meaning of formative assessment in education

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Formative Assessment

Formative assessment refers to a wide variety of methods that teachers use to conduct in-process evaluations of student comprehension, learning needs, and academic progress during a lesson, unit, or course. Formative assessments help teachers identify concepts that students are struggling to understand, skills they are having difficulty acquiring, or learning standards they have not yet achieved so that adjustments can be made to lessons, instructional techniques, and academic support .

The general goal of formative assessment is to collect detailed information that can be used to improve instruction and student learning while it’s happening . What makes an assessment “formative” is not the design of a test, technique, or self-evaluation, per se, but the way it is used—i.e., to inform in-process teaching and learning modifications.

Formative assessments are commonly contrasted with summative assessments , which are used to evaluate student learning progress and achievement at the conclusion of a specific instructional period—usually at the end of a project, unit, course, semester, program, or school year. In other words, formative assessments are for learning, while summative assessments are of learning. Or as assessment expert Paul Black put it, “When the cook tastes the soup, that’s formative assessment. When the customer tastes the soup, that’s summative assessment.” It should be noted, however, that the distinction between formative and summative is often fuzzy in practice, and educators may hold divergent interpretations of and opinions on the subject.

Many educators and experts believe that formative assessment is an integral part of effective teaching. In contrast with most summative assessments, which are deliberately set apart from instruction, formative assessments are integrated into the teaching and learning process. For example, a formative-assessment technique could be as simple as a teacher asking students to raise their hands if they feel they have understood a newly introduced concept, or it could be as sophisticated as having students complete a self-assessment of their own writing (typically using a rubric outlining the criteria) that the teacher then reviews and comments on. While formative assessments help teachers identify learning needs and problems, in many cases the assessments also help students develop a stronger understanding of their own academic strengths and weaknesses. When students know what they do well and what they need to work harder on, it can help them take greater responsibility over their own learning and academic progress.

While the same assessment technique or process could, in theory, be used for either formative or summative purposes, many summative assessments are unsuitable for formative purposes because they do not provide useful feedback. For example, standardized-test scores may not be available to teachers for months after their students take the test (so the results cannot be used to modify lessons or teaching and better prepare students), or the assessments may not be specific or fine-grained enough to give teachers and students the detailed information they need to improve.

The following are a few representative examples of formative assessments:

• Questions that teachers pose to individual students and groups of students during the learning process to determine what specific concepts or skills they may be having trouble with. A wide variety of intentional questioning strategies may be employed, such as phrasing questions in specific ways to elicit more useful responses.
• Specific, detailed, and constructive feedback that teachers provide on student work , such as journal entries, essays, worksheets, research papers, projects, ungraded quizzes, lab results, or works of art, design, and performance. The feedback may be used to revise or improve a work product, for example.
• “Exit slips” or “exit tickets” that quickly collect student responses to a teacher’s questions at the end of a lesson or class period. Based on what the responses indicate, the teacher can then modify the next lesson to address concepts that students have failed to comprehend or skills they may be struggling with. “Admit slips” are a similar strategy used at the beginning of a class or lesson to determine what students have retained from previous learning experiences .
• Self-assessments that ask students to think about their own learning process, to reflect on what they do well or struggle with, and to articulate what they have learned or still need to learn to meet course expectations or learning standards.
• Peer assessments that allow students to use one another as learning resources. For example, “workshopping” a piece of writing with classmates is one common form of peer assessment, particularly if students follow a rubric or guidelines provided by a teacher.

In addition to the reasons addressed above, educators may also use formative assessment to:

• Refocus students on the learning process and its intrinsic value, rather than on grades or extrinsic rewards.
• Encourage students to build on their strengths rather than fixate or dwell on their deficits. (For a related discussion, see growth mindset .)
• Help students become more aware of their learning needs, strengths, and interests so they can take greater responsibility over their own educational growth. For example, students may learn how to self-assess their own progress and self-regulate their behaviors.
• Give students more detailed, precise, and useful information. Because grades and test scores only provide a general impression of academic achievement, usually at the completion of an instructional period, formative feedback can help to clarify and calibrate learning expectations for both students and parents. Students gain a clearer understanding of what is expected of them, and parents have more detailed information they can use to more effectively support their child’s education.
• Raise or accelerate the educational achievement of all students, while also reducing learning gaps and achievement gaps .

While the formative-assessment concept has only existed since the 1960s, educators have arguably been using “formative assessments” in various forms since the invention of teaching. As an intentional school-improvement strategy, however, formative assessment has received growing attention from educators and researchers in recent decades. In fact, it is now widely considered to be one of the more effective instructional strategies used by teachers, and there is a growing body of literature and academic research on the topic.

Schools are now more likely to encourage or require teachers to use formative-assessment strategies in the classroom, and there are a growing number of professional-development opportunities available to educators on the subject. Formative assessments are also integral components of personalized learning and other educational strategies designed to tailor lessons and instruction to the distinct learning needs and interests of individual students.

While there is relatively little disagreement in the education community about the utility of formative assessment, debates or disagreements may stem from differing interpretations of the term. For example, some educators believe the term is loosely applied to forms of assessment that are not “truly” formative, while others believe that formative assessment is rarely used appropriately or effectively in the classroom.

Another common debate is whether formative assessments can or should be graded. Many educators contend that formative assessments can only be considered truly formative when they are ungraded and used exclusively to improve student learning. If grades are assigned to a quiz, test, project, or other work product, the reasoning goes, they become de facto summative assessments—i.e., the act of assigning a grade turns the assessment into a performance evaluation that is documented in a student’s academic record, as opposed to a diagnostic strategy used to improve student understanding and preparation before they are given a graded test or assignment.

Some educators also make a distinction between “pure” formative assessments—those that are used on a daily basis by teachers while they are instructing students—and “interim” or “benchmark” assessments, which are typically periodic or quarterly assessments used to determine where students are in their learning progress or whether they are on track to meeting expected learning standards. While some educators may argue that any assessment method that is used diagnostically could be considered formative, including interim assessments, others contend that these two forms of assessment should remain distinct, given that different strategies, techniques, and professional development may be required.

Some proponents of formative assessment also suspect that testing companies mislabel and market some interim standardized tests as “formative” to capitalize on and profit from the popularity of the idea. Some observers express skepticism that commercial or prepackaged products can be authentically formative, arguing that formative assessment is a sophisticated instructional technique, and to do it well requires both a first-hand understanding of the students being assessed and sufficient training and professional development.

Alphabetical Search

Formative Assessment of Teaching

What is formative assessment of teaching.

How do you know if your teaching is effective? How can you identify areas where your teaching can improve? What does it look like to assess teaching?

Formative Assessment

Formative assessment of teaching consists of different approaches to continuously evaluate your teaching. The insight gained from this assessment can support revising your teaching strategies, leading to better outcomes in student learning and experiences. Formative assessment can be contrasted with summative assessment, which is usually part of an evaluative decision-making process. The table below outlines some of the key differences between formative and summative assessment: 

By participating in formative assessment, instructors connect with recent developments in the space of teaching and learning, as well as incorporate new ideas into their practice. Developments may include changes in the students we serve, changes in our understanding of effective teaching, and changes in expectations of the discipline and of higher education as a whole.

Formative assessment of teaching ultimately should guide instructors towards using more effective teaching practices. What does effectiveness mean in terms of teaching?

Effectiveness in Teaching

Effective teaching can be defined as teaching that leads to the intended outcomes in student learning and experiences. In this sense, there is no single perfect teaching approach. Effective teaching looks will depend on the stated goals for student learning and experiences. A course that aims to build student confidence in statistical analysis and a course that aims to develop student writing could use very different teaching strategies, and still both be effective at accomplishing their respective goals. 

Assessing student learning and experiences is critical to determining if teaching is truly effective in its context. This assessment can be quite complex, but it is doable. In addition to measuring the impacts of your teaching, you may also consider evaluating your teaching as it aligns with best practices for evidence-based teaching especially in the disciplinary and course context or aligns with your intended teaching approach. The table below outlines these three approaches to assessing the effectiveness of your teaching:

What are some strategies that I might try? 

There are multiple ways that instructors might begin to assess their teaching. The list below includes approaches that may be done solo, with colleagues, or with the input of students. Instructors may pursue one or more of these strategies at different points in time. With each possible strategy, we have included several examples of the strategy in practice from a variety of institutions and contexts.

Teaching Portfolios

Teaching portfolios are well-suited for formative assessment of teaching, as the portfolio format lends itself to documenting how your teaching has evolved over time. Instructors can use their teaching portfolios as a reflective practice to review past teaching experiences, what worked and what did not.

Teaching portfolios consist of various pieces of evidence about your teaching such as course syllabi, outlines, lesson plans, course evaluations, and more. Instructors curate these pieces of evidence into a collection, giving them the chance to highlight their own growth and focus as educators. While student input may be incorporated as part of the portfolio, instructors can contextualize and respond to student feedback, giving them the chance to tell their own teaching story from a more holistic perspective.

Teaching portfolios encourage self-reflection, especially with guided questions or rubrics to review your work. In addition, an instructor might consider sharing their entire teaching portfolio or selected materials for a single course with colleagues and engaging in a peer review discussion. 

Examples and Resources:

Teaching Portfolio - Career Center

Developing a Statement of Teaching Philosophy and Teaching Portfolio - GSI Teaching & Resource Center

Self Assessment - UCLA Center for Education, Innovation, and Learning in the Sciences

Advancing Inclusion and Anti-Racism in the College Classroom Rubric and Guide

Course Design Equity and Inclusion Rubric

Teaching Demos or Peer Observation

Teaching demonstrations or peer classroom observation provide opportunities to get feedback on your teaching practice, including communication skills or classroom management.

Teaching demonstrations may be arranged as a simulated classroom environment in front of a live audience who take notes and then deliver summarized feedback. Alternatively, demonstrations may involve recording an instructor teaching to an empty room, and this recording can be subjected to later self-review or peer review. Evaluation of teaching demos will often focus on the mechanics of teaching especially for a lecture-based class, e.g. pacing of speech, organization of topics, clarity of explanations.

In contrast, instructors may invite a colleague to observe an actual class session to evaluate teaching in an authentic situation. This arrangement gives the observer a better sense of how the instructor interacts with students both individually or in groups, including their approach to answering questions or facilitating participation. The colleague may take general notes on what they observe or evaluate the instructor using a teaching rubric or other structured tool.

Peer Review of Course Instruction

Preparing for a Teaching Demonstration - UC Irvine Center for Educational Effectiveness

Based on Peer Feedback - UCLA Center for Education, Innovation, and Learning in the Sciences

Teaching Practices Equity and Inclusion Rubric

Classroom Observation Protocol for Undergraduate STEM (COPUS)

Student Learning Assessments

Student learning can vary widely across courses or even between academic terms. However, having a clear benchmark for the intended learning objectives and determining whether an instructor’s course as implemented helps students to reach that benchmark can be an invaluable piece of information to guide your teaching. The method for measuring student learning will depend on the stated learning objective, but a well-vetted instrument can provide the most reliable data.

Recommended steps and considerations for using student learning assessments to evaluate your teaching efficacy include:

Identify a small subset of course learning objectives to focus on, as it is more useful to accurately evaluate one objective vs. evaluating many objectives inaccurately.

Find a well-aligned and well-developed measure for each selected course learning objective, such as vetted exam questions, rubrics, or concept inventories.

If relevant, develop a prompt or assignment that will allow students to demonstrate the learning objective to then be evaluated against the measure.

Plan the timing of data collection to enable useful comparison and interpretation.

Do you want to compare how students perform at the start of your course compared to the same students at the end of your course?

Do you want to compare how the same students perform before and after a specific teaching activity?

Do you want to compare how students in one term perform compared to students in the next term, after changing your teaching approach?

Implement the assignment/prompt and evaluate a subset or all of the student work according to the measure.

Reflect on the results and compare student performance measures.

Are students learning as a result of your teaching activity and course design?

Are students learning to the degree that you intended?

Are students learning more when you change how you teach?

This process can be repeated as many times as needed or the process can be restarted to instead focus on a different course learning objective.

List of Concept Inventories (STEM)

Best Practices for Administering Concept Inventories (Physics)

AAC&U VALUE Rubrics

Rubric Bank | Assessment and Curriculum Support Center - University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

Rubrics - World Languages Resource Collection - Kennesaw State University

Student Surveys or Focus Groups

Surveys or focus groups are effective tools to better understand the student experience in your courses, as well as to solicit feedback on how courses can be improved. Hearing student voices is critical as students themselves can attest to how course activities made them feel, e.g. whether they perceive the learning environment to be inclusive, or what topics they find interesting.

Some considerations for using student surveys in your teaching include:

Surveys collect individual and anonymous input from as many students as possible.

Surveys can gather both quantitative and qualitative data.

Surveys that are anonymous avoid privileging certain voices over others.

Surveys can enable students to share about sensitive experiences that they may be reluctant to discuss publicly.

Surveys that are anonymous may lend to negative response bias.

Survey options at UC Berkeley include customized course evaluation questions or anonymous surveys on bCourses, Google Forms, or Qualtrics. 

Some considerations for using student focus groups in your teaching include:

Focus groups leverage the power of group brainstorming to identify problems and imagine possible solutions.

Focus groups can gather both rich and nuanced qualitative data.

Focus groups with a skilled facilitator tend to have more moderated responses given the visibility of the discussion.

Focus groups take planning, preparation, and dedicated class time.

Focus group options at UC Berkeley include scheduling a Mid-semester Inquiry (MSI) to be facilitated by a CTL staff member.

Instructions for completing question customization for your evaluations as an instructor

Course Evaluations Question Bank

Student-Centered Evaluation Questions for Remote Learning

Based on Student Feedback - UCLA Center for Education, Innovation, and Learning in the Sciences

How Can Instructors Encourage Students to Complete Course Evaluations and Provide Informative Responses?

Student Views/Attitudes/Affective Instruments - ASBMB

Student Skills Inventories - ASBMB

How might I get started?

Self-assess your own course materials using one of the available rubrics listed above.

Schedule a teaching observation with CTL to get a colleague’s feedback on your teaching practices and notes on student engagement.

Schedule an MSI with CTL to gather directed student feedback with the support of a colleague.

Have more questions? Schedule a general consultation with CTL or send us your questions by email ( [email protected] )!

References:

Evaluating Teaching - UCSB Instructional Development

Documenting Teaching - UCSC Center for Innovations in Teaching and Learning

Other Forms of Evaluation - UCLA Center for Education, Innovation, and Learning in the Sciences

Evaluation Of Teaching Committee on Teaching, Academic Senate

Report of the Academic Council Teaching Evaluation Task Force

Teaching Quality Framework Initiative Resources - University of Colorado Boulder

Benchmarks for Teaching Effectiveness - University of Kansas  Center for Teaching Excellence

Teaching Practices Instruments - ASBMB

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Teach. Learn. Grow.

Teach. learn. grow. the education blog.

What is formative assessment?

Human-centered formative assessment drives long-term, holistic success for students. Because there is still confusion around this type of assessment, let’s explore what it is and why it should be a part of our responsive teaching and learning cycles.

“Formative assessment” defined

As an organization, NWEA subscribes to the revised definition from CCSSO : “Formative assessment is a  planned, ongoing process  used by  all students and teachers during learning and teaching  to  elicit and use evidence of student learning  to improve student understanding of intended disciplinary learning outcomes and  support students to become self-directed learners .”

