Summative assessment

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Summative assessment, summative evaluation, or assessment of learning^[1] is the assessment of participants in an educational program. Summative assessments are designed both to assess the effectiveness of the program and the learning of the participants. This contrasts with formative assessment which summarizes the participants' development at a particular time to inform instructors of student learning progress.^[2]

The goal of summative assessment is to evaluate student learning at the end of an instructional unit by comparing it against a standard or benchmark. Summative assessments may be distributed throughout a course or often after a particular unit (or collection of topics) . Summative assessment usually involves students receiving a grade that indicates their level of performance. Grading systems can include a percentage, pass/fail, or some other form of scale grade. Summative assessments are weighed more than formative assessments.

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 paper, a senior recital, or another format.