Formative Assessment:

Formative assessment provides direct feedback to be used to improve the quality of student work. It is intended to be helpful in guiding students to make improvements in their ongoing performance. The idea is to model better work that will improve or guide the final learning outcome. Formative assessment is just the opposite of summative assessment where the final result is used to assess the learning without feedback to the student to allow improvement. Examples of formative assessment are: homework assignments, rough drafts of papers and feedback on semester exams.

Summative Assessment:

A summative assessment looks at the final outcome of the learning process. It assesses the achieved knowledge, skills, and/or abilities against some standard of expected achievement. Examples of summative assessment are: standardized exit or licensing exams, student portfolios, senior recitals, or any final assessment intended to evaluate the students learning but not intended to provide feedback for improvement. In some cases midterm exams may fall into this category if the student has no opportunity to demonstrate proficiency in the specific material on future evaluations.

Concepts adapted from:

Fulks, Janet. (12 July, 2004). Assessing Student Learning in Community Colleges. Bakersfield College. http://online.bc.cc.ca.us/courseassessment/Definitions.htm