Summative Assessments
Formative assessments are usually embedded throughout instruction to monitor student work so teachers can make appropriate data-based adjustments. Its counterpart, summative assessments, examine cumulative components of the student learning experience.
Summative assessment can be called assessment of learning. Summative assessments are the culminating tests, exams, products, or performances that provide evidence of learning and achievement of long-term goals or outcomes.
Summative assessments provide information as to whether students learned what they were to learn and mastered the skills they were to master. Many districts have common summative assessments as part of the curriculum to facilitate comparative data analysis among classes.
Types and Examples of Authentic Summative Assessment
|
Product Assessment |
Product assessment is a type of summative assessment which can also be referred to as alternative or authentic assessment. Product assessments replicate real-world tasks and require students to produce something. The criteria developed for the assessments often focus on elements of quality and observable evidence of learning. Rubrics can be designed to effectively rate the product and measure skills learned. Portfolios are a popular way to present products for assessment. They contain a representative sample of student products collected over time. Portfolios highlight the application of knowledge and skills.
Product assessments include posters, computer graphics, essays, poems, outlines, pamphlets, autobiographies, letters, science projects, collages, paintings, pictures or visual representations, dioramas, scrapbooks, and other tangible items. |
|
Performance Assessment |
Another type of summative assessment is performance assessment. Performance assessments require students to synthesize knowledge and skills and transfer learning to relevant and real-world situations. Performance assessments allow students to demonstrate evidence of learning through active performance. Rubrics can be designed to effectively rate the performance and measure the skill level.
|
Watch the video below to learn about what criteria an authentic assessment addresses.