summative assessment in education pdf

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Summative Assessment and Feedback

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Summative assessments are given to students at the end of a course and should measure the skills and knowledge a student has gained over the entire instructional period. Summative feedback is aimed at helping students understand how well they have done in meeting the overall learning goals of the course.

Effective summative assessments

Effective summative assessments provide students a structured way to demonstrate that they have met a range of key learning objectives and to receive useful feedback on their overall learning. They should align with the course learning goals and build upon prior formative assessments. These assessments will address how well the student is able to synthesize and connect the elements of learning from the entirety of the course into a holistic understanding and provide an opportunity to provide rich summative feedback.

The value of summative feedback

Summative feedback is essential for students to understand how far they have come in meeting the learning goals of the course, what they need further work on, and what they should study next. This can affect later choices that students make, particularly in contemplating and pursuing their major fields of study. Summative feedback can also influence how students regard themselves and their academic disciplines after graduation.

Use rubrics to provide consistency and transparency

A rubric is a grading guide for evaluating how well students have met a learning outcome. A rubric consists of performance criteria, a rating scale, and indicators for the different rating levels. They are typically in a chart or table format. 

Instructors often use rubrics for both formative and summative feedback to ensure consistency of assessment across different students. Rubrics also can make grading faster and help to create consistency between multiple graders and across assignments.

Students might be given access to the rubric before working on an assignment. No criteria or metric within a summative assessment should come as a surprise to the students. Transparency with students on exactly what is being assessed can help them more effectively demonstrate how much they have learned.  

Types of  summative assessments

Different summative assessments are better suited to measuring different kinds of learning. 

Examinations

Examinations are useful for evaluating student learning in terms of remembering information, and understanding and applying concepts and ideas. However, exams may be less suited to evaluating how well students are able to analyze, evaluate, or create things related to what they've learned.

Presentation

A presentation tasks the student with teaching others what they have learned typically by speaking, presenting visual materials, and interacting with their audience. This can be useful for assessing a student's ability to critically analyze and evaluate a topic or content.

With projects, students will create something, such as a plan, document, artifact, or object, usually over a sustained period of time, that demonstrates skills or understanding of the topic of learning. They are useful for evaluating learning objectives that require high levels of critical thinking, creativity, and coordination. Projects are good opportunities to provide summative feedback because they often build on prior formative assessments and feedback. 

With a portfolio, students create and curate a collection of documents, objects, and artifacts that collectively demonstrate their learning over a wide range of learning goals. Portfolios usually include the student's reflections and metacognitive analysis of their own learning. Portfolios are typically completed over a sustained period of time and are usually done by individual students as opposed to groups. 

Portfolios are particularly useful for evaluating how students' learning, attitudes, beliefs, and creativity grow over the span of the course. The reflective component of portfolios can be a rich form of self-feedback for students. Generally, portfolios tend to be more holistic and are often now done using ePortfolios .

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Exploring Summative Assessment and Effects: Primary to Higher Education

This research explored the structure of primary, elementary, secondary, and tertiary levels of education and assessment in the academia of Pakistan. The fundamental purpose of the study was to contextualize the assessment system from primary to higher institutions and an examination of recent changes by the educational authorities. It began with a quick history of the examination system, summative assessment, and explained the current education system and the evaluation process in education. The data obtained from the Punjab Examination Commission (PEC) of 5th and 8th grade, from the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) of 9th grade, and the Punjab University for the undergraduate level was used to evaluate the instructional and examination methods. Results showed poor performance, especially in English, as it was not taught by applying modern and effective teaching methods. The outdated evaluation process and inadequate curricula are factors for poor performance.

Related Papers

A comparative analysis of assessment schemes in Secondary School Certificate and Cambridge O Level English examination papers in Pakistan: Need for reform

sadia malik

This article attempts to analyse the relationship between the Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) and evaluation systems of two simultaneously existing examination systems in Pakistan: Secondary School Certificate (Matriculation) and Cambridge O Level system. The major concern of the paper lies in observing the targeted outcomes of the two types of examination systems in the light of the aims and objectives specified by the two systems. One paper from each testing system has been analysed and the prospective outcomes have been matched with their exclusive aims provided by their respective boards. Results show that both the systems, in their own distinct syllabi, aim at making the students proficient in the learning of English as foreign language through a system that involves skills which are incorporated into the learners and then tested so as to make them proficient in the language. The evaluation system, however, differs widely in both. Matriculation assessments are purely a test of memory and assess the students" ability on the basis of discrete implementation of skills in the questions while the Cambridge O Level system offers as process-based learning of the language by keeping in view a holistic approach of applying various modes of skills in to its question papers. Hence, a reformation in the system of evaluation as well as that of teaching needs to be promoted to meet the prescribed outcome mentioned in the syllabus of Punjab Board.