Let’s take a closer look at the key phrases in that definition:

• “Planned, ongoing process.” Formative assessment is a continuous, low- or no-stakes, responsive process comprised of practices, methods, and tools that are selected to support all students in reaching challenging learning goals. Teachers and students collaborate to use this kind of assessment in responsive ways that positively impact learners and learning. They partner to know and respond to strengths, interests, and needs.
• “All students and teachers during learning and teaching.” Formative assessment is a collaborative learning process happening “with” students, not “to” students .
• “Elicit and use evidence of student learning.” Formative assessment processes capture levels of knowledge and skill along the learning journey so teachers and students can make small, immediate, impactful decisions to support well-being, learning-goal achievement, and self-efficacy. Using formative assessment evidence is appropriate for making decisions during the practice phases of learning; formative assessment scores are not appropriate for calculating grades or for making placement decisions.
• “Support students to become self-directed learners.” This type of assessment includes students as active agents in the learning journey, which fuels learning and agency in learning environments and beyond. Engaging students in goal setting is a great way to do this.

What does formative assessment look like?

Little is required to start formative assessment processes because they can begin with a variety of methods and tools . Instead of specific programs, supplies, or resources, effective processes involve partnering with students to incorporate the following five practices into cycles of responsive teaching and learning.

• Clarifying learning goals and success criteria within a broader progression of learning. Students should have context for what they’re learning: why they’re learning it, how it connects to previous lessons and their own interests, and what success looks like. Having goal clarity, purpose, and a path promotes student motivation and agency.
• Eliciting and analyzing evidence of student thinking. Whether it’s capturing ideas on a whiteboard, responding to an online survey, or giving a thumbs-up or down in response to a check for understanding, an effective process centers on knowing learning goals, then gathering, interpreting, and responding to learning-goal evidence.
• Engaging in self-assessment and peer feedback. This type of assessment is more than providing feedback from teacher to student. As I explained in “The importance of student self-assessment,” having students reflect on their progress helps them become active participants in their learning. The process should also involve students collaborating with each other, asking questions, making observations, celebrating successes, and suggesting improvements in ways that support them in attaining challenging learning goals.
• Using actionable feedback. Once learning evidence is collected, teachers work with students to ensure that they have both the time and processes to apply feedback in ways that move learning forward.
• Responding by adjusting learning strategies or next instructional steps. This practice is the “why” of formative assessment. To make the process effective, we must collaborate with students to use evidence and insights to propel learners toward shared and personal short- and long-term goals.

Why formative assessment is so important

As my colleague Chase Nordengren noted , “[f]ormative assessment is [critical] for educators looking to unlock in-depth information on student learning. […] Using strategies that expose misconceptions, support higher-level thinking within a subject, and engage students in academic discourse, formative assessment provides the real-time feedback necessary to dynamically adjust instruction to meet learner needs as they emerge and change.”

In short, formative assessment helps us evaluate whether our plans and responsive “moves” are working, while there’s still time to do something about it. It celebrates that learning is an ongoing process, complete with stretches of success and periods of struggle, and it helps us remember that learning is not linear but, instead, an endeavor that rewards effort, persistence, and dedication. Best of all, it helps us collaborate with students as co-partners in the entire learning experience. Together we are a learning team, one that makes anything possible.

Ready for more?

There is no shortage of information and resources available on formative assessment. For easy-to -implement, research-based strategies, check out our eBook, Making it work: How formative assessment can supercharge your practice ,  and our article  “27 easy formative assessment strategies for gathering evidence of student learning.” Our professional learning team also offers five workshops  that can engage you and your colleagues in deep dives designed and delivered by expert educators.

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Making it work: How formative assessment can supercharge your practice

Formative assessment isn’t new. But as our education system changes, our approaches to any instructional strategy must evolve. Learn how to put formative assessment to work in your classroom.

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What Is Formative Assessment: A Practical Guide To When And How To Use It

Zoe Benjamin

Read this guide to formative assessment to find out what it means, how to use it most effectively and what challenges and pitfalls to look out for.

Dylan Wiliam has described formative assessment as a cornerstone of outstanding lessons and an essential area for ongoing professional development. So, if you are keen to unlock the full potential of your teaching and help your students excel, it’s time to embrace the power of formative assessment!

What is formative assessment?

Formative assessment is the process of monitoring and assessing students’ learning and understanding in order to adapt your teaching methods to better address students’ individual needs. The result of this continual formative feedback is that both teacher and student know the areas of greatest strength and the areas for improvement. Formative assessment is by its nature a low stakes form of assessment.

One way to view formative assessment is that it is a way for pupils to provide feedback to their teacher about whether they are on track to achieve the learning outcomes for the lesson. 

Although the feedback is provided by pupils, it is the responsibility of the teacher to ensure that pupils are given access to formative assessment opportunities that provide the teacher with accurate and ongoing feedback. The feedback must then also be used carefully to inform the teacher’s next steps.

Formative assessment is often, but not always relatively quick and in the moment eg asking children to hold up mini whiteboards to assess their understanding of a concept; it can also be much more extensive such as a diagnostic maths test .

Some people will use the term formative assessment as synonymous with assessment for learning or assessment as learning because it utilises assessment to ultimately help the learning process.

Diagnostic Year 6 Maths Quizzes

Identify and plug gaps with your Year 6 class on key maths topics with these formative diagnostic quizzes

Formative assessment vs summative assessment

The difference between formative assessment and summative assessment is best seen in terms of their goals.

The goal of formative assessment is to guide the next stage of teaching and learning and inform the teacher and student on their gaps in skills knowledge. 

In contrast, the goal of summative assessment is a snapshot or record of what a pupil has learnt by a particular point in time, often benchmarked against school, trust or national standards.

FREE SUMMATIVE MATHS TESTS

• Year 6 maths test
• Year 7 maths test
• Year 8 maths test
• Year 9 maths test

Formative assessment strategies offer assessment for learning; they provide teachers with the information they need to enhance and track student progress . It is a great starting point to implement differentiation in teaching accurately.

Summative assessment provides an assessment of learning and a measure of student performance. 

Summative assessments are more likely to take the form of high stakes classroom assessments like SATs, GCSEs or even end of year tests in a school. Examples of formative assessments will include low stakes quizzes or exit tickets. However, you cannot rely on the format of the assessment alone – it’s all about how it’s used.

Read more: Formative and Summative Assessment: The Differences Explained

What are the benefits of formative assessment?

Wiliam and Leahy (2016) conducted a two-year study in 57 schools to measure the impact that formative assessment has on students’ learning experience. At the end of the study, students in 85% of the schools were responding significantly more to their teachers’ feedback than before the study started. 

The five strategies promoted by Wiliam and Leahy were:

• Clarifying, sharing and understanding learning intentions and success criteria
• Engineering effective discussions, tasks, and activities that elicit evidence of learning
• Providing feedback that moves learners forward
• Activating students as learning resources for one another
• Activating students as owners of their own learning.

The benefits of formative assessment include:

• Encourages a culture of reflection and adaptation in students, empowering them to reflect on and adapt their own learning.
• Facilitates teachers in evaluating and refining their teaching strategies based on formative assessment insights.
• Promotes self-evaluation and metacognition, enabling students to effectively plan, monitor, and evaluate their learning progress.
• Improves students’ academic performance by providing teachers with valuable feedback on student understanding.
• Enables teachers to implement whole class or small group interventions as necessary, ensuring personalised instruction and enhanced learning outcomes .

How formative assessment raises student achievement

1. formative assessment raises student achievement by allowing more targeted teaching.

By analysing the results of carefully planned formative assessment, teachers can develop an accurate picture of their pupil’s current understanding of a given topic. Using this information to inform the next steps in the lesson and future lesson planning can allow gaps in understanding to be closed and improved pupil outcomes.

2. Formative assessment can raise pupil achievement through improving their self-evaluation

If the results of formative assessment are shared with pupils and appropriate targeted teaching strategies are implemented, they can begin to identify whether a solution is accurate, which methods are most effective and when it is appropriate to use them. However due to the Dunning-Kruger effect – a cognitive bias causing students to overestimate their own achievement – it is vital that the ability of a student to accurately self-evaluate their understanding is itself continually assessed and monitored.

3. Formative assessment encourages students metacognitive skills

As they receive ongoing feedback they are exposed to a range of formative assessment techniques and become more involved in their learning; metacognition is a proven technique to raise student achievement.

READ MORE : How to teach metacognitive skills

Examples of formative assessment 

The formative assessment technique you choose will depend on the situation, your current knowledge of the student, and what outcome you require from your assessment. The most reliable information about pupil knowledge comes from formative assessment activities consciously designed to uncover what students do and don’t know and and expose misconceptions.

Some of these formative assessment examples by their nature will be diagnostic i.e. with the primary goal of identifying and evaluating students’ current knowledge and understanding in a specific content domain.

The most effective examples of formative assessment are:

• Diagnostic questions
• Low stakes quizzes
• Mini whiteboards
• Problem pairs
• Examples and non-examples
• Exit tickets or exit slips
• Shadow tests
• Comment-only marking
• Metacognitive prompts
• One-minute papers
• Always, sometimes, never
• Directed questioning
• Open-ended questions
• Identifying misconceptions
• Concept map
• Mark scheme or rubric
• Homework tasks

Read more: The best formative assessment examples .

How to use formative assessment as part of your intervention

We recommend every intervention should have some level of formative assessment at the end or beginning to inform the next lesson. This is because the best interventions by their nature are targeted and focused on an individual student’s needs as is the case for our one to one online maths tuition .

At Third Space Learning, pupils complete post session questions after their online one to one maths tutoring sessions. Pupils will be asked questions related to the Learning Objective(s) they’ve covered with their tutor in that session, as well as Learning Objectives they’ve not yet covered. This helps us understand both how well they’ve understood the content of the lesson, and which Learning Objectives they still need to cover in future tutoring sessions. Teachers can access the results of pupils’ post session questions anytime on our online platform.

The importance of formative feedback

The success of formative assessment relies on teachers being able to give clear and concise feedback that helps students move from their current level of understanding to the next level. 

When feedback gives pupils explicit instructions that move their learning forward, it is called formative feedback. Formative assessments that are not followed by effective formative feedback will not improve student attainment. 

Examples of formative feedback

Formative feedback is crucial for students to improve their academic performance by gaining insights into their strengths and weaknesses.

This can be given on an individual basis, either verbal or written, or it may be given to a whole class following a low-stakes quiz or at the start of a lesson in response to the information gained from the previous lesson’s exit ticket. 

The following examples illustrate the types of formative feedback seen in maths lessons:

1. Verbal formative feedback

A teacher explains to a student that they have mixed up the definitions of factors and multiples. 

They might remind the pupil that the word multiple means ‘lots of’ something to help them remember that they can use their times tables to identify the multiples of a number.

2. Written formative feedback

In response to the work shown below in a student’s exercise book, a teacher writes: ‘Remember that the denominators do not need to be the same when multiplying fractions. Try this question again by multiplying the numerators and denominators together for the original question’. 

3. Whole class formative feedback

Following the completion of the nth term exit ticket shown in the examples above, the teacher begins the next lesson with a recap for finding the nth term of a quadratic sequence emphasising the need to divide the common difference by two.

Challenges associated with formative assessment processes 

Formative assessment is a crucial aspect of evaluating student work and adjusting instruction to meet their needs. Nevertheless, teachers encounter challenges in implementing effective practices:

1. Ensuring accurate reflection of student learning

David Didau has argued that there must be a period of time between the new knowledge acquired and the formative assessment. Otherwise the assessment becomes a measure of student performance rather than student learning.

He argues that when students are shown a new method during a lesson, say expanding double brackets, any assessment of their ability to do that during the same lesson is a measure of memory and performance rather than learning and understanding. 

If we consider learning to be a permanent change in students’ long-term memories, then it is difficult to argue that any assessment completed soon after a new method has been taught can accurately predict whether it has been successfully learnt.

As Wiliam and others have pointed out, the point of eliciting evidence of learning via formative techniques is to incrementally increase the probability that the learning that has taken place matches the initial learning intentions – the more you check and correct, the more likely this becomes. No formative assessment technique can definitively confirm that learning has occurred.

Despite this criticism, it is still important to know whether pupils can independently reproduce a new method during the lesson in which it has first been taught. 

Even if we are only measuring performance at this stage in the learning process, being able to successfully perform a new skill is still a prerequisite to being able to do it at a future date. 

If a student is not able to demonstrate understanding of a new topic during the lesson it is important that the teacher has that information and adjusts their teaching strategy accordingly.

Testing previously learnt material through a low stakes quiz at the start of a lesson is likely to be an accurate assessment of learning rather than performance, particularly if the material being tested was taught in the previous month or term. 

Providing students with retrieval practice in this way will strengthen the connections in their long-term memory, activate prior knowledge, and allow teachers to know whether previously learnt material needs to be retaught. 

2. Selecting effective questions to identify specific learning gaps

Another challenge associated with formative assessment is selecting the right questions to include in the assessment materials. 

Poorly chosen questions can identify that a student has not fully understood a topic but will not be able to identify which specific part has been misunderstood. 

It is much more effective to include diagnostic questions when creating formative assessments. Diagnostic questions are specifically designed to give a greater insight into students’ cognitive processes and produce answers that allow the teacher to know which specific part of the topic has not been understood. 

In the example below, each incorrect answer will reveal the nature of students’ misunderstanding.

B is the correct answer. Each incorrect answer reveals the learner’s misconception :

• Answer A: triangle is isosceles.
• Answer C: 85° and x add to 180.°
• Answer D: 105° and x are corresponding angles.

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Formative assessment FAQs

Summative assessments produce a measure of student attainment; they are usually presented in the form of a high stakes assessment. The results have little or no impact on subsequent teaching. Formative assessments produce a measure of attainment and are designed to identify students’ misconceptions. Teachers use the results of formative assessments to adapt their teaching and improve pupil progress.

Formative assessment allows teachers to quickly check their pupils’ understanding and identify how they should adapt their teaching to improve student attainment. Ongoing formative feedback also helps pupils to develop metacognitive skills which supports them to become self-regulated learners.

Use formative assessment to test prior knowledge to ensure you are testing learning rather than performance. Design your formative assessment questions so that each incorrect answer reveals students’ specific misunderstanding. 

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Teaching excellence & educational innovation, what is the difference between formative and summative assessment, formative assessment.

The goal of formative assessment is to monitor student learning to provide ongoing feedback that can be used by instructors to improve their teaching and by students to improve their learning. More specifically, formative assessments:

• help students identify their strengths and weaknesses and target areas that need work
• help faculty recognize where students are struggling and address problems immediately

Formative assessments are generally low stakes , which means that they have low or no point value. Examples of formative assessments include asking students to:

• draw a concept map in class to represent their understanding of a topic
• submit one or two sentences identifying the main point of a lecture
• turn in a research proposal for early feedback

Summative assessment

The goal of summative assessment is to evaluate student learning at the end of an instructional unit by comparing it against some standard or benchmark.

Summative assessments are often high stakes , which means that they have a high point value. Examples of summative assessments include:

• a midterm exam
• a final project
• a senior recital

Information from summative assessments can be used formatively when students or faculty use it to guide their efforts and activities in subsequent courses.

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In This Article Expand or collapse the "in this article" section Formative Assessment

Introduction, the evolution of formative assessment.

