Narrator: How do you know if your students
learned the desired material
at the end of a given period of time?
And how do you communicate the results of their learning
to other educators, or to parents and families,
or to the students themselves?
Teachers score chapter tests and end-of-year exams,
they give semester grades and share
test scores with parents.
Like all data from summative assessments,
the idea of these is to evaluate learning
by providing a snapshot of student performance
at the end of some learning period.
This is also sometimes accomplished
through standardized assessments that can be
school-wide, district-wide, or state-wide.
The purpose of summative assessments
is to answer the big questions.
Did all of our students learn the material?
Are all of our students meeting the standards?
Are we successful with all of our students?
Andre has been working hard on using evidence
to support his argument in writing for various audiences.
Over the course of this unit,
Ms. G has held writing conferences,
provided written feedback on early drafts,
and administered a couple writing prompts to gauge progress.
She's used interim assessments
and formative practices throughout the unit.
Now it's time to document the students' cumulative learning.
Today, the class is presenting their writing projects.
Ms. G will grade students on this project
as their final assessment instead of giving them an exam.
Both a final exam and a project are summative,
and both provide concrete evidence of student learning
in relation to the learning targets.
One purpose of summative data is so Ms. G
can share with Andre and his family
a clear and accurate picture of his learning.
Some of the types of summative data she'll share
are results from chapter tests,
projects and portfolios, end-of-year tests,
semester grades, and the spring state test.
Families value this information,
since all parents want to know if their student is on track.
All families want their kids to succeed,
to graduate college and career ready.
Summative data also serves an important public purpose.
Reporting graduation rates and state-wide test scores
helps the public understand overall school performance.
Of course, not all summative data is shared publicly.
Sometimes Ms. G uses the data
in meetings with other educators.
They review it collaboratively.
They discuss the class's accomplishments
and figure out where they need to most attention.
This helps shape plans for the next semester.
Ms. G can use summative results
to accurately compare Andre's performance
to other students in her class;
or in the case of a standardized assessment,
to other students across the district,
state, or even the nation.
That comparative data is critical for all of us,
educators, families, and the public,
so we know if we're reaching all kids equally.
It's important to remember that summative assessments
are still just a snapshot, just one data point.
So, if Andre had a bad day,
it doesn't mean he hasn't learned the material.
It does reinforce the need to have multiple data points
documenting student learning along the way.
Summative data isn't the final chapter in the data story.
It's part of an ongoing, continuous improvement process.
Just like data from formative and interim assessments,
it ultimately just helps us know
how to guide Andre and the rest of our students
on the path toward graduating college and career ready.
Learn more about summative assessments
and how to use them as part of a strategic assessment system
at our strategic assessment web page.
(gentle music)