OZARKA COLLEGE

Eating an Elephant

One Bite at a Time

Summative Assessment Part I

Summative assessment in most classrooms is used to evaluate or test students either at the end of a major unit of study or at the end of the course in order to ascertain whether students have mastered the goals of the course. Summative assessment gives the student a grade - or some other type of evaluation-either on a test or on the complete course.

Summative evaluation is usually divided into quizzes, tests, and exams. A quiz usually lasts 15 minutes or less and covers a very limited number of concepts. A test usually lasts for most of a class period and covers a chapter or unit. An exam is broad in scope and comprehensive in nature. It may be two hours or more in length.

Summative evaluations should reflect your educational goals for your particular course. What skills, content, and attitudes are delineated in your syllabus? These should be the backbone of your summative testing. A good way to do this is to lay out a grid with objectives along one side and content on the other. This is a variation of a tool called a Scope and Sequence Chart. When you make a test question, you can then check off the content and objective it covers.

Many, if not most, instructors construct quizzes, tests, and exams that rely to a great extent on factual recall questions. Most college instructors realize the importance of including questions that cover higher level thinking as well. We all realize that students will study what they believe they will be tested upon. If our questions focus on facts, details and minutia, that is exactly what our students will tend to study. If students expect a test that will require problem solving, comparison, and evaluation, that is the way they will study.

If you have time and don't want to wait for the next bite, you can find the rest of the toolbox in myOzarka under the "Ozarka Resources" tab.

Or you can follow this link:

https://www.ozarka.edu/files/resources/teachingtoolbox.doc

I will be posting each section in the Student Success Center Blog. So if you are interested in checking out "back bites," you can find them there.

Or you can follow this link:
https://www.ozarka.edu/blogs/success/index.cfm/Weekly-Postings-for-Faculty-

Hope you enjoyed it.