• Theory and Formative Assessment
• Formative Assessment and Student Achievement
• The Role of Feedback in Formative Assessment
• Formative Assessment Process and Practice in the Classroom?
• Formative Assessment as Part of a Balanced Assessment System
• Developing Teacher Capacity for Formative Assessment
• National and International Reports

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Formative Assessment by Leslie W. Grant , Christopher R. Gareis , Sarah P. Hylton LAST REVIEWED: 26 May 2021 LAST MODIFIED: 26 May 2021 DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199756810-0062

Formative assessment has received international attention as an instructional approach that has great potential to improve teaching and learning. The concept has roots in educational evaluation practices and has evolved over time, from a focus on formative evaluation to formative assessment or assessment for learning. Although one singular definition has not emerged among researchers, scholars, and practitioners, shared themes across the sources suggest the emergence of common elements of formative assessment: Formative assessment is a cyclical process that involves interactions among teachers and students. Those interactions include prompting thinking and eliciting information. The information is then gathered and analyzed by both the teacher and the students. Finally, teachers and students provide feedback, and the student makes use of the feedback to either confirm or improve their understandings and/or skills. Research into these common elements will continue to inform our evolving understanding of the formative assessment process. This article first addresses the evolution of formative assessment and the theories that have informed the conceptualization of and research into the formative assessment process. The work of the Assessment Reform Group in the 1990s catapulted formative assessment into the spotlight for teacher education programs, teacher professional development, and educational research primarily due to claims of the impact on student achievement. This article provides often cited, seminal research studies claiming to provide evidence of a link between formative assessment and student achievement. Being central to the formative assessment process, works addressing the role of feedback are explored. The next two sections focus on works that have emerged to support implementation of the formative assessment process in the classroom and works to support the development of balanced assessment systems that include formative assessment at both the classroom and the school system levels. Over time, professional organizations have developed and revised standards to address both uses of assessments, to include formative assessments, in the classroom as well as standards for the development of educator knowledge, skills, and dispositions. The standards provided in this article represent the most referenced standards in the assessment and evaluation field. Finally, national reports from the United States and international reports noted in the final section provide insight into evolving policies and practices and signal the emergence over time of agreement on common elements of the formative assessment process.

Formative assessment has become a mainstay in educational discourse and practice. The first reference to the term “formative” has roots in curriculum development and evaluation. Cronbach 1963 refers to the idea of using evaluation as a tool for improving curricular programs. Scriven 1967 builds on Cronbach’s work in proposing the term “formative” as a way of clarifying the roles of evaluation. Bloom 1971 applies Scriven’s definition to the process of teaching and learning, by using the term to describe a way of improving student learning. Bloom, et al. 1971 links the idea of formative evaluation to the instructional approach of mastery learning as an instructional process that includes the use of data to improve both teaching and learning. During the 1980s and 1990s, educational researchers continued to expand on the ideas and theories proposed, and use of the term “formative evaluation” was replaced by the term “formative assessment.” Sadler 1989 builds on the definitions previously offered, highlighting the role of the student in the assessment process and viewing student self-assessment as critical to improved student learning. First published in 1994, Gipps 2012 documents the shift in how the educational community views assessment, including a shift from a psychometric view to the development of assessments and use of assessment data by teachers to guide instruction. The is distinguished as a classic text and it was thus reprinted in 2012. During the 1990s and the early 2000s, the Assessment Reform Group in the United Kingdom focused on the development of formative assessment practices and provided a definition of formative assessment. Written by Assessment Reform Group members, Harlen and James 1997 affirms that a distinction between formative and summative assessment is needed due to the confluence of these two roles of assessment in the field. The term “assessment for learning” was first coined in Assessment Reform Group 1999 to further delineate the differences between the goals and roles of summative and formative assessment and extended by the vision of assessment not only for learning but also of learning and as learning found in Earl 2003 . Stiggins and Chappuis 2012 highlights the importance of assessment for learning and situates it as the key practice of classroom assessment.

Assessment Reform Group. 1999. Assessment for learning: Beyond the black box . Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ., School of Education.

In this text, the authors first coin the term “assessment for learning” to distinguish it from the more conventional and long-standing notion of “assessment of learning.” The purpose of assessment of learning is to verify student learning, whereas the purpose of assessment for learning is to contribute to the acquisition, or forming, of learning.

Bloom, B. S. 1971. Learning for mastery. In Handbook on formative and summative evaluation of student learning . Edited by B. S. Bloom, J. T. Hastings, and G. F. Madaus, 43–57. New York: McGraw-Hill.

This book chapter connects the concept of mastery learning with formative evaluation. The author indicates that formative tests are used to gauge student learning, to diagnose difficulties, and to design interventions so that the student achieves mastery of a unit of instruction.

Bloom, B. S., J. T. Hastings, and G. F. Madaus. 1971. Formative evaluation. In Handbook on formative and summative evaluation of student learning . Edited by B. S. Bloom, J. T. Hastings, and G. F. Madaus, 117–138. New York: McGraw-Hill.

A book chapter that builds on Scriven’s definition of formative evaluation in curriculum development and implementation. The authors apply this definition to planning, instructional delivery, and student learning, with guidance on how to create assessments and use assessment data.

Cronbach, L. J. 1963. Course improvement through evaluation. Teacher’s College Record 64.8: 672–683.

In perhaps the earliest intimations of the concept of formative evaluation, Cronbach calls for an evaluation process that focuses on gathering and reporting information to use in guiding decisions in an educational program and in curriculum development while the program can be modified.

Earl, L.?M. 2003. Assessment as learning: Using classroom assessment to maximize student learning . Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

The author describes a vision for the future of assessment as being composed of assessment of,for , and as learning. Principles of assessment for learning are illustrated with examples from multiple subject areas and grade levels. Assessment as learning focuses on the role of students as active participants in their own learning, which the author describes as virtually absent from most classrooms at the time of publication of the text.

Gipps, C. V. 2012. Beyond testing: Towards a theory of educational assessment . Classic ed. London: Routledge.

First published in 1994 in London by the Falmer publishing house, this book explores the evolution of how assessment is viewed. The author delineates the move from the psychometric view of assessment and a focus on testing to a classroom view of assessment that includes the development of a culture of assessment and a wider range of assessment tools and uses.

Harlen, W., and M. James. 1997. Assessment and learning: Differences and relationships between formative and summative assessment. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice 4.3: 365–379.

DOI: 10.1080/0969594970040304

In this article, the authors focus on providing clarity on the differences between formative and summative assessment. In addition, the authors provide conditions by which formative assessments can be used for summative purposes. These conditions include the use of external criteria for assessing student learning, viewing the results of formative assessment holistically across a period of instruction, and ensuring inter-rater reliability across teachers.

Sadler, D. R. 1989. Formative assessment and the design of instructional systems. Instructional Science 18.2: 119–144.

DOI: 10.1007/BF00117714

In this article, Sadler focuses on the judgments made about the quality of student work, discussing not only who makes such judgments but also how they are made and used. He posits that students must be able to appraise their own work and draw on their own skills to make modifications to their learning, thus alluding to the intersection of formative and self-assessment. The importance of feedback is emphasized.

Scriven, M. 1967. The methodology of evaluation. In Perspectives of curriculum evaluation . Edited by R. W. Tyler, R. M. Gagné, and M. Scriven, 39–85. Rand McNally Education. Chicago: Rand McNally.

In this monograph, Scriven proposes the use of the terms “formative” and “summative” to provide clarity about roles and goals within the evaluation community. The role of formative evaluation is to make improvements while the focus of the evaluation can still be improved. By comparison, summative evaluation is used to determine the merit or worth of an educational program.

Stiggins, R. J., and J. Chappuis. 2012. An introduction to student-involved assessment FOR learning . 6th ed. Boston: Pearson.

This classic textbook on classroom assessment may be the earliest example of a text that uses assessment for learning as the organizing conceptual framework for the principles, strategies, and techniques that it presents. This textbook is written for pre-service teachers, and it accentuates the intentional involvement of students in gauging their own learning.

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Using Formative Assessment to Measure Student Progress

Teachers can use the feedback they gain from assessing to drive instructional outcomes and help students understand what success looks like.

Perhaps my favorite commentary on formative assessment is this analogy offered by education professor Dylan Wiliam : “I flew back from Seattle a few weeks ago. Just imagine what the pilot would have done if he would have flown east for nine hours and then after nine hours he’d say, ‘It’s time to land.’ So he’ll put the plane down and he’ll ask, ‘Is this London?’ And of course, even if it’s not London, he says, ‘Well, everybody’s gotta get off, because I have to get off to the next journey.’ And that’s exactly the way that we’ve assessed in the past.” 

Formative assessment, implemented correctly, is a continuous measure of student success throughout any unit of study. When we provide students with quick, real-time information about their progress, they gain valuable knowledge that transcends any grade. 

Ensure that grades accurately measure student performance 

Although many teachers would love to abandon grades from an ideological perspective, that is not usually possible given school or district constraints. When thinking about grading, teachers can become mired in details that distract from the overall purpose of formative assessment. For example, some education experts argue that assessments cannot be formative if any data is recorded in the grade book.

By placing too much emphasis on grades over performance, however, this perspective overlooks the most important benefits that formative assessment produces: the delivery of “no secrets” instruction that is aligned to transparent and equitable feedback . To that end, formative assessments can be graded, but with two provisos: 

• Any formative grade should not be weighted heavily enough to have a significant impact on overall success, and students must also have the opportunity to reassess their work and make improvements. Otherwise, the grade is summative, not formative.
• Formative grades must be a true reflection of student success toward a goal. If they are arbitrary or placed in the grade book for completion, the entire formative process is compromised. 

In essence, formative assessment supports the idea that process is more important than product; therefore, the ultimate goal is centered on learning, not a grade. Any grade that either is given as a formality or is not grounded in criteria for success cannot be formative.

Understand the purpose of formative assessment

As education writer Stephen Chappuis explains, formative assessment is designed to deliver information about student progress during instruction. Thinking back to Dylan Wiliam’s comparison of the assessment process to a flight plan, consider the difference between a classroom in which there is little to no transparency and one in which “no secrets” learning outcomes are clear to all. In Classroom A, students read a short article about why exercise is important. The teacher explains that their task is to read silently and then fill out short-answer responses to the questions.

After class, the teacher collects their work, checks that students have answered the questions, and enters a grade in the “completion” category. While the teacher may feel that she has done something to help students make progress, she has only provided an activity that is devoid of any opportunity for assessment. Therefore, she has no way of determining whether students reached a learning goal that was never explicitly communicated to them.

In Classroom B, the teacher has the same content and curricular focus, but her process is different as she begins by explicitly sharing the desired learning outcome: “Today, we will examine the reasons that exercise is considered beneficial.” To begin, students sit in groups to read an assigned section of the article about the importance of exercise. Then, using a jigsaw-style method , students move into different groups so that each member can teach the rest of their classmates about what they learned in their assigned portion. At the end of the class, students complete an exit ticket with the following prompts:

• Share the reasons listed in the article that exercise is important, writing a brief explanation for each reason (one or two sentences).
• Of the reasons given in the article about the importance of exercise, which one do you most agree with, and why? Fully explain your answer.

The teacher in Classroom B can determine, based on the answers on the exit ticket, how fully students understood the objective of the day and develop next steps that accurately reflect progress toward learning outcomes.

Clearly, the teacher in Classroom B is engaging in formative assessment that provides insight into where her students are in terms of their learning. When instruction is planned with the outcome at the forefront of focus, formative data is far more likely to reflect accurate measures of success. However, when students complete tasks for a grade that does not connect to any kind of specific target, there is no way to determine where they stand in relation to the goal.

Remember that feedback, not grades, should drive instruction

Teachers often call grades “feedback,” but the truth is that an evaluative measure like a numerical score does not tell students that much about their progress toward a skill or standard, nor does a letter grade. However, effective feedback protocols based on clear, student-friendly criteria demystify how success on any given assignment is defined. 

Going back to the kids in Classroom B who are learning about the importance of exercise, imagine that their formative assessment (in this case, an exit ticket) includes the following criteria for success:

• You have accurately summarized the ideas in the article about the importance of exercise.
• Your response fully answers both questions in complete sentences.
• You have provided details that help to explain what reasons for exercise are the most meaningful to you.

If students have this list before they complete the formative assessment, they fully understand what a successful product should incorporate. Then, the teacher can point out where they are not yet seeing success in the feedback with comments like “You have not yet mentioned your own reasons that exercise is important, which is a necessary step in showing that you can apply the concepts in this article to your own experience.” 

With a process like the one above, the formative assessment is easily streamlined, as the teacher directly indicates which criteria have been met and which need improvement. For example, sorting students into categories of “meets” and “not yet” provides a helpful snapshot of where the class generally stands with reaching academic goals.

Ultimately, the goal of formative assessment is for teachers to clearly indicate a leaning target so that students can accurately attribute their academic performance to clear criteria for success with aligned, streamlined feedback. This helps us meet our true goal: helping kids understand what makes them successful so they can continue to grow and thrive.

What about your thoughts on the role of grades in formative assessment—do you use them? Why or why not? Answer in the comments.

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Formative, Summative, and More Types of Assessments in Education

All the best ways to evaluate learning before, during, and after it happens.

When you hear the word assessment, do you automatically think “tests”? While it’s true that tests are one kind of assessment, they’re not the only way teachers evaluate student progress. Learn more about the types of assessments used in education, and find out how and when to use them.

Diagnostic Assessments

Formative assessments, summative assessments.

• Criterion-Referenced, Ipsative, and Normative Assessments

What is assessment?

In simplest terms, assessment means gathering data to help understand progress and effectiveness. In education, we gather data about student learning in variety of ways, then use it to assess both their progress and the effectiveness of our teaching programs. This helps educators know what’s working well and where they need to make changes.

There are three broad types of assessments: diagnostic, formative, and summative. These take place throughout the learning process, helping students and teachers gauge learning. Within those three broad categories, you’ll find other types of assessment, such as ipsative, norm-referenced, and criterion-referenced.

What’s the purpose of assessment in education?

In education, we can group assessments under three main purposes:

• Of learning
• For learning
• As learning

Assessment of learning is student-based and one of the most familiar, encompassing tests, reports, essays, and other ways of determining what students have learned. These are usually summative assessments, and they are used to gauge progress for individuals and groups so educators can determine who has mastered the material and who needs more assistance.

When we talk about assessment for learning, we’re referring to the constant evaluations teachers perform as they teach. These quick assessments—such as in-class discussions or quick pop quizzes—give educators the chance to see if their teaching strategies are working. This allows them to make adjustments in action, tailoring their lessons and activities to student needs. Assessment for learning usually includes the formative and diagnostic types.

Assessment can also be a part of the learning process itself. When students use self-evaluations, flash cards, or rubrics, they’re using assessments to help them learn.

Let’s take a closer look at the various types of assessments used in education.

Diagnostic assessments are used before learning to determine what students already do and do not know. This often refers to pre-tests and other activities students attempt at the beginning of a unit.

How To Use Diagnostic Assessments

When giving diagnostic assessments, it’s important to remind students these won’t affect their overall grade. Instead, it’s a way for them to find out what they’ll be learning in an upcoming lesson or unit. It can also help them understand their own strengths and weaknesses, so they can ask for help when they need it.

Teachers can use results to understand what students already know and adapt their lesson plans accordingly. There’s no point in over-teaching a concept students have already mastered. On the other hand, a diagnostic assessment can also help highlight expected pre-knowledge that may be missing.

