This document gives details on how to create formative and summative assessments for a 3rd grade science class.

1. CreatingFormative andSummative Assessments 1
Creating Formative and Summative Assessments
Stacy Cox
ED531: Secondary Student Assessment
Professor Jeffry Hawes
April 5, 2012

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Formative and summative assessments are excellent ways to see how much the students
have learned from the lesson. Assessments are a measuring tool for the teacher to see how
many of the key concepts the students picked up on. According to Brookhart and Nitko (2011),
“The target should represent the key performances expected of a student at a particular grade
level,” (p. 24). They can also be used to see if the teachers are teaching the correct learning
targets that coincide with the assessment.
The assessments chosen for this assignment represent the right target for a 3rd grade
science class. The formative assessment is simply a classroom discussion after the chapter on
soil. It lets the teacher know who was listening to the lesson and how much those students
retained. This was the preferred formative assessment for this topic and grade level, because
science can be a hard subject for students to remember and reviewing as soon as the topic is
discussed gives the students a greater chance of understanding the material. This gives the
students the perfect opportunity to ask questions or get clarification on what they do not
understand. The teacher could have chosen to follow up the discussion with worksheets, but a
question and answer session is much needed when the topic can be confusing or complicated.
This is also a more hands on approach for the teacher.
The purpose of the question and answer session is to hit all the key concepts in the soil
chapters. All of the questions that are asked will reflect all the key concepts that are important
for student to remember for their final exam at the end of the Earth science chapter. As the
teacher asks the questions, it would be important to see that most students get a chance to either
answer a question or to offer feedback or thoughts on the questions asked. This will keep all the

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students on their toes and the teacher will have an accurate understanding on how well the lesson
was learned.
The second assessment is a summative one. As the teacher I chose to do an individual
project with an oral presentation. The other assessment I was considering was a unit exam, but a
project on the subject matter could be more fun for the students and it gives the teacher a chance
to analyze the student’s critical thinking, creative thinking, and problem-solving skills,
(Brookhart and Nitko, 2011). A unit exam could measure the competency that the student has
for the concepts, but a project requires so much more thought and knowledge on an individual
level. Not only are they expressing the knowledge that they learned, but they are doing it in their
own creative ways and presenting it as their own concept.
The teacher will need a rubric to measure the success of this project based on the learning
targets from the chapter. The teacher will provide each student with a soil type and they will
have to include everything from the rubric to get a decent grade. They need to include the
following: name of the soil, talk about the traits, what it looks like, where to find it, what types
of plants thrive in that soil, and reasons why their soil could be superior to the other types. This
information tells the teacher that they can use the knowledge learned in class and build on it to
present an accurate presentation about their soil. They would have to use critical thinking skills
in order to answer all the questions on the rubric; meaning that they will have to research their
topic to provide additional information to explain to the class. This will help the other students
gain more information about the soil types and each student will have a chance to practice their
oratory skills. Speaking in front of others is a skill that students need to embrace. As adults and
even while they are still in school, the students will have plenty of opportunities to speak in front

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of others and public speaking is a great skill to have. You never know when they might need to
use it and teachers should try to incorporate it in their lessons from time to time.
Both of these assessment types are perfect for 3rd graders and the subject matter provided.
Given all the information above, these are some of the best assessment choices for the students.

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Appendix A: Formative Assessment Questions (End of chapter)
1. Name the different types of soil.
2. How do all the different types differ?
3. How do you judge what type of soil to use in your garden?
4. How can you visually tell which type is which?
5. Create a hypothetical soil problem. How could you fix it?
6. Where do all these types of soil come from?
7. What other questions do you have?

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Appendix B: Summative Assessment information
For the summative assessment is a project. The students will present a poster board and
presentation based on the soil type given to them by the teacher. Their project and presentation
must include the following:
1. Name of the soil and where you can find it
2. Describe the traits of the soil
3. Present a picture (drawn or real) of what it looks like.
4. Create a story about the environment and what plants could survive (and thrive) in their soil.
5. Tell why your soil is better than the other types (point is to understand that all types are not the
same and in some cases it can be better than others).

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Appendix C: Summative assessment rubric
Mastery Proficient Emergent Introductory Points
Name of soil and
where it can be
found
Lists all
possible places
and mentions
soil type
(9-10 pts)
Lists most
places and
mentions soil
type
(6-8 pts)
Lists some of
the places and
mentions soil
type
(3-5 pts)
List is
inaccurate or
forgets to
mention soil
type
(0-2 pts)
__/10
Describes traits of
soil and includes
illustration
Extremely
detailed and
includes a good
illustration
(16-20 pts)
Good detail
and includes an
illustration
(11-15 pts)
Includes some
detail and an
illustration
(6-10pts)
Missed lots of
details and/or
forgot
illustrations
(0-5 pts)
__/20
Creative story
about soil and
plants
Story explained
the soil-plant
relationship
perfectly
(16-20 pts)
Story was good
and explained
most
conditions
about the
environment
(11-15 pts)
Story lacked
some detail but
otherwise was
a good read.
(6-10 pts)
Story did not
explain the
soil-plant
relationship
and/or it did
not make
sense
(0-5 pts)
__/20
Positive quality of
soil
Student listed
all possible
superior traits
of their soil
(16-20 pts)
Student
touched on
most possible
superior traits
of their soil
(11-15 pts)
Student
mentioned a
few possible
superior traits
of their soil.
(6-10 pts)
Student
mentioned
very few or
none of the
positive
qualities
(0-5 pts)
__/20
Oratory skills Student makes
great eye
contact and
pronounced
everything
right.
(16-20 pts)
Student make
good eye
contacted and
mispronounced
a couple words.
(11-15 pts)
Student
struggled to
keep eye
contact and had
trouble with
speech quality
and/ or tone
(6-10 pts)
Student did
not make eye
contact and/or
could not talk
loud enough
(hard to
follow)
(0-5 pts)
__/10
Poster/Presentation
Board
Poster/Board
was a great
visual. Tied to
presentation
easily.
(16-20 pts)
Poster/Board
was a good
visual, but
could have
been better.
(11-15 pts)
Poster/Board
was a little
detracting from
the
presentation,
but otherwise
included all
required
information
(6-10 pts)
Poster/Board
was not
present or it
did not tie to
the
presentation at
all.
(0-5 pts)
__/20
Total
__/100

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Reference
Brookhart, S. M., & Nitko, A. J., 2011. Educational Assessment of Students. Upper Saddle River:
NJ. Pearson Publishers.