

Summative tasks are longer and more formal. A unit test, a final project, a practical assessment or a standardised exam all judge learning at a defined point. If the summative task has a clear pass mark, you can run it in exam mode, which adds a timer, a pass mark and grade bands. For how to write the questions themselves, see the guide to multiple choice questions.

Using both well

The strongest assessment plans use both. Formative checks tell you where the class is, so the summative test is not the first time you learn that a step is confusing. Summative results tell you which topics to revisit next term. Teachers who run only summative tests find out about gaps too late; teachers who run only formative checks may never confirm that learning has stuck.

When you plan a unit, mark the points where a formative check will change your teaching, and the points where a summative judgement is required. Keep the two separate in your gradebook so students can see which results count toward a grade. Bloom’s levels can help you pick the difficulty of each question; see the Bloom’s taxonomy question stems guide.

Sources

• Carnegie Mellon University, Eberly Center: Conduct Assessments of Learning and Teaching