For instance, a teacher might assume students already know certain vocabulary words that are important for an upcoming lesson. If the diagnostic assessment indicates differently, the teacher knows they’ll need to take a step back and do a little pre-teaching before getting to their actual lesson plans.

Examples of Diagnostic Assessments

• Pre-test: This includes the same questions (or types of questions) that will appear on a final test, and it’s an excellent way to compare results.
• Blind Kahoot: Teachers and kids already love using Kahoot for test review, but it’s also the perfect way to introduce a new topic. Learn how Blind Kahoots work here.
• Survey or questionnaire: Ask students to rate their knowledge on a topic with a series of low-stakes questions.
• Checklist: Create a list of skills and knowledge students will build throughout a unit, and have them start by checking off any they already feel they’ve mastered. Revisit the list frequently as part of formative assessment.

Formative assessments take place during instruction. They’re used throughout the learning process and help teachers make on-the-go adjustments to instruction and activities as needed. These assessments aren’t used in calculating student grades, but they are planned as part of a lesson or activity. Learn much more about formative assessments here.

How To Use Formative Assessments

As you’re building a lesson plan, be sure to include formative assessments at logical points. These types of assessments might be used at the end of a class period, after finishing a hands-on activity, or once you’re through with a unit section or learning objective.

Once you have the results, use that feedback to determine student progress, both overall and as individuals. If the majority of a class is struggling with a specific concept, you might need to find different ways to teach it. Or you might discover that one student is especially falling behind and arrange to offer extra assistance to help them out.

While kids may grumble, standard homework review assignments can actually be a pretty valuable type of formative assessment . They give kids a chance to practice, while teachers can evaluate their progress by checking the answers. Just remember that homework review assignments are only one type of formative assessment, and not all kids have access to a safe and dedicated learning space outside of school.

Examples of Formative Assessments

• Exit tickets : At the end of a lesson or class, pose a question for students to answer before they leave. They can answer using a sticky note, online form, or digital tool.
• Kahoot quizzes : Kids enjoy the gamified fun, while teachers appreciate the ability to analyze the data later to see which topics students understand well and which need more time.
• Flip (formerly Flipgrid): We love Flip for helping teachers connect with students who hate speaking up in class. This innovative (and free!) tech tool lets students post selfie videos in response to teacher prompts. Kids can view each other’s videos, commenting and continuing the conversation in a low-key way.
• Self-evaluation: Encourage students to use formative assessments to gauge their own progress too. If they struggle with review questions or example problems, they know they’ll need to spend more time studying. This way, they’re not surprised when they don’t do well on a more formal test.

Find a big list of 25 creative and effective formative assessment options here.

Summative assessments are used at the end of a unit or lesson to determine what students have learned. By comparing diagnostic and summative assessments, teachers and learners can get a clearer picture of how much progress they’ve made. Summative assessments are often tests or exams but also include options like essays, projects, and presentations.

How To Use Summative Assessments

The goal of a summative assessment is to find out what students have learned and if their learning matches the goals for a unit or activity. Ensure you match your test questions or assessment activities with specific learning objectives to make the best use of summative assessments.

When possible, use an array of summative assessment options to give all types of learners a chance to demonstrate their knowledge. For instance, some students suffer from severe test anxiety but may still have mastered the skills and concepts and just need another way to show their achievement. Consider ditching the test paper and having a conversation with the student about the topic instead, covering the same basic objectives but without the high-pressure test environment.

Summative assessments are often used for grades, but they’re really about so much more. Encourage students to revisit their tests and exams, finding the right answers to any they originally missed. Think about allowing retakes for those who show dedication to improving on their learning. Drive home the idea that learning is about more than just a grade on a report card.

Examples of Summative Assessments

• Traditional tests: These might include multiple-choice, matching, and short-answer questions.
• Essays and research papers: This is another traditional form of summative assessment, typically involving drafts (which are really formative assessments in disguise) and edits before a final copy.
• Presentations: From oral book reports to persuasive speeches and beyond, presentations are another time-honored form of summative assessment.

Find 25 of our favorite alternative assessments here.

More Types of Assessments

Now that you know the three basic types of assessments, let’s take a look at some of the more specific and advanced terms you’re likely to hear in professional development books and sessions. These assessments may fit into some or all of the broader categories, depending on how they’re used. Here’s what teachers need to know.

Criterion-Referenced Assessments

In this common type of assessment, a student’s knowledge is compared to a standard learning objective. Most summative assessments are designed to measure student mastery of specific learning objectives. The important thing to remember about this type of assessment is that it only compares a student to the expected learning objectives themselves, not to other students.

Many standardized tests are criterion-referenced assessments. A governing board determines the learning objectives for a specific group of students. Then, all students take a standardized test to see if they’ve achieved those objectives.

Find out more about criterion-referenced assessments here.

Norm-Referenced Assessments

These types of assessments do compare student achievement with that of their peers. Students receive a ranking based on their score and potentially on other factors as well. Norm-referenced assessments usually rank on a bell curve, establishing an “average” as well as high performers and low performers.

These assessments can be used as screening for those at risk for poor performance (such as those with learning disabilities) or to identify high-level learners who would thrive on additional challenges. They may also help rank students for college entrance or scholarships, or determine whether a student is ready for a new experience like preschool.

Learn more about norm-referenced assessments here.

Ipsative Assessments

In education, ipsative assessments compare a learner’s present performance to their own past performance, to chart achievement over time. Many educators consider ipsative assessment to be the most important of all , since it helps students and parents truly understand what they’ve accomplished—and sometimes, what they haven’t. It’s all about measuring personal growth.

Comparing the results of pre-tests with final exams is one type of ipsative assessment. Some schools use curriculum-based measurement to track ipsative performance. Kids take regular quick assessments (often weekly) to show their current skill/knowledge level in reading, writing, math, and other basics. Their results are charted, showing their progress over time.

Learn more about ipsative assessment in education here.

Have more questions about the best types of assessments to use with your students? Come ask for advice in the We Are Teachers HELPLINE group on Facebook.

Plus, check out creative ways to check for understanding ..

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This brief explains how formative assessment can contribute to improving learning and what recurring challenges affect its implementation. It then provides policy recommendations that may help educators and policy-makers overcome these obstacles.

Formative assessment, often referred to as ‘assessment for learning’, classroom, or continuous assessment, encompasses ‘all those activities undertaken by teachers, and/or by students which provide information to be used as feedback to modify the teaching and learning activities in which they are engaged’ (Black and Wiliam, 1998: 7–8). Whether formal or informal, they can take various forms such as quizzes and tests, written essays, self/peer assessment, oral questioning, learning logs, and so on. While traditionally opposed to summative assessment or ‘assessment of learning’, which is  used to ‘certify or select learners in a given grade or age for further schooling’ (UNESCO, 2019: 16), the distinction has become blurred, with a growing number of hybrid assessments mixing both purposes. Additionally, although generally low-stake, formative assessments can count for students’ final grades. Thus, it is worth noting that classifying an assessment as formative should consider both its characteristics and the use of the information generated (Dunn and Mulvenon, 2009).

During the COVID-19 crisis formative assessments gained more relevance due to uncertainty about whether students were acquiring the necessary skills. With summative and high-stake examinations often being cancelled or postponed, formative assessments may provide better options and solutions in measuring learner progress (Bawane and Sharma, 2020). Although the education sector globally was unprepared for the crisis, some countries managed to find alternative modes of formative assessment through innovative means. For instance, in the United Arab Emirates, a smart measurement policy enabled  the assessment of students’ academic performance using artificial intelligence (IIEP-UNESCO, 2020).

What we know

Evidence about the benefits of formative assessments on learning is mixed. A review of the literature in Clarke (2012) suggests that they can yield promising learning gains (especially for low achievers) if frequent and of high quality. Meaningful feedback is central to the efficiency of formative assessments (OECD, 2005a; Muskin, 2017). Hill argues that ‘when used to provide feedback on a daily basis to both teacher and students’, they are ‘one of the most powerful interventions ever recorded in educational research literature’ (Hill, 2013: 65). To be effective, feedback needs to be based on sound data, performed well (Hill, 2013), and followed by appropriate corrective measures (Allal and Mottier Lopez, 2005). However, Browne (2016) makes the nuance that while research clearly points to the inefficient implementation of formative assessments in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, the only rigorous experimental study conducted in these regions found no positive effects on learning even with appropriate implementation. Moreover, some authors raise methodological concerns or concerns related to definitions in the literature supportive of formative assessments (see for example Dunn and Mulvenon, 2009; Bennett, 2011). 

Nevertheless, if ‘valid, timely, constructive, and specific to the learning needs of the child’, formative assessments can be particularly helpful in advancing teaching and learning (READ, 2020: 3). By providing feedback to teachers and students, they can help educators to plan instructional activities (Allal and Mottier Lopez, 2005), including differentiated instruction (OECD, 2008), and enable adjustment and remediation targeted to a student or group of students (Muskin, 2017). They may also help identify areas for improvement in teacher professional development, and may be crucial for teachers in motivating and engaging their students (Muskin, 2017). 

Challenges 

Many education systems are moving towards more formative assessments, acknowledging the limitations of high-stake examinations (e.g. the limited range of skills assessed and techniques used). However, their implementation in classrooms remains problematic, especially in developing contexts. 

Teaching conditions

Poor teaching conditions may affect the effective implementation of formative assessments. Large class sizes may cause teachers difficulties in providing individualized attention to their students (Browne, 2016). Moreover, fears that formative assessments might be time-consuming and resource-intensive, especially alongside  extensive curriculum requirements, contribute to their perception as an ‘administrative burden’ for teachers (OECD, 2005b; Browne, 2016). Teachers may conform to policies but do not use assessment results to improve teaching or learning (Browne, 2016).

School- and system-level support

Although policy changes initiated a shift towards formative assessments in Africa, minimal institutional support, such as additional teacher training and materials, has been provided to operate this shift (Browne, 2016). 

Moreover, school culture may not always be supportive of formative assessments. In many countries, the focus remains on more visible summative assessments conducted for accountability purposes (OECD, 2005a; Browne, 2016). Additionally, school directors, inspectors, or the wider system may not grant teachers enough freedom to make decisions based on assessment results by adjusting their teaching methods and moving away from traditional teaching practices (Muskin, 2017). Teachers’ autonomy is all the more imperative as the current pandemic creates unprecedented situations in which teachers’ ability to adapt and innovate is essential (UNICEF, 2021).

Lack of trained teachers

In some countries, many teachers need capacity development in test construction, administration, record-keeping of test marks, and assessment of soft skills (Muskin, 2017). Consequently, teachers may use poorly constructed tests or may copy tests from textbooks (Kellaghan and Greaney, 2004). However, Browne (2016) notes that even when trained and equipped with adequate resources, teachers may return to previous practices if they lack confidence, do not understand the purpose of formative assessments, or are not encouraged by a supportive school culture.

Inclusion and equity

Formative assessments are central to the teaching-learning process. They can help improve student outcomes if part of a fair, valid, and reliable process of gathering, interpreting and using information generated throughout the student learning process (Global Education Monitoring Report Team, 2020).

Equity preoccupations are at the center of the debate between proponents of formative and summative assessments. Arguments against formative assessments include that they can penalize disadvantaged students, for instance because of patronage risks or potential biases in teacher assessments linked to gender, ethnicity, or socio-economic background (Kellaghan and Greaney, 2004; Bennett, 2011; IIEP-UNESCO, 2020).

However, formative assessments can foster equity and inclusion if they are used through a variety of assessment methods that take into account the diversity of students’ abilities (Muskin, 2017) and if teachers are aware of, and address, any potential preconceptions they might have (OECD, 2005a). 

Students with disabilities may require alternative forms of assessment. They are more likely to access the curriculum in inclusive environments when teachers use a universal design approach and are already capable and competent to modify, adapt, or accommodate the needs of students within their assessment plans (Manitoba Education, Citizenship, and Youth, 2006; Wagner, 2011). Accommodations may include extra time to complete assignments, the use of scribes, oral instruction, and so on.

Policy and planning

Linking formative assessments to sector planning.

Whereas summative assessments often dominate the political debate on education (OECD, 2008), it is not evident how formative assessments can inform sector planning. An OECD study points to ‘a lack of coherence between assessments and evaluations at the policy, school and classroom levels’ as a major barrier to wider practice (OECD, 2005b: 4). It means that information gathered at regional or national levels is often judged unhelpful in informing classroom practices; vice versa, classroom-based assessments may be perceived as irrelevant for policy-making. This may also come from the fact that, in the absence of standardization within or across schools, formative assessment data cannot be aggregated into system-level information in the way large-scale standardized assessments are (World Bank, 2018).

However, the importance of classroom-level variables in student learning variations still makes it necessary to look ‘inside the black box’ of classroom practice (OECD, 2005a: 88). International organizations such as OECD and UNESCO advocate for a better alignment between, or combination of, formative and summative assessments (OECD, 2005a; Muskin, 2017). For instance, in Uruguay, large-scale national assessment results were used for formative purposes to advance both student learning and in-service teacher training (Ravela, 2005). Additionally, the Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA), a ‘hybrid assessment’, offers an example of how a large-scale assessment, whose data inform decision-makers, can also help identify the need for early instruction improvement in classrooms (Wagner, 2011; IIEP-UNESCO, 2019).

Investing in teacher training 

Investments in initial and in-service training, as well as materials for formative assessments, are essential for teachers’ confidence and the effective implementation of formative assessments (OECD, 2005a; Muskin, 2017), especially in regions such as sub-Saharan Africa where they are relatively new (Browne, 2016). Ensuring teachers understand the purpose of formative assessments is key to fostering their ownership of these pedagogical changes (Browne, 2016). Such efforts, combined with the provision of tools and incentives to use the results of formative assessments, proved effective in Malawi, Liberia and India (World Bank, 2018).

Strengthening schools and the education system’s support

Schools play a major role in stimulating and guiding teachers while conducting and using formative assessments. For instance, the Framework for Improving Student Outcomes (FISO) implementation guide of the state of Victoria, Australia, encourages schools to obtain school-wide agreement on the use of formative assessments and to establish consistent processes for analyzing the data generated. 

Implementing formative assessment requires a system which follows up, monitors the quality of assessment practices, and supports teachers when needed (Browne, 2016; World Bank, 2018). It is also important that teachers are not overwhelmed with assessments while they juggle dense curricula. Some countries, such as Morocco, have dedicated time in the calendar for continuous assessments, while others, such as Tanzania, have simply opted for a dramatic simplification of the curriculum (Muskin, 2017). The COVID-19 crisis has rendered the latter option relevant, as UNICEF recommends prioritizing some curriculum components and identifying those that are currently unachievable (UNICEF, 2021).

Creating a culture of evaluation

Instilling a culture of evaluation throughout the system is crucial. It signifies that ‘teachers and school leaders use information on students to generate new knowledge on what works and why, share their knowledge with colleagues, and build their ability to address a greater range of their students’ learning needs’ (OECD, 2005a: 25). Moreover, teachers are more likely to conduct formative assessments if schools and education systems alike encourage them to innovate, for example through peer support or pilot projects which test new assessment methods (OECD, 2005a).

Plans and policies

• Liberia: National learning assessment policy (2021)
• Zambia: National learning assessment framework (2017)
• READ (Russian Education Aid for Development). 2020. ‘Formative Assessment and Student Learning: How to Ensure Students Continue to Learn Outside of the Classroom’. Newsletter 13 .
• Soland, J.; Hamilton, L. S.; Stecher, B. M. 2013. Measuring 21st Century Competencies: Guidance for Educators.  Asia Society and RAND Corporation.

