What is the purpose of summative assessment of students?

Assessment is a process of collecting, receiving, and using data for the purpose of improvement in the learning process. There are two main types of assessments which include 'summative' and 'formative' assessment.

Important Points

Summative assessment is inappropriate for monitoring the progress of the teaching-learning process as "Summative Assessment", commonly known as  "Assessment of Learning" is a type of assessment which:

• measures, certifies, and reports the level of students' learning by assessing them at the end of the term.
• produces an accurate description of student's potential and achievement to promote them to the next grades.
• summarizes students' learning and measures success level that has been achieved at the end of the learning process.

Hence, it could be concluded that assessing students at the end of term is the purpose of summative assessment of students.

Hint

• Formative assessment: It is a type of assessment which refers to monitor learners' progress throughout the teaching-learning process to diagnose learner's learning difficulties.