Imagine taking a driving test without ever having practiced behind the wheel. You might understand the rules of the road, recognize every traffic sign, and even explain parallel parking perfectly. None of that would prepare you for the moment someone handed you the keys and said, "Show me what you can do." Most of us would agree that practice should come before the final evaluation.
Learning works the same way. Yet many courses unintentionally place most of their emphasis on summative assessments while providing relatively few opportunities for learners to practice, receive feedback, and improve before those high-stakes evaluations. Students often encounter the largest assignment or exam only after discovering that they misunderstood earlier concepts. By then, the opportunity to learn from those mistakes may already have passed.
This is where formative and summative assessments each play an important role. They are not competing approaches to assessment. Instead, they work together to support learning from beginning to end. Formative assessments help learners grow while learning is still taking place. Summative assessments evaluate what learners can demonstrate after instruction has been completed. Understanding the difference helps instructional designers create courses that measure learning while also actively supporting it.
Assessment Is More Than Grading
When many people hear the word assessment, they immediately think about grades. Exams, papers, projects, and final presentations often come to mind because these activities determine a learner's final score. While grading is certainly one purpose of assessment, it is far from the only one.
Effective assessment also provides information. It tells instructors how well learners understand the material, identifies misconceptions before they become permanent, and helps learners recognize where they need additional practice. In other words, assessment is not simply about measuring learning. It is also about improving learning.
This distinction is one of the reasons instructional designers think differently about assessment than many learners do. A well-designed assessment is not merely an endpoint. It becomes an integral part of the instructional process itself.
What Is Formative Assessment?
Formative assessment occurs while learning is still taking place. Its primary purpose is to provide information that helps learners improve before they complete a high-stakes assignment or examination. Rather than asking, "How well did you perform?" formative assessment asks, "What should happen next to help you learn more effectively?"
These assessments are typically low stakes or even ungraded. Short quizzes, reflection prompts, draft submissions, practice activities, polling questions, discussions, concept maps, peer review, and self-assessments all serve formative purposes because they provide opportunities for learners to receive feedback before their understanding is finalized.
The emphasis is on growth rather than judgment. Learners discover what they understand, where they need additional support, and how they can improve while there is still time to make meaningful changes.
What Is Summative Assessment?
Summative assessment occurs after a significant period of instruction has been completed. Its purpose is to evaluate whether learners have achieved the intended learning outcomes and can demonstrate the knowledge or skills the course was designed to develop.
Final exams, research papers, capstone projects, portfolios, presentations, certification exams, and comprehensive practical demonstrations are all common examples of summative assessment. Unlike formative assessment, these activities typically contribute substantially to the learner's final grade because they represent evidence of overall achievement.
Summative assessments are important because learners eventually need opportunities to demonstrate independent performance. Employers, certification boards, academic programs, and instructors all need reliable evidence that learning has occurred. However, those evaluations become much more meaningful when learners have had opportunities to practice and receive feedback beforehand.
Formative Assessment Builds Confidence
One of the greatest strengths of formative assessment is that it reduces the fear associated with making mistakes.
When every assessment significantly affects the final grade, learners often become reluctant to experiment, ask questions, or take intellectual risks. They may avoid challenging tasks because the consequences of failure feel too high. Learning becomes centered on protecting grades rather than developing understanding.
Formative assessment creates a safer environment for growth. Learners can discover misconceptions, test ideas, and receive constructive feedback before completing major assignments. This process builds confidence because improvement becomes an expected part of learning rather than a sign of failure.
Instructional designers should therefore think of formative assessment as guided practice rather than preliminary testing. The purpose is not simply identifying mistakes. It is helping learners move beyond them.
Summative Assessment Demonstrates Mastery
While formative assessment supports growth, summative assessment answers a different question:
Can the learner now perform independently?
By the end of a course, learners should be able to demonstrate the knowledge and skills described in the learning objectives without extensive guidance. Summative assessments provide that opportunity by asking learners to apply what they have learned under conditions that represent authentic performance.
This is why authentic assessments often work well as summative evaluations. Instead of relying exclusively on recall, learners design lesson plans, solve workplace problems, analyze case studies, conduct research, create presentations, or complete projects that resemble professional practice. These activities provide richer evidence of learning than memorization alone.