Allal, L.; Mottier Lopez, L. 2005. 'Formative assessment of learning: A review of publications in French.'  In: Formative Assessment: Improving Learning in Secondary Classrooms , (pp. 241–264). Paris: OECD Publishing.

Bennett, R. E. 2011. 'Formative assessment: A critical review.'  In:  Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice 18 (1) : 5–25.

Black, P.; Wiliam, D. 1998. 'Assessment and classroom learning.'   Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice 5 (1) : 7–74.

Browne, E. 2016. Evidence on formative classroom assessment for learning.  K4D Helpdesk Report. Brighton: Institute of Development Studies.

Bawane, J.; Sharma, R, 2020. Formative assessments and the continuity of learning during emergencies and crises.  NEQMAP 2020 Thematic Review. Paris: UNESCO.

Clarke, M. 2012. What matters most for student assessment systems: A framework paper.  Washington DC: World Bank.

Dunn, K. E.; Mulvenon, S. W. 2009. 'A critical review of research on formative assessment: The limited scientific evidence of the impact of formative assessment in education.  In:  Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation 14 (7) : 11.

Global Education Monitoring Report Team. 2020. Global Education Monitoring Report, 2020: Inclusion and Education: All Means All.  Paris: UNESCO.

Hill, P. W. 2013. ‘ The Role of assessment in measuring outcomes'.  In: M. Barber and S. Rizvi (eds), Asking More: The Path to Efficacy . London: Pearson. 

IIEP-UNESCO. 2019. 'Student learning assessments'.  IIEP Policy Toolbox. 

———. 2020. 'Will we ever go back to normal when it comes to student assessments?' Education for Safety, Resilience and Social Cohesion ,. Last accessed June 10 2021.

Kellaghan, T.; Greaney, V. 2004. Assessing student learning in Africa. Directions in Development. Washington, D.C: World Bank.

Manitoba Education, Citizenship, and Youth (Canada). 2006. Rethinking Classroom Assessment with Purpose in Mind: Assessment for Learning, Assessment as Learning, Assessment of Learning.  Manitoba Education, Citizenship, and Youth. 

Muskin, J. A. 2017. Continuous Assessment for Improved Teaching and Learning: A Critical Review to Inform Policy and Practice.  Current and critical issues in curriculum, learning and assessment, 13. Geneva: UNESCO International Bureau of Education.

OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development). 2005a. Formative Assessment: Improving Learning in Secondary Classrooms.  Paris: OECD.

———. 2005b. Formative Assessment: Improving Learning in Secondary Classrooms.  Policy brief. Paris: OECD.

OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development). 2008. Assessment for Learning. The Case for Formative Assessment.  OECD/CERI International Conference 'Learning in the 21st Century: Research, Innovation and Policy'. 

Ravela, P. 2005. 'A formative approach to national assessments: The Case of Uruguay.'  In: Prospects 35 (1) : 21–43.

READ (Russian Education Aid for Development). 2020. 'Formative assessment and student learning: How to ensure students continue to learn outside of the classroom.'   Newsletter 13 .

UNESCO. 2019. The Promise of Large-Scale Learning Assessments: Acknowledging Limits to Unlock Opportunities. Paris: UNESCO.

Wagner, D. A. 2011. Smaller, Quicker, Cheaper: Improving Learning Assessments for Developing Countries. Paris: IIEP-UNESCO.

World Bank. 2018. Learning to Realize Education’s Promise. World Development Report 2018.  Washington, DC: World Bank.

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What Is a Formative Assessment? Types, Examples & Strategies

Matthew Tang

eLearning & Instructional Design Expert

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Matthew Tang is a highly skilled eLearning consultant with over two decades of experience in delivering exceptional learning products. He has taught students in public schools and online, led online ... Read more

Matthew Tang is a highly skilled eLearning consultant with over two decades of experience in delivering exceptional learning products. He has taught students in public schools and online, led online education for a Fortune 50 company, partnered with university researchers to pioneer new learning technologies, and delivered expert learning solutions to clients of all sizes. With a genuine passion for helping individuals succeed and reach their academic or business goals, Matthew continually improves and innovates educational technology solutions, making him a trusted authority in eLearning. Read less

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Michael is a seasoned writer with 12+ years of experience in online learning and training. His work empowers organizations to harness the potential of knowledge in the digital era.

Ever noticed how the most memorable lessons stick with us not because of a final grade, but because of the journey there? 

That’s the magic of formative assessments—they’re not just checkpoints; they’re the secret ingredients that make learning stick. 

This blog post dives into the heart of formative assessments, revealing how they can transform classrooms by turning every lesson into an opportunity for growth and every mistake into a learning moment. 

In this definitive guide, we’ll explore the what, why, and how of formative assessments—from their defining characteristics and purpose to a variety of types and strategies for effective use in the classroom. 

Let’s begin.

What Is a Formative Assessment?

Formative assessment is a strategic approach used by educators to monitor students’ learning progress and adjust teaching methods accordingly. It’s characterized by its real-time application, providing immediate feedback that educators can use to adapt their instruction to meet learners’ current needs. 

Unlike summative assessments that evaluate overall learning at the end of an instructional period, formative assessments are conducted throughout the learning process. 

They can take various forms, including quizzes, interactive discussions, and peer reviews, all aimed at gauging understanding and facilitating continuous improvement.

Watch: How to Create an Online Quiz in Under 5 Mins

What Is the Purpose of Formative Assessment?

The purpose of formative assessment is to enhance the learning process by identifying students’ strengths and areas for growth. This ongoing assessment method allows educators to:

• Modify teaching strategies in real-time to address the immediate needs of their students.
• Support personalized learning, ensuring that instruction is tailored to individual student progress.
• Foster an environment of continuous feedback and growth, encouraging students to engage more deeply with their learning and identify their areas for improvement.

By integrating formative assessment into their teaching, educators can create a dynamic and responsive learning environment that supports student success and promotes a deeper understanding of the material.

Types & Examples of Formative Assessment

Formative assessments come in various formats, each designed to gather feedback on student learning in a way that informs instruction and supports student growth. Here are some common formative assessment tools:

• Quizzes & Mini-Tests: These brief assessments are powerful tools for gauging student knowledge in a focused manner. 

When used regularly, they can highlight trends in student understanding over time, allowing educators to pinpoint specific topics that may require additional instruction or review.

Watch: How to Use Online Quiz Maker for Teachers

• Observations & Check-Ins: This approach involves informal yet purposeful monitoring of students during class activities. 

It offers nuanced insights into how students interact with the material and each other, providing a real-time snapshot of engagement and comprehension levels.

• Interactive Discussions: Encouraging open dialogue about the material not only reinforces students’ understanding but also cultivates critical thinking skills. 

Discussions can unveil diverse interpretations and misconceptions, guiding educators in tailoring subsequent lessons to address these gaps.

• Peer Reviews: Students engage in a reciprocal learning process by evaluating each other’s work. This method not only diversifies feedback but also encourages students to critically engage with the curriculum, deepening their understanding through the lens of their peers’ perspectives.
• Exit Tickets: Simple prompts or questions at the end of a lesson offer immediate feedback on the day’s learning outcomes. Analyzing responses helps educators assess the effectiveness of their teaching and plan necessary adjustments for future classes.
• Learning Journals: Journals that prompt reflection on what was learned and questions that arose during the lesson help students articulate their thoughts and feelings about their learning journey. 

Reviewing these journals gives educators a window into students’ self-perceived progress and areas of difficulty.

Incorporating a mix of these formative assessment types enriches the learning environment and empowers students to take an active role in their education. 

Educators can harness these tools to create a dynamic classroom atmosphere that values growth, encourages engagement, and fosters a deeper connection to the material. 

What Is the Process of a Formative Assessment?

The formative assessment process is a cyclical, interactive approach designed to gauge student understanding, provide feedback, and continuously adapt instruction throughout the learning journey. It’s a dynamic framework that supports teaching and enhances learning. 

Here’s a breakdown of the key steps involved:

Step 1: Identify Learning Objectives 

The first step involves clearly defining what students should learn. These objectives guide the creation of assessment tasks and ensure that the assessment is aligned with instructional goals.

Step 2: Select Appropriate Assessment Methods 

Choose from various assessment methods (e.g., quizzes, discussions, projects) that best suit the learning objectives and the learner’s needs. This diversity allows for a more comprehensive understanding of student learning.

Step 3: Implement the Assessment 

Carry out the chosen formative assessment during the instructional process. This could be through live quizzes, interactive discussions, peer reviews, or individual reflections. The key is to integrate these assessments seamlessly into the learning activities.

Step 4: Analyze Learner Responses 

Review the information gathered from the assessment to identify patterns, strengths, and areas for improvement. This analysis provides insights into each student’s understanding and progress.

Step 5: Provide Feedback 

Offer timely and constructive feedback to students based on their performance. Effective feedback is specific, actionable, and focused on growth, helping students understand what they did well and where they can improve.

Step 6: Adjust Instruction 

Based on the feedback and analysis, adapt your teaching strategies to address the identified learning gaps or challenges. This might involve revisiting specific topics, introducing new resources, or modifying learning activities to suit students’ needs better.

Step 7: Reflect on the Process 

Finally, reflect on the effectiveness of the formative assessment process itself. Consider what worked well and what could be improved in future iterations. This reflection helps refine the assessment process, making it more effective over time.

Throughout this process, the emphasis is on fostering an environment of continuous learning and improvement. By actively engaging in each step, educators can create a responsive classroom atmosphere that supports every student’s growth and achievement.

Strategies for Effective Formative Assessments

To maximize the benefits of formative assessments, educators need to apply strategies that make the feedback loop as effective and seamless as possible. Here’s how to ensure formative assessments contribute positively to both teaching and learning:

• Embed Assessments in Everyday Learning 

Make formative assessments a natural extension of classroom activities. After a science experiment, for instance, ask students to predict the outcome based on the theory they’ve learned. This not only assesses their understanding but also encourages critical thinking.

• Embrace Technology for Interactive Learning 

Modern tools have revolutionized the way we assess and engage with students. ProProfs Quiz Maker, for example, offers an intuitive platform for creating quizzes that are both fun and educational. 

You can create educational quizzes that provide instant feedback, helping students identify areas of strength and those needing improvement, all within an interactive format that captures their interest.

• Foster a Culture of Peer Feedback

Implement structured peer review sessions where students can offer constructive feedback on each other’s presentations or essays. This strategy not only diversifies the sources of feedback but also helps students develop a critical eye for their work and that of their peers.

• Encourage Reflective Practices 

Guide students in reflecting on their learning experiences and outcomes. A reflective journal entry after completing a group project can provide insights into what they learned, the challenges they faced, and how they overcame them, fostering a deeper understanding of the learning process.

• Connect Learning to Real-world Applications 

Design assessments that require students to apply classroom knowledge to solve real-world problems. For instance, in a geography class, students could analyze the impact of climate change on their local community, encouraging them to connect theory with practical, observable phenomena.

• Leverage Exit Tickets for Immediate Insights 

At the end of a lesson, a simple question related to the day’s topic can serve as an exit ticket. This strategy offers quick insights into students’ understanding and retention, informing future instructional decisions.

Implementing these strategies can make formative assessments a powerful tool for enhancing student learning, providing educators with the flexibility to meet each student’s needs while fostering a supportive and inclusive classroom environment.

What Are the Benefits of a Formative Assessment?

Formative assessments offer a wealth of benefits that significantly contribute to both teaching efficacy and student learning outcomes. 

By integrating formative assessments into the educational process, educators and students can experience a more engaged, reflective, and practical learning journey. Here are some of the key benefits:

• Enhanced Learning and Understanding 

Formative assessments help students consolidate their learning by actively engaging with the material. This continuous engagement promotes deeper understanding and retention of the content.

Watch: How Luc Viatour Transformed Education for 1500+ Daily Learners

• Immediate Feedback for Quick Adjustments

The real-time feedback provided through formative assessments allows students to identify their strengths and areas for improvement promptly. This immediacy enables quick corrective actions, fostering a more dynamic and responsive learning environment.

• Personalized Learning Experiences 

Formative assessments identify individual learning needs, enabling educators to tailor their teaching strategies and resources. This personalization ensures that all students receive the support and challenge they need to progress.

• Increased Student Motivation and Engagement 

Active involvement in the learning process increases students’ motivation and engagement. Formative assessments encourage students to take ownership of their learning, leading to higher levels of participation and interest.

• Development of Critical Thinking and Skills 

Through activities like peer reviews and self-assessments, students develop essential skills, including critical thinking, self-reflection, and the ability to receive and apply feedback constructively.

• Support for a Growth Mindset 

Formative assessments emphasize growth and improvement over grades, helping to cultivate a growth mindset among students. This perspective encourages learners to view challenges as opportunities to learn and grow rather than as failures.

• Improved Teacher-Student Relationships 

The continuous interaction and feedback loop foster closer relationships between teachers and students. This rapport builds a supportive classroom atmosphere where students feel valued and understood.

• Data-Driven Instructional Decisions 

Insights from formative assessments give educators a clear view of student understanding, enabling precise, data-driven adjustments to teaching. This targeted approach ensures lessons meet students’ exact needs, optimizing learning outcomes.

• Reduction of Test Anxiety 

Integrating formative assessments throughout the learning journey shifts the focus from high-stakes evaluation to ongoing improvement, significantly easing test-related stress. This frequent, low-pressure feedback mechanism familiarizes students with the assessment process, building their confidence and diminishing anxiety over time.

• Preparation for Summative Assessments 

Regular formative assessments prepare students for summative assessments by ensuring they understand the material and can apply their knowledge effectively. This preparation can lead to better performance on final exams and standardized tests.

Watch: How DMS Boosted Student Scores

How to Create a Formative Assessment Quiz

If you’re using an intuitive quiz tool, such as ProProfs Quiz Maker, the process for creating a quiz is quite straightforward. Here’s how to create a formative assessment quiz in five quick and easy steps:

Step 1: Click “Create a Quiz” on your dashboard. 

Step 2: Pick a ready-to-use quiz, create a quiz with AI , or build it from scratch.

Step 3: Add/edit the quiz title, description & cover image.

Step 4: Add/edit questions. 

Employ a variety of question formats to explore diverse knowledge and skill areas, guaranteeing a thorough examination of the topic at hand. 

ProProfs provides an array of question styles, including multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blanks, drag & drop, hotspot, and audio/video responses, facilitating a detailed assessment of learners’ comprehension.

Watch: 15+ Question Types for Online Learning & Assessment

You can add new questions by:

• importing them from 1,000,000+ ready-to-use questions  
• using ProProfs AI to generate questions instantly 
• creating them by yourself

You can add images, videos, audio clips, and docs to your quiz. 

You can also automate the grading of your quizzes to save time and effort, which you can invest in providing individualized support to your learners.   

Watch: How to Automate Quiz Scoring & Grading

You also have the option to offer explanations for answers immediately after a question is answered in the quiz. This instant feedback not only supports the learning process but also enables students to recognize areas requiring improvement.

Step 5: Configure settings.

You can implement several security and anti-cheating measures , including:

• Setting your quiz to be private and secured with a password
• Randomizing the sequence of questions and/or answer choices
• Developing a question pool and drawing a random selection of questions for each participant
• Overseeing the quiz through screen sharing, webcam, and microphone monitoring
• Preventing tab switching, printing, copying, downloading, and repeated attempts

Watch: How to Customize & Configure Your Quiz Settings

You can also change the quiz’s appearance by adjusting the background, colors, fonts, and button text. Plus, you can set the quiz to appear in the participant’s native language.