Amin Rehmani

Assessment is inevitably linked with the processes of teaching and learning. Assessment for Learning (AFL), the focus of this paper, is germane to students' learning in that the purpose of AFL is to help students improve their learning in light of the feedback they receive on the quality of their work. Educational research indicates that AFL is a viable alternative to traditional examination system at school level, and in case of high stake public examinations, it helps students perform better at summative examinations, especially when both formative and summative assessments are used in tandem (Assessment Reform Group various papers; The State of Queensland, Department of Education (n.d. online); Klenowski, 2002; Elwood and Klenowski 2000). The Aga Khan University Examination Board (AKU-EB) has introduced AFL in its Middle School Assessment Framework (MSAF), grades VI to VIII through two modes of assessment: progress tests and project portfolio. Being formative, these are offered as diagnostic tools to support students i their educational processes so that they are better prepared for their current and future learning. The focus of this paper is o project portfolios and their assessment. Adopting a multi-disciplinary approach, students are engaged in collaborative as well as independent learning and reflection. Assessment, therefore, is built in as a continuous process. this emphasis is on the process of learning leading to a final product and reported in the form of competencies achieved in a ' personal achievement record' based on a number of assessment processes. The paper presents a critique of conventional school assessment based on marks and grades and suggests that portfolio assessment is a viable alternative to be used in schools in Pakistan at least up to Middle School level, based on descriptive remarks, feedback, and peer and self-assessment in developing critical competencies in students. Since the framework has only been introduced last year, its results are not yet available to gauge its impact on learning.

Language Assessment in the Middle East and North Africa Theory, Practice and Future Trends

Zilal Meccawy , Mazin Mansory

State universities in Saudi Arabia have adopted a new educational policy in most tertiary departments, which made English the medium of instruction for all scientific departments. This has led to establishing a Foundation Year Programme (FYP), which students must pass in order to join their chosen departments. Thus, assessing students has become an important process and as such tests in the FYP are considered high-stakes. This chapter investigates the role of teachers in summative assessment in the FYP by not only focusing on the role of teachers on the Assessment Committee, but also on the role of the remaining teachers who are not on the committee. Currently, there are few studies that discuss issues of voice and teacher knowledge with regards to assessment; therefore, this empirical study takes an interpretive approach to highlight this area especially within the Saudi context using semi-structured interviews with 20 teachers working at a university English language Institute (ELI). Results show that giving teachers a voice in assessment, will not only improve their self-esteem, but also benefit students through providing better feedback

THE BULLETIN

Symbat Zykrina

This article discusses the history of assessment as an important component of the content of education. Updates in the content of education in the Republic of Kazakhstan are directly related to changes in the assessment system. Therefore, this problem is one of the urgent problems. The article analyzes the interpretation of the definitions "assessment" and "mark" in various pedagogical and psychological studies of scientists. The advantages and disadvantages of the traditional assessment system are considered while investigating the prerequisites for the introduction of criteria-based assessment. The five-point assessment system introduced in 1944 is characterized by its simplicity, clarity, consistency and versatility. But long-term practice of teachers also revealed its shortcomings. The authors highlight some of the main shortcomings of this system of assessment and give detailed explanations. In conclusion, the recommendations of various researchers on the mo...

Voyage Journal of Educational Studies

Assessment is an essential component of the curriculum. The curriculum is a policy document that guides assessment mechanisms before, during, and after instruction. The curriculum envisioned assessment in standards, benchmarks, and students' learning outcomes (SLOs) by providing action words. assessment is an integral part of the learning process. Language skill development depends on the quality of assessment design and practice during and after instruction. This research study critically analyzes the language skills assessment design intended in Pakistan's language curriculum, 2006. The study aimed to explore the assessment design intended in standards, benchmarks, and students’ learning outcomes SLOs, in the language curriculum of Pakistan 2006 of secondary classes. The study's objective was to investigate the language assessment scheme of LNC, 2006, as well as understand the extent of the assess ment design of the national curriculum, 2006. It is also aime...

