| Indicator | Formative | Summative |
| Goal | The goal of formative assessment is to improve | The goal of summative assessment is to prove |
| Purpose | To enhance learning | To make judgements about students’ performance |
| Relation to instruction | Occurs during instruction | Occurs after instruction |
| Frequency | Occurs on a continuous basis (daily) | Occurs at a particular point of time to determine what students know |
| Role | To improve learning allows teachers to make decisions and monitor their instructions based on students’ performance | To predict & judge students’ performance, give grades and determine if the content being taught was retained |
| Role of students | Active involvement | Passive Involvement |
| Examples | ||
| Design | Designed to adjust teaching and learning while they are still occurring | Designed to provide information about the amount of learning that has occurred at a particular time |
| Means of testing | Quiz, interviews, conversations, visual and oral testing, projects, practicals and assignments, etc. | Assessment in the form of pen-paper test mostly |
| Evaluation | Done to improve or change a program while it is in progress | Focuses on the results or outcomes of a program |