That’s it. Your formative assessment quiz is ready.

Analyzing the Results

After administering a formative assessment, ProProfs Quiz Maker delivers in-depth analytics that paints a complete picture of every student’s learning progress and overall class performance. This data is essential for modifying instructional strategies to better align with students’ learning needs. 

Apply this insightful feedback to adjust your teaching plans, focusing on clarifying common misconceptions and bolstering areas where students show weaknesses.

Enhance Classroom Dynamics With Formative Assessments

In conclusion, formative assessments are the core of an adaptive and responsive teaching strategy. They offer a clear window into student progress and areas for growth. This approach aligns instruction closely with student needs, significantly enhancing learning outcomes. 

By incorporating tools like ProProfs Quiz Maker, educators can design engaging and insightful assessments that contribute to a tailored learning experience. 

Start elevating your teaching approach by trying out ProProfs Quiz Maker through a free trial or requesting a demonstration today.

Frequently Asked Questions  

What are formative and summative assessments?

Formative assessments are tools teachers use during the learning process to see how students are doing and to adjust their teaching methods. Summative assessments happen at the end of a learning period, like a final exam, to measure what students have learned overall.

Are quizzes summative or formative?

Quizzes can act as both formative and summative assessments. As formative assessments, quizzes are used throughout the learning process to guide both teaching and learning. As summative assessments, quizzes evaluate students’ final understanding at the end of a unit or semester.

Is a worksheet a formative assessment?

Worksheets can serve as formative assessments when used to monitor students’ understanding and inform future teaching strategies. They become practical tools for ongoing learning and adaptation in the classroom, emphasizing feedback over final grades.

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About the author

Michael laithangbam.

Michael Laithangbam is the senior writer & editor at ProProfs with 12 years of experience in enterprise software and eLearning. Michael's expertise encompasses online training, web-based learning, quizzes & assessments, LMS, and more. Michael’s work has been published in G2, Software Advice, Capterra, and eLearning Industry.

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14 Examples of Formative Assessment [+FAQs]

Traditional student assessment typically comes in the form of a test, pop quiz, or more thorough final exam. But as many teachers will tell you, these rarely tell the whole story or accurately determine just how well a student has learned a concept or lesson.

That’s why many teachers are utilizing formative assessments. While formative assessment is not necessarily a new tool, it is becoming increasingly popular amongst K-12 educators across all subject levels. 

Curious? Read on to learn more about types of formative assessment and where you can access additional resources to help you incorporate this new evaluation style into your classroom.

What is Formative Assessment?

Online education glossary EdGlossary defines formative assessment as “a wide variety of methods that teachers use to conduct in-process evaluations of student comprehension, learning needs, and academic progress during a lesson, unit, or course.” They continue, “formative assessments help teachers identify concepts that students are struggling to understand, skills they are having difficulty acquiring, or learning standards they have not yet achieved so that adjustments can be made to lessons, instructional techniques, and academic support.”

The primary reason educators utilize formative assessment, and its primary goal, is to measure a student’s understanding while instruction is happening. Formative assessments allow teachers to collect lots of information about a student’s comprehension while they’re learning, which in turn allows them to make adjustments and improvements in the moment. And, the results speak for themselves — formative assessment has been proven to be highly effective in raising the level of student attainment, increasing equity of student outcomes, and improving students’ ability to learn, according to a study from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). 

On the flipside of the assessment coin is summative assessments, which are what we typically use to evaluate student learning. Summative assessments are used after a specific instructional period, such as at the end of a unit, course, semester, or even school year. As learning and formative assessment expert Paul Black puts it, “when the cook tastes the soup, that’s formative assessment. When a customer tastes the soup, that’s summative assessment.”

14 Examples of Formative Assessment Tools & Strategies

There are many types of formative assessment tools and strategies available to teachers, and it’s even possible to come up with your own. However, here are some of the most popular and useful formative assessments being used today.

• Round Robin Charts

Students break out into small groups and are given a blank chart and writing utensils. In these groups, everyone answers an open-ended question about the current lesson. Beyond the question, students can also add any relevant knowledge they have about the topic to their chart. These charts then rotate from group to group, with each group adding their input. Once everyone has written on every chart, the class regroups and discusses the responses. 

• Strategic Questioning

This formative assessment style is quite flexible and can be used in many different settings. You can ask individuals, groups, or the whole class high-level, open-ended questions that start with “why” or “how.” These questions have a two-fold purpose — to gauge how well students are grasping the lesson at hand and to spark a discussion about the topic. 

• Three-Way Summaries

These written summaries of a lesson or subject ask students to complete three separate write-ups of varying lengths: short (10-15 words), medium (30-50 words), and long (75-100). These different lengths test students’ ability to condense everything they’ve learned into a concise statement, or elaborate with more detail. This will demonstrate to you, the teacher, just how much they have learned, and it will also identify any learning gaps. 

• Think-Pair-Share

Think-pair-share asks students to write down their answers to a question posed by the teacher. When they’re done, they break off into pairs and share their answers and discuss. You can then move around the room, dropping in on discussions and getting an idea of how well students are understanding.

• 3-2-1 Countdown

This formative assessment tool can be written or oral and asks students to respond to three very simple prompts: Name three things you didn’t know before, name two things that surprised you about this topic, and name one you want to start doing with what you’ve learned. The exact questions are flexible and can be tailored to whatever unit or lesson you are teaching.

• Classroom Polls

This is a great participation tool to use mid-lesson. At any point, pose a poll question to students and ask them to respond by raising their hand. If you have the capability, you can also use online polling platforms and let students submit their answers on their Chromebooks, tablets, or other devices.

• Exit/Admission Tickets

Exit and admission tickets are quick written exercises that assess a student’s comprehension of a single day’s lesson. As the name suggests, exit tickets are short written summaries of what students learned in class that day, while admission tickets can be performed as short homework assignments that are handed in as students arrive to class.

• One-Minute Papers

This quick, formative assessment tool is most useful at the end of the day to get a complete picture of the classes’ learning that day. Put one minute on the clock and pose a question to students about the primary subject for the day. Typical questions might be:

• What was the main point?
• What questions do you still have?
• What was the most surprising thing you learned?
• What was the most confusing aspect and why?
• Creative Extension Projects

These types of assessments are likely already part of your evaluation strategy and include projects like posters and collage, skit performances, dioramas, keynote presentations, and more. Formative assessments like these allow students to use more creative parts of their skillset to demonstrate their understanding and comprehension and can be an opportunity for individual or group work.

Dipsticks — named after the quick and easy tool we use to check our car’s oil levels — refer to a number of fast, formative assessment tools. These are most effective immediately after giving students feedback and allowing them to practice said skills. Many of the assessments on this list fall into the dipstick categories, but additional options include writing a letter explaining the concepts covered or drawing a sketch to visually represent the topic. 

• Quiz-Like Games and Polls

A majority of students enjoy games of some kind, and incorporating games that test a student’s recall and subject aptitude are a great way to make formative assessment more fun. These could be Jeopardy-like games that you can tailor around a specific topic, or even an online platform that leverages your own lessons. But no matter what game you choose, these are often a big hit with students.

• Interview-Based Assessments

Interview-based assessments are a great way to get first-hand insight into student comprehension of a subject. You can break out into one-on-one sessions with students, or allow them to conduct interviews in small groups. These should be quick, casual conversations that go over the biggest takeaways from your lesson. If you want to provide structure to student conversations, let them try the TAG feedback method — tell your peer something they did well, ask a thoughtful question, and give a positive suggestion.

• Self Assessment

Allow students to take the rubric you use to perform a self assessment of their knowledge or understanding of a topic. Not only will it allow them to reflect on their own work, but it will also very clearly demonstrate the gaps they need filled in. Self assessments should also allow students to highlight where they feel their strengths are so the feedback isn’t entirely negative.

• Participation Cards

Participation cards are a great tool you can use on-the-fly in the middle of a lesson to get a quick read on the entire classes’ level of understanding. Give each student three participation cards — “I agree,” “I disagree,” and “I don’t know how to respond” — and pose questions that they can then respond to with those cards. This will give you a quick gauge of what concepts need more coverage.

5 REASONS WHY CONTINUING EDUCATION MATTERS FOR EDUCATORS

The education industry is always changing and evolving, perhaps now more than ever. Learn how you can be prepared by downloading our eBook.

List of Formative Assessment Resources

There are many, many online formative assessment resources available to teachers. Here are just a few of the most widely-used and highly recommended formative assessment sites available.

• Arizona State Dept of Education

FAQs About Formative Assessment

The following frequently asked questions were sourced from the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), a leading education professional organization of more than 100,000 superintendents, principals, teachers, and advocates.  

Is formative assessment something new?

No and yes. The concept of measuring a student’s comprehension during lessons has existed for centuries. However, the concept of formative assessment as we understand it didn’t appear until approximately 40 years ago, and has progressively expanded into what it is today.

What makes something a formative assessment?

ASCD characterized formative assessment as “a way for teachers and students to gather evidence of learning, engage students in assessment, and use data to improve teaching and learning.” Their definition continues, “when you use an assessment instrument— a test, a quiz, an essay, or any other kind of classroom activity—analytically and diagnostically to measure the process of learning and then, in turn, to inform yourself or your students of progress and guide further learning, you are engaging in formative assessment. If you were to use the same instrument for the sole purpose of gathering data to report to a district or state or to determine a final grade, you would be engaging in summative assessment.”

Does formative assessment work in all content areas?

Absolutely, and it works across all grade levels. Nearly any content area — language arts, math, science, humanities, and even the arts or physical education — can utilize formative assessment in a positive way.

How can formative assessment support the curriculum?

Formative assessment supports curricula by providing real-time feedback on students’ knowledge levels and comprehension of the subject at hand. When teachers regularly utilize formative assessment tools, they can find gaps in student learning and customize lessons to fill those gaps. After term is over, teachers can use this feedback to reshape their curricula.

How can formative assessment be used to establish instructional priorities?

Because formative assessment supports curriculum development and updates, it thereby influences instructional priorities. Through student feedback and formative assessment, teachers are able to gather data about which instructional methods are most (and least) successful. This “data-driven” instruction should yield more positive learning outcomes for students.

Can formative assessment close achievement gaps?

Formative assessment is ideal because it identifies gaps in student knowledge while they’re learning. This allows teachers to make adjustments to close these gaps and help students more successfully master a new skill or topic.

How can I help my students understand formative assessment?

Formative assessment should be framed as a supportive learning tool; it’s a very different tactic than summative assessment strategies. To help students understand this new evaluation style, make sure you utilize it from the first day in the classroom. Introduce a small number of strategies and use them repeatedly so students become familiar with them. Eventually, these formative assessments will become second nature to teachers and students.

Before you tackle formative assessment, or any new teaching strategy for that matter, consider taking a continuing education course. At the University of San Diego School of Professional and Continuing Education, we offer over 500 courses for educators that can be completed entirely online, and many at your own pace. So no matter what your interests are, you can surely find a course — or even a certificate — that suits your needs.

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Formative Assessment

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Formative Assessment refers to a variety of methods that educators use to conduct evaluations of student learning, comprehension, academic needs, and educational progress throughout a course or unit. Unlike summative assessments, which evaluate student learning at the end of an instructional period, formative assessments are ongoing and provide continuous feedback that can be used by instructors to improve their teaching and by students to improve their learning. This type of assessment is typically informal and does not contribute to a student’s final grade. It is primarily used as a diagnostic tool aimed at identifying students’ strengths and weaknesses and tailoring instruction accordingly. Examples of formative assessment include quizzes, drafts, peer reviews, questioning strategies, and discussions that help teachers adjust their teaching strategies and help students enhance their understanding and skills.

What is Formative Assessment?

Formative Assessment refers to a variety of methods that educators use to conduct evaluations of student comprehension, learning needs, and academic progress during a lesson, unit, or course. Unlike summative assessments which aim to evaluate student learning at the end of an instructional period by comparing it against a standard or benchmark, formative assessments are more about monitoring student learning to provide ongoing feedback that can be used by instructors to improve their teaching and by students to enhance their learning.

Characteristics of Formative Assessment:

Continuous : It involves regular, ongoing assessment throughout the learning process. Interactive : It requires interaction between the teacher and students to discuss the feedback. Adaptive : It helps teachers tailor instruction to meet students’ needs in real-time. Informative : It provides valuable insights not only to the teacher about how to adjust the teaching methods but also to students about how they can improve their understanding and skills.

Importance of Formative Assessment

Formative assessment plays a critical role in the educational process by providing multiple benefits to both teachers and students. Here are six key reasons why formative assessment is important:

1. Enhances Student Engagement and Motivation

Formative assessment actively involves students in their own learning process. By receiving regular and immediate feedback, students become more engaged and motivated to understand the material and improve their performance.

2. Supports Personalized Learning

Each student has unique learning needs and paces. Formative assessment allows educators to tailor their instructional strategies to meet the individual needs of each student. This personalized approach helps to maximize learning efficiency and effectiveness.

3. Identifies Learning Gaps Early

By regularly assessing students throughout the teaching process, educators can identify knowledge gaps or misunderstandings early on. This early detection enables timely intervention before misconceptions become deeply ingrained, helping students stay on track with their learning goals.

4. Promotes Self-regulation in Students

Formative assessments encourage students to think critically about their own learning and identify areas where they can improve. This self-assessment helps develop their metacognitive skills, making them more aware and in control of their learning processes.

5. Facilitates Constructive Feedback

Unlike summative assessments, which often provide only scores or grades, formative assessments offer detailed feedback that students can use to improve their performance. This feedback is not just corrective; it is instructive and constructive, providing specific advice on how to enhance understanding and skills.

6. Improves Instructional Methods

Formative assessment also benefits educators by providing them with insights into how effective their teaching methods are. Based on ongoing assessments, teachers can adjust their teaching styles and techniques to better suit their students’ needs, ensuring that their instructional methods are as effective as possible.

Types of Formative Assessment

Formative assessments are varied and can be integrated into teaching strategies in many creative ways. Below are some of the key types of formative assessment that educators can use to gauge student learning and provide timely feedback:

Observations Observational assessments involve teachers watching students during activities or projects to assess how well they understand the material and apply their skills. This method allows teachers to gather insights into students’ capabilities and areas where they may need more support.

Quizzes Short quizzes administered during a unit or after a lesson help teachers measure the students’ understanding of specific topics. These can be oral, written, or even digital, providing immediate feedback to both the student and the teacher.

Exit Tickets At the end of a lesson, students are asked to write down a quick response to a question or a summary of what they’ve learned. Exit tickets provide immediate insight into the students’ grasp of the day’s content, helping teachers plan future lessons.

One-on-One Conferences Personal interactions between teacher and student can be highly effective for understanding individual student progress and challenges. During these conferences, teachers can provide personalized feedback and support to help each student advance.

Peer Reviews Allowing students to assess each other’s work can enhance understanding and provide new perspectives on the material. Peer reviews encourage collaborative learning and help students learn to give and receive constructive feedback.

Learning Journals Students keep journals to reflect on their learning experiences, document their thoughts about what they are learning, and discuss how they can apply the knowledge. Journals help students internalize what they have learned and provide teachers with insights into their students’ progress and thoughts.

