In a second-grade class, students create habitat dioramas and present them; the projects are scored using a rubric. What type of assessment is this primarily?

• A. Common assessment
• B. Formative assessment
• C. Performance assessment
• D. Summative assessment

Answer: (D)

The big idea here is how we classify assessments by purpose and results. When students build a habitat diorama and present it, they’re doing a task that requires them to apply what they’ve learned and produce a concrete product along with an explanation. The rubric provides clear criteria to judge that work, making the task defensible and consistent in scoring.

Because this activity is used to determine what students have learned after instruction and to assign a grade based on that demonstrated learning, it is best described as a summative assessment. It’s measuring overall mastery at the end of a unit, not just giving ongoing feedback during instruction. The task itself is performance-based, since it involves creating and presenting, but the primary label in this context is summative.