summative

Summative is an adjective that means cumulative or characterized or produced by addition.

Summative is most frequently used in the context of education, especially in the terms summative assessment and summative evaluation, which are evaluations of student learning at the end of a course or lesson or during a particular educational stage. A close synonym for summative is cumulative, which is much more commonly used.

Example: At the end of the year, we have to take a summative assessment that covers everything we were supposed to learn.

The first records of the word summative in English come from the 1800s. It is based on the Medieval Latin summāt(us). The root of the word is the Latin verb summāre, meaning “to sum” or “to add up,” which is the root of words like sum and summary.

In general, summative describes something that is produced through addition. A summative process often involves an incremental increase in something. In the context of education, summative is used in much the same way as cumulative and comprehensive. This means that a student will be tested or evaluated based on everything they have been taught over a certain span of time—covering all of the information that has added up or accumulated over the course of that period. The term is often used to contrast with formative assessments, which test students on recent lessons. Standardized tests are often considered summative assessments.

What are some other forms of summative?

• summatively (adverb)

What are some synonyms for summative?

• additive
• cumulative

What are some words that share a root or word element with summative? 

• sum
• summary
• summation

What are some words that often get used in discussing summative?

• evaluation
• assessment
• test
• exam
• education
• formative
• aggregate

Summative is most often used in the context of education to describe a test that encompasses the sum of all things learned.

The only time I worry about the correct answer is in the summative assessment. The rest of the time I’m interested in the crockpot of thinking. — @gfletchy #wsmi pic.twitter.com/TSULqZDHnf

— Fawn Nguyen (@fawnpnguyen) February 28, 2020

Supporting our 3rd graders as they review for their Common Summative Assessment tomorrow! Can you guess what it’s about?! 😉 #PISDMathChat pic.twitter.com/CDgW2YMMFv

— Kirsta Paulus Jenne (@KirstaJenne) February 27, 2020

retweet this smiling sr jp to pass the summative test !! https://t.co/CgKLi48bXY

— flaming hot cheetos (@janamshyy) March 3, 2020

If you take a test only on things you’ve learned in the past week, is it more likely to be described as formative or summative?