Question and Answer Sessions Regular Q&A sessions help clarify students’ doubts and reinforce learning. These sessions encourage active participation and ensure students can ask questions about things they haven’t understood.

Portfolios A collection of a student’s work over time can be used as a formative assessment. Portfolios often include a variety of works and provide a comprehensive view of a student’s progress and abilities.

Self-Assessment Involving students in their own assessment process helps them become active participants in their learning journey. Through self-assessment, students evaluate their own work against set criteria, which helps them understand their own strengths and areas for improvement.

Interactive Technology Tools Various digital tools and software allow for interactive assessments, such as educational games, online quizzes, and digital simulations. These tools can provide immediate feedback and are engaging for students, helping maintain their interest and motivation.

Examples of Formative Assessment

Here are examples across various subjects and settings that demonstrate how formative assessments can be effectively utilized:

English Language Arts

Peer Editing Sessions : Students exchange drafts of their essays and provide feedback on each other’s use of language, thesis coherence, and argument strength. Literary Discussion Circles : Small groups discuss themes, character development, and plot twists in a book they are reading, helping the teacher gauge comprehension and engagement.

Mathematics

Mini Whiteboard Questions : Students use mini whiteboards to solve problems posed by the teacher and hold up their answers, allowing the teacher to quickly assess understanding and correct misconceptions in real-time. Math Journals : Students regularly write reflections in their journals about their problem-solving processes and understanding of mathematical concepts.

Lab Station Rotations : During laboratory experiments, students rotate through various stations where they conduct different parts of an experiment, allowing the teacher to observe their practical skills and conceptual understanding. Concept Maps : Students create concept maps that connect ideas from a unit on ecosystems, showing their understanding of how different components interact.

Social Studies

Debates : Students engage in debates over historical issues or current events, which helps the teacher evaluate their critical thinking, understanding of the topic, and ability to argue different viewpoints. Timeline Activities : Students construct timelines of historical events, helping them organize information chronologically and allowing teachers to check for accurate understanding of sequences and causality.

Foreign Languages

Role-play Exercises : Students perform role-plays in the target language, simulating real-life situations to demonstrate conversational skills, vocabulary usage, and cultural awareness. Interactive Quizzes : Utilizing digital platforms, students complete quizzes that assess their grammar and vocabulary comprehension in the target language, with immediate feedback provided.

Physical Education

Skill Stations : During a class on basketball, students rotate through stations focusing on different skills such as dribbling, shooting, and passing, which the teacher uses to assess individual student abilities. Fitness Logs : Students keep a log of their personal fitness activities and goals, reflecting on their progress and areas for improvement.

Portfolio Reviews : Students maintain a portfolio of their artwork which they review with the teacher, discussing techniques, artistic choices, and personal growth. Critique Sessions : Students present a piece of their artwork for class critique, receiving constructive feedback from peers and the teacher on their artistic expression and techniques.

Formative Assessment Strategies

Formative assessment strategies are diverse and can be tailored to fit different classroom dynamics and educational goals. Here are several effective strategies that educators can adopt to enhance learning and provide ongoing feedback:

Think-Pair-Share encourages students to think about a specific topic or question on their own, discuss it with a partner, and then share their insights with the larger group. This strategy not only promotes understanding through collaboration but also allows teachers to assess comprehension and facilitate discussions based on student responses.

Exit Slips require students to write answers to specific questions on a small piece of paper at the end of the class. This method helps teachers quickly gauge whether students have understood the day’s material and what might need further clarification.

Graphic Organizers such as Venn diagrams, flow charts, and mind maps can help students visually organize their knowledge about a topic. Teachers can use these organizers to assess students’ understanding of relationships between concepts and their ability to synthesize information.

Socratic Seminars involve creating a dialogic class where students discuss a text or topic deeply. The teacher acts as a facilitator, posing questions and guiding discussion, while also gauging students’ critical thinking and comprehension through their participation and insights.

Interactive Quizzes using digital platforms offer real-time feedback and engagement, making it a fun and effective way for students to learn and for teachers to assess understanding. These platforms often provide analytics that can help pinpoint areas where students struggle.

Peer Assessment allows students to give feedback on each other’s work. This not only helps students understand grading criteria and improve their work based on peer feedback but also encourages a deeper engagement with the learning material.

Self-Assessment involves students in their own evaluation by reflecting on their learning and identifying strengths and areas for improvement. This strategy encourages self-regulation and helps students become active participants in their learning process.

Formative Assessment vs Summative Assessment

Formative assessment:.

• Purpose: The primary aim of formative assessment is to monitor student learning and provide ongoing feedback that can be used to improve the instructional process and enhance student learning. It helps identify areas where students are struggling and need more support.
• Timing: It occurs continuously throughout the instructional process. Teachers assess students in the middle of lessons, units, or projects to get insights into the students’ understanding and progress.
• Feedback: Formative assessment is inherently interactive, offering immediate feedback to students which helps them understand what they are doing well and where they need improvement. This feedback is also crucial for teachers as it allows them to adjust their teaching strategies in real-time.
• Examples: Examples include quizzes, one-on-one conferences, peer reviews, exit tickets, and observational notes.

Summative Assessment:

• Purpose: Summative assessment aims to evaluate student learning at the end of an instructional unit by comparing it against some standard or benchmark. It is used to determine whether students have mastered specific competencies and to what extent they have achieved the learning outcomes of the course.
• Timing: This type of assessment occurs at the end of a course, semester, or unit, providing a final measure of student proficiency after instruction is completed.
• Feedback: The feedback from summative assessments typically comes in the form of grades or scores. It is more formal and often used for reporting purposes, such as grades on report cards. The feedback cycle is longer, and while it informs students of their performance, it is less about immediate improvement and more about evaluation.
• Examples: Standardized tests, final exams, end-of-unit projects, and comprehensive portfolio evaluations are common forms of summative assessment.

FAQ’s

What are the 4 components of formative assessment.

The four components of formative assessment are identifying learning goals, providing feedback, involving students in self-assessment, and adjusting instruction based on assessment results.

What are the benefits of formative assessment?

The key benefits include improved student engagement, enhanced understanding, individualized learning, early identification of learning gaps, and increased opportunities for corrective feedback. It encourages students to take an active role in their learning process.

How does formative assessment impact teaching?

Formative assessment provides valuable insights into student understanding and learning progress, which helps teachers adjust their instructional methods. It allows educators to identify effective strategies and areas that need more focus, thereby improving the overall effectiveness of their teaching.

Text prompt

• Instructive
• Professional

10 Examples of Public speaking

20 Examples of Gas lighting

Formative and Summative Assessments

Formative assessments.

Formative assessment comprises techniques that are used to monitor student learning and to provide ongoing feedback. The aim of formative assessment is to provide information on student struggles that can be acted on immediately.

Different types of formative assessment include:

• Asking students to draw a concept map on a lecture topic or research topic.
• Having students articulate the important concepts of a lecture.
• Having student submit a research proposal or draft outline for early feedback.

Angelo and Cross (book available in CTE library) have written extensively on formative classroom techniques.

Summative Assessments

Summative assessment is used to understand student learning at the end of a class or instructional unit.

Information is used to to gauge achievement of student learning outcomes for the course and/or specific assignment at hand.

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Designing Formative Assessment That Improves Teaching and Learning: What Can Be Learned from the Design Stories of Experienced Teachers?

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• Published: 17 October 2023
• Volume 7 , pages 182–194, ( 2023 )

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This article reports on findings of a qualitative study that investigated the difficulties teachers encounter while designing formative assessment plans and the strategies experienced teachers use to avoid those pitfalls. The pitfalls were identified through an analysis of formative assessment plans that searched for potential threats to alignment, decision-driven data collection, and room for adjustment and improvement. The main pitfalls in the design process occurred when teachers did not explicitly and coherently link all elements of their formative assessment plan or when they did not plan to effectively use information about student learning to improve teaching and learning. Through interviews with experienced teachers, we identified seven design strategies they used to design formative assessment plans that were aligned, consisted of decision-driven data collection, and left room for adjustment and improvement. However, these experienced teachers still encountered difficulties in determining how to formulate the right decisions for decision-driven data collection and how to provide students with enough room for improvement. Lessons learned from the design strategies of these experienced teachers are incorporated in design steps for formative assessment plans all teachers can use.

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Introduction

Formative assessment can be seen as an ongoing process of monitoring students’ learning to decide which teaching and learning actions should be taken to better suit students’ needs (Allal, 2020 ; Black & Wiliam, 2009 ). Activities that are part of effective formative assessment include clarifying expectations, eliciting and analyzing evidence of student learning, communicating the outcomes with students, and performing suitable follow-up activities in teaching and learning (Antoniou & James, 2014 ; Ruiz-Primo & Furtak, 2007 ; Veugen et al., 2021 ). Formative assessment reveals students’ learning progress and what is needed to further this learning. Teachers can use this information to make better informed formative decisions about the next steps in teaching (Black & Wiliam, 2009 ).

Since formative assessment strengthens the connection between teaching and learning, it can be a solid intervention for improving both. However, implementing formative assessment that “works” is challenging for teachers. Research describes many pitfalls teachers can encounter when implementing formative assessment. For example, studies that investigated the implementation of formative assessment in practice conclude that in order to be effective, there needs to be more consideration for the integration, coherency, and alignment of formative assessment in classroom practice (Gulikers et al., 2013 ; Van Den Berg, 2018 ; Wylie & Lyon, 2015 ). Formative assessment should be aligned with learning objectives, lesson activities, and other assessment activities (Biggs, 1996 ; Gulikers et al., 2013 ). Moreover, since learning objectives often exceed lessons, this alignment of formative assessment should even be considered for multiple related lessons.

Additionally, Wiliam ( 2013 , 2014 ) states that formative assessment activities that elicit evidence about student learning should also be designed in alignment with the decisions teachers wish to make based on the outcomes of these activities. Therefore, he recommends decision-driven data collection to ensure teachers and students receive the timely information they need to make well-informed formative decisions about the next steps in teaching and learning (Wiliam, 2013 ). However, teachers do not always incorporate decision-driven data collection in formative assessment, and this can be a pitfall when, for instance, existing data on student learning does not represent the current situation of learners or comes too late for a meaningful follow-up (Wiliam, 2013 ).

A recent study conducted by Veugen et al. ( 2021 ) examined students’ and teachers’ perceptions of formative assessment practice and revealed a final example of difficulties teachers seem to encounter when they implement formative assessment. Veugen et al. found that teachers who implement formative assessment use activities that clarify expectations and elicit and analyze student reactions. This results in feedback for the students, but the teachers report few adaptations to teaching and learning based on the outcomes of these activities. Without such follow-up activities, it is unlikely that formative assessment enhances student learning because students do not get the opportunity to use the feedback they were given, and teachers do not get the opportunity to adapt their teaching to students’ needs (Black & Wiliam, 2009 ; Veugen et al., 2021 ). Formative assessment is not complete without a follow-up where students and teachers have room for adjustment and improvement. This room can be created in lessons that follow the analysis and communication of evidence of student learning. In summary, teachers encounter a range of difficulties when implementing formative assessment. Formative assessment should be aligned, include decision-driven data collection, and leave room for adjustment and improvement but, in practice, these criteria are rarely met.

It seems to be a complex task for teachers to consider these three criteria when conducting formative assessment. As a result, some teachers succeed in enacting formative assessment as recommended in the literature, while others experience more difficulties in reaching this goal (Offerdahl et al., 2018 ; Veugen et al., 2021 ). Previous research suggests that pre-planning formative assessment is fundamental for teachers to ensure the effectiveness of these activities by encompassing all essential characteristics (van der Steen et al., 2022 ). So far, literature focusing on designing formative assessment has concentrated mainly on designing individual formative assessment activities (Furtak et al., 2018 ). However, only when teachers design formative assessment in plans that encompass multiple lessons can they tackle difficulties such as alignment and planning follow-up activities in an effective and feasible way (van der Steen et al., 2022 ; Wiliam, 2013 ). Taking a broad view of multiple lessons helps teachers consider the alignment between all lessons and activities that contribute to achieving the intended learning objectives. Furthermore, it increases their opportunities to plan for room for adjustment and improvement.

Based on the outcomes of earlier research (van der Steen et al., 2022 ), 64 teachers from four secondary schools were given time and knowledge to help them design formative assessment plans that met the criteria: alignment, decision-driven data collection, and room for adjustment and improvement. Still, even in this context, differences emerged between teachers when they were designing formative assessment. It seemed that teachers who already had experience with formative assessment in their classroom had an advantage in successfully designing formative assessment plans over teachers who did not yet have this experience.

Since there is a lack of literature about how teachers design formative assessment plans (van der Steen et al.,  2022 ), it is unclear how teachers who design and implement formative assessment successfully design their formative assessment plans. Which design strategies do they use, and what can other teachers learn from their experiences? Therefore, the present study focuses on how experienced teachers design formative assessment plans aligned with learning objectives, lessons, and prospective formative decisions while taking follow-up actions into account. Once it becomes clear how teachers design such formative assessment plans, this knowledge can be used to support teachers who struggle with implementing formative assessment as intended. Therefore, the outcomes of this study will result in design steps and strategies for all teachers.

Accordingly, the research question for this study is:

How do experienced teachers design formative assessment plans that are aligned, include decision-driven data collection, and leave room for adjusting and improving teaching and learning?

Sub-questions that help answer this research question are:

What are pitfalls that can threaten the design of formative assessment plans that are aligned, include decision-driven data collection, and leave room for adjusting and improving teaching and learning?

How do experienced teachers design formative assessment plans that:

are aligned with learning objectives, lesson activities, and other assessment?

include decision-driven data collection?

leave room for adjusting and improving teaching and learning?

Material and Methods

The context of this study is an educational design research project funded by a grant which provided four secondary schools with the opportunity to advance formative assessment in their schools. At these schools, teachers designed formative assessment plans in teacher learning communities. Teacher learning communities are groups of teachers that come together for sustained periods of time — in this case, 15 meetings during a 16-month period — to engage in inquiry and problem solving with the goal of improving student learning (Van Es, 2012 ). The teacher learning communities in this study focused on improving formative assessment and formative decision-making by designing formative assessment plans. The activities in the teacher learning communities were coordinated by the first author, who provided the teachers with information and support in designing formative assessment plans.

Each school had a teacher learning community that consisted of 11 to 24 teachers — a total of 64 teachers across the four schools — who designed formative assessment plans for their lessons according to five design steps (Fig.  1 ). These five design steps are based on design principles for formative assessment plans that meet the three quality criteria: alignment (design steps 1 and 5), decision-driven data collection (design steps 2, 3, and 5), and room for adjustment and improvement (design step 4) (van der Steen et al., 2022 ).

Five design steps for formative assessment plans

During a previous design cycle, teachers used an earlier version of the design steps for the first time. Thus, most teachers had experience designing a formative assessment plan prior to this study. The design steps were evaluated and adjusted based on group interviews and an analysis of the formative assessment plans designed during that first design cycle. The adjustments mainly concentrated on making the design steps more concise and emphasizing, within the design steps, the importance of communication with students, the link with formative decision-making, and planning room for students and teachers to improve.

In this study, the formative assessment plans the teachers designed and design stories of experienced teachers are used to answer the research questions. Figure  2 shows an example of a formative assessment plan.

