Matching assessment type to teaching purpose
| FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT | SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT | |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Estimate students' performance during the learning process | Measure student performance at the end of a course of study |
| Result | Actionable feedback to help students improve | Grade or other evaluation |
| When to Use | When students need practice with ongoing instructor feedback | For a comprehensive measure of student achievement |
| Examples | Essay drafts, practice assignments, labs, and simulations | Quizzes and exams, final essay drafts, final projects |
For more details, please see Vanderbilt University's page on assessment.
Note that Formative and Summative refer to the purpose of assessment, not a particular assessment technique, such as a quiz. For example, an ungraded practice quiz would be formative, but a graded quiz would be summative.
For examples of assessment techniques, check out our Techniques page.