Abdul Raouf

This dissertation was aimed to evaluate the perspective of teachers about the assessment system at primary level of education using descriptive and evaluative method. (National Education Policy 2017) was used to construct tool of data collection on the basis of following objectives: to see the awareness of (Primary School Teachers, PSTs) about minimum standards of education, to ascertain views of teachers about assessment system was the core objectives with an alternative objective to know about the issues of assessment in the schools of district Bahawalnagar, Punjab, Pakistan. The objectives of this research were met while adopting a quantitative research approach. Data was collected from PSTs of tehsil Minchinabad, district Bahawalnagar. All the teachers of district Bahawalnagar 8534 were the population of this study. While adopting convenience sampling after selecting one tehsil as our target population on convenience basis responses were collected from 380 teachers. The results of the research indicate that the teachers were more aware of minimum standards of learning than about aims of the assessment system. The results also indicate that the assessment system for primary level of education was not aligned with the aims of assessment system. The assessment system is not standardized according to the scales of validity, reliability and credibility. The third objective was analyzed according to the obtained results of minimum standards of learning and the effectiveness of assessment system. The results tell about the third objective as the assessment system at the primary level of education in Pakistan have a gap between the ground realities and the prescribed objectives of NEP 2017 according to the findings of the study as compared with the aims and objectives of national education policy of Pakistan for the assessment of student at primary level of education. Key Words: Assessment System, Minimum Standards of Learning, National Education Policy,

Social Sciences & Humanities Open

Irfan Ahmed Rind

This study examines the examination conducted by five government and one private board of intermediate and secondary education (BISE) in Sindh, Pakistan. Specifically, it examines the quality of items in the examination papers. Using a desk review approach, the ten-year examination papers from 2005 to 2016 were sampled from English, Mathematics, and Sciences (i.e., Biology, Physics, and Chemistry) of grades X and XII. Using Bloom's revised taxonomy as a theoretical framework, each item in the question papers was analyzed to determine, (1) the cognitive complexities of the item, and (2) frequency and variety in which the items are repeated in the different years. The findings suggest that most of the items assess students' memorization and comprehension. Items are frequently repeated word-to-word every year. These findings have implications for the entire secondary and higher secondary education system and beyond in Pakistan.

Canadian Social Science

Abdallah Ghaicha

Now more than ever, there exists a plethora of empirical evidence to uphold that examinations used in educational institutions have a backwash effect, a well-recognized phenomenon among applied linguists, educators and teachers, which is the effect of test on teaching and learning (Alderson & Wall, 1993; Bailey, 1999; Messick, 1996; Widen et al., 1997; Hughes, 2003; Yi-Ching, 2009). This article essentially targets this phenomenon in Moroccan higher education. It seeks to provide a concise theoretical framework to render the reader au fait with such an unfamiliar term. It aims at examining the extent to which higher education assessments affect EFL students’ academic achievements through sketching examples from the summative assessment practices used by faculty instructors at Ibn Zohr University, Agadir, Morocco. It also aims at suggesting some pedagogical implications to harness teaching and learning in Moroccan higher education.

Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities

khalid khurshid

This research aimed at investigating the assessment procedures for evaluating the prospective teachers' abilities, developed through the new B.Ed. (Hons.)/ADE curriculum in teacher education institutions of Baluchistan, this research study will also highlights the emerging problems in the use of new modern assessment procedures. The research was conducted in seven Teacher Training institutions of Baluchistan. The data was collected through the survey questionnaire, based on a pilot project, from the seven Heads of the institutions and the nine Teacher Educators/school (N#70), involved in teaching different courses of B.Ed. (Hones.)/ADE at different semesters. Focus group discussion with head and nine teacher educators/institution was also conducted. The quantitative and qualitative data from two instruments helped in-depth understanding of the assessment procedure and the emerging problems. The results showed that teacher educators are trying to implement the new competency-base...

Johnson Waweru

The success of the teaching and learning process depends on the ability of the teacher to use appropriate methods in the teaching process as well as assessment. With a wide range of assessment methods, every teacher must carefully select the right method in order to determine the progress of each learner before the end of the lesson, session, unit or course. Despite the differences or similarities in the assessment methods, it is crucial to remember that the assessment process should have goals that include improving the learning process for the sake of the learner. For this assignment, I will be comparing the Formative and Benchmarking methods of assessment as experienced and witnessed in my career.

