In education, students are constantly being assessed, whether through informal activities in the classroom to help check for understanding, or high-stakes state and national testing that is used for college admissions or workplace positions. Excellent educators are solid practitioners when it comes to their curriculum and assessments.
The best teachers know how to properly utilize all types and forms of assessments, and all assessments can fit into two categories: formative or summative. Regardless of the type, assessing student knowledge helps teachers know more about the progress of each student, if students are grasping concepts being taught, and if students are mastering the content. The best teachers utilize this data to help shape their own teaching practices, serving as reflective practitioners of their craft.
The Pros and Cons of Summative Assessments
To understand the role of summative assessments within the classroom, you have to understand the difference between formative and summative assessments. In short, formative assessments are quick, low-stakes assessments that are typically not graded, or given a low point total or value in the gradebook. These could be assessments given for student practice throughout the course, unit, or particular portion of material being studied. Formative assessments identify gaps to improve learning and can often be tailored to support specific student needs.
In my experience, I have seen veteran and skilled teachers give formative assessments through entrance and exit slips, teacher directed question and answer sessions for quick checks and focus on previously covered material, reflective “quick writes,” and so much more. Again, these quick and simple activities help a teacher understand the various places and levels that their students might be operating on within a certain chapter or unit. In contrast, summative assessments are larger assessments that often carry more weight, such as a final exam, project, essay, research presentation, or other large-scale assessment.
Summative assessments happen at the end of learning activities, assess student achievement, and ultimately reflect the impact of course activities. These assessments are utilized by veteran teachers to reflect upon their teaching, using these assessments as data points to refine and further hone excellent assessments and instructional methods.
There are lots of positive reasons why summative assessments should be utilized in the classroom. These assessments evaluate how much a student has learned at the end of a particular unit, chapter, or a designated time of teaching. These assessments can include papers, exams, and final projects. In large scale summative assessments, like the SAT or ACT, students are compared against national norms and benchmarks for students around the country or world.
Summative assessments can provide valuable data points on a large scale for administrators to identify areas of opportunity or growth amongst their student population, and use data-driven decision making to implement new strategies or initiatives to better their school environment or classroom structure. On the flip side, summative assessments can bring about a negative regarding teachers “teaching to the test,” which can stifle creativity in the classroom and produce more rote memorization tactics amongst students, and not allow for more challenge-based or problem-based collaborative activities, which would mimic real world scenarios.
Ways to Incorporate Summative Assessments
Ultimately, students demonstrate learning in a variety of ways, and great teachers can challenge their students to show mastery in a myriad of ways. As a school principal, I have seen a multitude of strategies and various summative assessments. First, a popular concept today is student choice, which takes into account the many different talents students sitting in our classrooms have today.
A choice-based summative assessment, sometimes called a “choice board,” can give students the opportunity to demonstrate mastery using creative methods like making their own test, drawing out their content in a doodle, making a song or rap about the content, and many other ways. This form brings out student creativity and really shows their mastery of the content. Another way to incorporate a summative assessment is through an argumentative debate or persuasive type setting. Who doesn’t like a good argument? I know many teenagers who don’t mind engaging in an argument, so why not give them a structured format to do that?
Harnessing student passion and combining that with material learned is a win-win for both student and teacher. In this format, the teacher can witness what students have learned as they express themselves on varying viewpoints. Other activities include group presentations and gallery walks, where students can view the work of others in a moving type of situation that tells a story of content learned. Peer to peer engagement and discussion helps further reinforce what the teacher has taught and allows students to take the material and explain it and present it in ways that may make more sense to their fellow students.
In the end, summative assessments play a critical role in education today, continuing to serve as a cornerstone of the education system. As long as students and teachers are in classrooms, assessments will continue to happen. The key to utilizing effective summative assessments today for teachers is the ability to monitor and adjust assessments to meet the needs of an ever-changing community of learners, so that they are ready for challenges in a postsecondary world, whether it be college, career, or the military.
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