Summative assessments therefore represent more than the conclusion of instruction. They demonstrate whether learners can transfer knowledge beyond the classroom.
The Strongest Courses Use Both
One of the most common assessment mistakes is relying almost entirely on summative assessment while providing very few formative opportunities beforehand. Imagine expecting learners to complete a major research paper without first receiving feedback on a proposal, outline, or draft. Even highly motivated students may struggle because they have no opportunity to refine their work before the final submission.
Strong instructional design intentionally combines both assessment types. Learners first complete low-stakes activities that provide practice and feedback. Those experiences gradually build toward larger assessments where learners demonstrate independent performance. Each formative activity prepares learners for the summative assessment rather than existing as an unrelated assignment.
This progression also reduces anxiety because learners understand that major assessments are not unexpected surprises. They have already practiced many of the same skills throughout the course.
Feedback Is the Bridge
The difference between formative and summative assessment is not simply timing. It is also feedback.
Formative assessment depends on meaningful feedback because learners need information they can use immediately. A practice quiz without explanations, a draft returned without comments, or a discussion with no instructor engagement provides limited instructional value. Learners need guidance that helps them improve while learning is still taking place.
Summative assessments also benefit from feedback, but the purpose is different. Rather than preparing learners for the same assignment, feedback helps them strengthen future performance in later courses, professional practice, or continuing education. Even after a final grade has been assigned, thoughtful feedback continues supporting learning beyond the course itself.
Instructional designers should therefore view feedback as the thread connecting all assessment throughout a course. It transforms assessment from measurement into learning.
Match the Assessment to the Learning Outcome
Choosing between formative and summative assessment becomes much easier when instructional designers begin with the learning outcomes.
If learners are expected to evaluate case studies, they should practice evaluating smaller cases before completing a comprehensive analysis. If they are expected to design instructional materials, they should receive feedback on early drafts before submitting a final project. Every formative activity should prepare learners for the type of thinking required during the summative assessment.
Alignment matters because learners naturally focus on whatever the assessments emphasize. When assessments consistently measure the intended learning outcomes, learners devote their attention to developing the knowledge and skills that matter most.
This alignment creates a coherent learning experience where instruction, practice, feedback, and evaluation all work toward the same goals.
Common Assessment Mistakes
Instructional designers frequently encounter courses where assessments unintentionally work against learning.
Sometimes courses rely almost entirely on high-stakes testing with little opportunity for practice. Other courses include numerous low-stakes activities but no meaningful evaluation of independent performance. Occasionally assessments measure recall even though the learning objectives emphasize analysis, application, or problem-solving.
Another common issue occurs when formative assessments exist but receive little or no feedback. Without guidance, learners often repeat the same mistakes during later assignments because they never fully understood what needed improvement.
These challenges are rarely intentional. They often develop gradually as courses evolve over time. Recognizing them provides valuable opportunities for redesign that improve both learning and learner confidence.
Final Thoughts
Formative and summative assessments serve different purposes, but neither is complete without the other. Formative assessment provides opportunities to practice, receive feedback, and improve while learning is still taking place. Summative assessment demonstrates what learners can accomplish independently after that learning has occurred.
Instructional designers create stronger learning experiences when both assessment types work together. Learners gain confidence through meaningful practice, instructors receive information that guides teaching, and final assessments become more authentic because learners have had opportunities to prepare thoughtfully.
The best assessments do more than measure learning.
They help create it.
References
Ambrose, S. A., Bridges, M. W., DiPietro, M., Lovett, M. C., & Norman, M. K. (2010). How learning works: Seven research-based principles for smart teaching. Jossey-Bass.
Brookhart, S. M. (2017). How to give effective feedback to your students (2nd ed.). ASCD.
Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007). The power of feedback. Review of Educational Research, 77(1), 81–112.
Nilson, L. B., & Goodson, L. A. (2021). Online teaching at its best: Merging instructional design with teaching and learning research (2nd ed.). Jossey-Bass.
Wiggins, G. (1998). Educative assessment: Designing assessments to inform and improve student performance. Jossey-Bass.