summative

[suhm-uh-tiv]

adjective

1. of greater effect or value than the strict sum of the individual contributing parts; additive.

   Two drugs with similar actions were given, creating a summative response.

2. Education.,  occurring at the end of a unit or term and covering the entirety of the material from that term; cumulative: summative assignment;

   summative assessment;

   summative assignment;

   summative feedback.

Word History and Origins

Origin of summative¹

First recorded in 1875–80; from Medieval Latin summāt(us) ( summation ) + -ive

Example Sentences

Education consultant Ken O’Connor told me, for instance, the Wakefield teachers are wrongly penalizing needy kids who do better on tests and other summative assessments than they do on homework.

From Washington Post

Faculty would grade only what are called summative assessments, which generally means tests.

From Washington Post

Critically important data about how best to ensure that students are included in our plans comes from summative state assessments — the Smarter Balanced assessment in Washington state.

From Seattle Times

"We know... that some schools and school districts may face circumstances in which they are not able to safely administer statewide summative assessments this spring using their standard practices."

From Salon

Goldberg contends that simple “summative” ratings are not fair to schools that serve students from low-income families because academic achievement is largely linked to their socioeconomic level.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• aggregate 
• increasing 

When To Use

What does summative mean?

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.