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Created by the Great Schools Partnership , the GLOSSARY OF EDUCATION REFORM is a comprehensive online resource that describes widely used school-improvement terms, concepts, and strategies for journalists, parents, and community members. | Learn more »

Summative Assessment

Summative assessments are used to evaluate student learning, skill acquisition, and academic achievement at the conclusion of a defined instructional period—typically at the end of a project, unit, course, semester, program, or school year. Generally speaking, summative assessments are defined by three major criteria:

• The tests, assignments, or projects are used to determine whether students have learned what they were expected to learn. In other words, what makes an assessment “summative” is not the design of the test, assignment, or self-evaluation, per se, but the way it is used—i.e., to determine whether and to what degree students have learned the material they have been taught.
• Summative assessments are given at the conclusion of a specific instructional period, and therefore they are generally evaluative, rather than diagnostic—i.e., they are more appropriately used to determine learning progress and achievement, evaluate the effectiveness of educational programs, measure progress toward improvement goals, or make course-placement decisions, among other possible applications.
• Summative-assessment results are often recorded as scores or grades that are then factored into a student’s permanent academic record, whether they end up as letter grades on a report card or test scores used in the college-admissions process. While summative assessments are typically a major component of the grading process in most districts, schools, and courses, not all assessments considered to be summative are graded.

Summative assessments are commonly contrasted with formative assessments , which collect detailed information that educators can use to improve instruction and student learning while it’s happening. In other words, formative assessments are often said to be for learning, while summative assessments are of learning. Or as assessment expert Paul Black put it, “When the cook tastes the soup, that’s formative assessment. When the customer tastes the soup, that’s summative assessment.” It should be noted, however, that the distinction between formative and summative is often fuzzy in practice, and educators may have divergent interpretations and opinions on the subject.

Some of the most well-known and widely discussed examples of summative assessments are the standardized tests administered by states and testing organizations, usually in math, reading, writing, and science. Other examples of summative assessments include:

• End-of-unit or chapter tests.
• End-of-term or semester tests.
• Standardized tests that are used to for the purposes of school accountability, college admissions (e.g., the SAT or ACT), or end-of-course evaluation (e.g., Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate exams).
• Culminating demonstrations of learning or other forms of “performance assessment,” such as portfolios of student work that are collected over time and evaluated by teachers or capstone projects that students work on over extended periods of time and that they present and defend at the conclusion of a school year or their high school education.

While most summative assessments are given at the conclusion of an instructional period, some summative assessments can still be used diagnostically. For example, the growing availability of student data, made possible by online grading systems and databases, can give teachers access to assessment results from previous years or other courses. By reviewing this data, teachers may be able to identify students more likely to struggle academically in certain subject areas or with certain concepts. In addition, students may be allowed to take some summative tests multiple times, and teachers might use the results to help prepare students for future administrations of the test.

It should also be noted that districts and schools may use “interim” or “benchmark” tests to monitor the academic progress of students and determine whether they are on track to mastering the material that will be evaluated on end-of-course tests or standardized tests. Some educators consider interim tests to be formative, since they are often used diagnostically to inform instructional modifications, but others may consider them to be summative. There is ongoing debate in the education community about this distinction, and interim assessments may defined differently from place to place. See  formative assessment  for a more detailed discussion.

While educators have arguably been using “summative assessments” in various forms since the invention of schools and teaching, summative assessments have in recent decades become components of larger school-improvement efforts. As they always have, summative assessments can help teachers determine whether students are making adequate academic progress or meeting expected learning standards, and results may be used to inform modifications to instructional techniques, lesson designs, or teaching materials the next time a course, unit, or lesson is taught. Yet perhaps the biggest changes in the use of summative assessments have resulted from state and federal policies aimed at improving public education—specifically, standardized high-stakes tests used to make important decisions about schools, teachers, and students.

While there is little disagreement among educators about the need for or utility of summative assessments, debates and disagreements tend to center on issues of fairness and effectiveness, especially when summative-assessment results are used for high-stakes purposes. In these cases, educators, experts, reformers, policy makers, and others may debate whether assessments are being designed and used appropriately, or whether high-stakes tests are either beneficial or harmful to the educational process. For more detailed discussions of these issues, see high-stakes test , measurement error , test accommodations , test bias , score inflation , standardized test , and value-added measures .

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