Example of a formative assessment plan designed by Tracy

This study has a qualitative research design. The first sub-question will be answered by analyzing the collected formative assessment plans for the presence and different appearances of alignment, decision-driven data collection, and room for adjustment and improvement, together with the pitfalls that prevent formative assessment plans from meeting these criteria. The second sub-question about what experienced teachers do to avoid these pitfalls will be answered based on interviews with experienced teachers who participated in this project.

Participants

Thirty-one teachers of 15 subjects from the four participating secondary schools were involved in answering sub-question 1 (see Table 1 ). All teachers ( n  = 64) that participated in the teacher learning communities at one of the four schools were asked if they could send their formative assessment plans (if they had finalized their plan by that time). To get a representative and information-rich overview of the pitfalls teachers encounter while designing formative assessment, despite experience in teaching and formative assessment or subjects taught, the researchers aimed to gather all finished formative assessment plans. This request resulted in 26 formative assessment plans from 31 teachers (presented in Table 1 ).

To answer sub-question 2, experienced teachers were recruited from the participating schools. To ensure the interviews provided in-depth information for this study, the teachers had to be actively involved in the design project and have multiple years of experience with formative assessment so they could really understand and explain their choices and considerations in the design process.

All four participating schools were asked to find two teachers for the interviews who (1) agreed to contribute to this research via interviews (2) had finished designing their second formative assessment plan with success and (3) had experience with formative assessment prior to the start of teacher learning communities. For one school at which working with formative assessment was relatively new, no teachers that met these criteria could be found. The other three schools did find two teachers, as presented in Table 2 (all names are pseudonyms).

The table does not show the schools at which these teachers are employed, and a more general description was chosen for the language teachers to ensure their anonymity.

Analysis of Formative Assessment Plans

The 26 formative assessment plans came from 15 subjects and all four schools, varying from five to eight plans per school. That variety makes it likely that this collection of plans can provide a representative sample of formative assessment plans designed based on the five design steps, so there was no need to gather more plans.

Criteria for Analyzing Formative Assessment Plans

Before analyzing the plans to answer sub-question 1, a description was made of the criteria each element must meet to receive a positive evaluation. These were as follows:

Alignment : plans should show proof of coherency between learning objectives, lesson activities, and assessment activities.

Decision-driven data collection : plans should show proof that eliciting data about student learning was linked to a predetermined formative decision about the next steps in teaching and learning.

Room for adjustment and improvement : plans should show proof of space and opportunity for both teachers and learners to adjust and/or improve based on the information about learning that was collected.

Procedure for Analyzing Formative Assessment Plans

The first step in analyzing the formative assessment plans was evaluating the plans on the three criteria: alignment, decision-driven data collection, and room for adjustment and improvement. This analysis was conducted by two researchers individually: the first author and one colleague researcher.

Second, for each criterion, the researchers discussed the differences in appreciation of the quality of the plans before they addressed the differences and similarities between the plans that succeeded in meeting the criterion and the plans that had not. What pitfalls appear in the plans that did not meet a criterion, and what can be learned from the plans that did? Some plans were more elaborately described and explained than others. Therefore, the results in this study are an analysis of the pitfalls in the plans with a clear and elaborate description and the possible pitfalls in the less well described plans.

Interviews with Experienced Teachers

Semi-structured teacher interviews were used to answer sub-question 2 and gain deep insight into the steps experienced teachers take to design their formative assessment plans. What did they do in addition to or differently from the five design steps, and how did this contribute to meeting the three quality criteria for formative assessment plans (sub-question 2)?

Guide for Interviewing Experienced Teachers

In the interviews, teachers were asked about their design process. Each interview started with the question: “How did designing this formative assessment plan come about?” Possible follow-up questions were: (a) “What did you do?,” (b) “Which steps did you take in designing this plan?,” and (c) “What difficulties did you encounter in designing this plan, and how did you resolve them?”

After the teachers explained their design process in their own words, the conversation turned to comparing the design steps to the design story the teacher had just shared. Where had the teacher followed the five design steps, and where did their process differ? For example, the teachers were asked about their choices in step 2 of the design process about when and why they had planned checkpoints, what they chose to do at each checkpoint to elicit information about student learning, and whether they had linked checkpoints together.

Procedure for Analyzing the Interviews and Writing Narratives of Experienced Teachers

The interviews were transcribed and coded through template analysis (Brooks et al., 2015 ). The statements and comments about the teachers’ decisions and actions during the process of designing their formative assessment plan were coded using the five design steps (Fig.  1 ) and put into a narrative for each teacher. Based on each narrative, the researchers used the teachers’ choices and actions that contributed to alignment, decision-driven data collection, and room for adjustment and improvement to answer the questions about what experienced teachers do in their design process to meet the three criteria this study focuses on (sub-questions 2a, 2b, and 2c).

Pitfalls in Designing Formative Assessment Plans

Sub-question 1 was: “What are pitfalls that can threaten the design of formative assessment plans that are aligned, include decision-driven data collection, and leave room for adjusting and improving teaching and learning?” The results from analyzing the formative assessment plans are presented per criterion.

The main pitfalls related to alignment were:

Learning objectives, lesson activities, and/or assessment activities were missing from the plan.

Learning objectives, lesson activities, and/or assessment activities were not clearly described.

Learning objectives, lesson activities, and/or assessment activities were not explicitly linked.

There was a mismatch between the learning objectives, lesson activities, and assessment activities. For example, the final test or formative assessment did not match the learning objectives.

The three main pitfalls related to decision-driven data collection were:

The absence of formative decisions that the data collection was based on. Specific formative decisions were not explicitly linked to each checkpoint and could not be deduced from the planned follow-up. When these decisions are unclear, it is impossible to determine whether the corresponding data collection was accurate for and aligned with the decision at hand.

Situations in which predetermined formative decisions were present in a plan, but the data collection about student learning was not expected to collect the necessary information to inform the corresponding formative decision. The teacher did not plan to assess what they really needed to know. Four specific examples were found:

A mismatch between the data collection method and the necessary data. For example, a teacher who wants to find out about speech through mini whiteboards.

Situations in which teachers found a logical method but did not ask the right questions or use the proper assignments to discover where learning on a specific learning objective was and/or discover the next best step.

Situations in which teachers only planned to collect information on learning from a few students, but they wanted to use this information to make a formative decision for all students.

The planned data collection only shows whether a student has achieved a learning objective; it does not lead to information about what is needed in the follow-up to take learning further.

Situations in which teachers found the right way to find the information on learning they needed, but the outcomes only became visible to the students (e.g., when students only give each other peer feedback). When outcomes only become visible to students, teachers cannot use the information to inform their formative decisions because they do not have it.

The three pitfalls related to room for adjustment and improvement were:

Including no time for adjustment and improvement in the plan.

Only including room for teachers to adjust and improve OR only for students to adjust and improve; no room was incorporated and described for both.

Failing to confirm a follow-up by using another check to determine whether learning on a specific objective had increased because of the planned adjustment and improvement.

The Design of Formative Assessment Plans by Experienced Teachers

We used the narratives of six teachers (as presented in Online Resource 1 ) to answer sub-question 2: “How do experienced teachers design formative assessment plans that are aligned with learning objectives, lesson activities, and other assessment, include decision-driven data collection, and leave room for adjusting and improving teaching and learning?” The results are presented per criteria.

Alignment with Learning Objectives, Lesson Activities, and Other Assessment

All the teachers started with an existing series of lessons. According to Tracy, this is a coherent foundation from which to start when planning formative assessment if those lessons were designed based on the desired learning objectives (as they were in these cases). Tracy started with a series of lessons that also was aligned externally with an annual schedule that included all learning objectives and criteria for success and was consistent and aligned with the years ahead of or behind the current class. However, Patricia added that these planned series of lessons are not fixed. She stated that aligning formative assessment with existing lessons and lesson activities is an active process of determining whether lesson planning requires something different based on the choices made in designing formative assessment and simultaneously determining how formative assessment can enhance learning.

All the teachers described continuously checking for alignment during the design process, looking at the learning objectives, (formative) assessment, and lesson activities collectively. Stuart even believes checking for coherency and alignment should continue after the design process during and after the execution of the formative assessment plan: “Only then can you really fly over it and notice whether the cohesion is good enough.”

All the teachers made sure they understood the learning objectives by taking time to zoom in and formulate criteria for success and/or to zoom out to look for overarching learning objectives to bring everything together. Patricia, Stuart, and Jenna took time to look closely at learning objectives, transcend specifics, discover the coherence between objectives, or find broader objectives that can connect different learning objectives. Another group of teachers (Tracy, Stuart, Bernadette, and Lisa) took the time to formulate criteria for success so objectives would be more specific for teachers and students. Stuart analyzed former lessons, assignments, and previous misconceptions to get a good idea of the criteria for success that should be pursued. Lisa and Tracy formulated these criteria for success together with their students based on examples of work. Patricia, Jenna, and Tracy all mentioned that they think zooming in and out on learning objectives with colleagues is a valuable part of the design process.

After ensuring they comprehended the learning objectives, the teachers planned checkpoints that covered all the learning objectives (five teachers) or a selection of the learning objectives (one teacher). These checkpoints were linked explicitly to the learning objectives. Tracy clearly listed the learning objectives in her formative assessment plan to continuously verify that all activities aligned with what she wanted to accomplish with her class. For Stuart, it was essential to determine which learning objectives and criteria for success were being targeted in each lesson so he could refer to them in his instructions and assignments to the students. This will make it easier for students to reflect on their learning based on these learning objectives and criteria for success because they will be present in each lesson.

Most teachers designed their formative assessment to make it easy to integrate into their existing lesson plans. For example, Tracy said: “I actually really looked at which assignments I use to get them to practice and, based on those assignments, I decided which data collection activity would fit in easily.” Patricia planned activities as not only a means to collect data on students’ learning but also as an opportunity for students to repeat and rehearse for the selected learning objectives. Stuart and Lisa added that they designed formative assessment to collect data on learning as they would design test items for the final test.

Decision-Driven Data Collection

The teachers wanted to use the information gathered at the checkpoints to make three decisions:

Can I go on to the next topic/learning objective/chapter or do I need to spend more time on the current one? (the most common decision)

How can I best differentiate in my lessons to support all students in their learning?

What do students need to rehearse/repeat/practice/learn more to be prepared for the test?

Sometimes the information gathered at one checkpoint applied to several of these decisions.

When designing decision-driven data collection, the teachers were primarily concerned with how to measure what they needed to know to inform the next formative decision. For example, Lisa planned to use a drawing instead of a question to allow every student to show their learning on the topic unimpeded by their writing skills. Stuart did not want to analyze reflection forms since they only demonstrate students’ perceptions of learning, not their progress. Likewise, Jenna did not want to analyze summaries since she does not think they illustrate what students have learned but only whether they can summarize.

Stuart added that he plans decision-driven data collection through exit tickets or mini whiteboards because this gives him more information about all students’ learning than he could acquire by walking around while students do their homework in class.

Because it is quite a pitfall that if you see something go wrong with one person, you zoom in completely on that person. Before you know it, you are working with them for five or six minutes and, supposing they have 15 minutes to work independently, then you have time to see two such students. Then my harvest is two or three students. If I base my data collection on those whiteboards and exit tickets or other formative elements, I get more of an overall picture, and I find that much more valuable.

Patricia emphasized that it is crucial to gather rich information (e.g., about existing misconceptions) instead of a count of how many questions were answered incorrectly. However, she also mentioned that it is not always evident whether a teacher collects rich data in a formative assessment plan: “I believe it is rich information because you certainly address the mistakes you saw and the corresponding underlying misconceptions. Nevertheless, that is so self-evident that it is not mentioned here.”

Data used to inform decisions at each checkpoint is collected in different ways. Most of the teachers planned to use combinations of data collection methods to get a complete overview of all students’ learning, but they did this in various ways. Some wanted to combine data collection at the checkpoints with planned or on-the-fly daily checks during the lessons before the checkpoint. For example, Stuart plans daily checks of specific lesson goals by using mini whiteboards and exit tickets in addition to formal checkpoints that reveal learning on the overarching learning objectives. Lisa planned data collection at the checkpoint together with data collection via an online tool that helps her follow how students did on their assignments in the previous lessons. This helps her gather all the information she needs to decide on the next best step after a checkpoint.

However, other teachers only collect data at the planned checkpoints, at which time they aim to gather rich information on all students by using multiple data collection methods simultaneously. Tracy, for instance, combined walking around the classroom while students worked on their assignments with gathering written peer feedback on the same assignment at her first checkpoint. At the second checkpoint, she combined online assignments with answers from mini whiteboards.

The final variation, mentioned by Bernadette and Tracy, was using checkpoints not to gather new information on learning but to bring together all relevant information on learning from all prior lessons until that moment. This can result in rich information and help teachers make formative decisions that have consequences for all students based on information from all students. For example, when they cannot let every student speak during a lesson, they combine evidence from multiple lessons to get a complete overview of students’ speech.

Room for Adjustment and Improvement

Experienced teachers recognize how difficult it is to find time to make room for adjustment and improvement in an overfull curriculum. Follow-up is the part of formative assessment that takes the most time and thus the first thing to skip when time is tight, some teachers said. However, Jenna also stated that this is the essential part, and the other teachers seemed to agree since they all have strategies to help them make room for adjustment and improvement.

Three teachers prepared different possible follow-ups in advance to help them act on the checkpoints’ outcomes immediately. Patricia, Stuart, and Bernadette prepared slides, instructions, tutorials, and/or assignments for students so they would be ready once they knew what was needed to advance students’ learning. In this preparation, they considered different possible outcomes and differences between students (e.g., they prepared assignments for students who had reached particular learning objectives and those who still needed to). Instead of only focusing on the students who did not reach a targeted learning objective, all the teachers planned room for adjustment and improvement for all students. Patricia and Tracy created common assignments for their students that would simultaneously advance the learning of students who had as well as students who had not yet reached a targeted learning objective.

Tracy and Jenna warned that when a curriculum contains too much material, teachers have less flexibility in reacting to outcomes that are different than expected. Therefore, Jenna, Patricia, and Stuart advised their fellow teachers to be aware of and look for possibilities to leave something out or create more room in the curriculum when planning their lessons. Stuart mentioned many examples of how he makes room for adjusting and improving teaching and learning. For example, he and Jenna plan checkpoints to help them decide whether they can skip (parts of) instruction. Additionally, Stuart creates plans that will help the few students who need it by assigning tutorials and extra assignments to complete at home, instead of taking a whole lesson for extra instruction and practice.

Patricia, Jenna, and Stuart also delay more advanced tasks until formative assessment shows that students are ready to take this next step. That gives them more room for adjustment and improvement on the basics at the start of a lesson plan. Jenna:

If you do not do that well, do not lay that foundation properly, you can start working on another subject soon. However, the students still have not mastered that, and next comes something that practically goes back to this, so the foundation must be set correctly.

Stuart even finds room for adjustment and improvement after the final test, since he plans room for student improvement in the successive lessons and in assignments for future lessons that take place after the chapters’ final test: “Then they understand that it is not just for now and the next test, but learning is continuous.” According to Stuart, giving students room for improvement could even mean moving a test to a later date. Bernadette, Stuart, Lisa, and Jenna also make sure students take responsibility for designing their own room for improvement by having students think about the best follow-up. Lisa also wants to give students information based on the checkpoints that they can use to make their own improvement plans.

Conclusions and Discussion

This study focused on the research question: How do experienced teachers design formative assessment plans that are aligned, include decision-driven data collection, and leave room for adjusting and improving teaching and learning? Through the interviews with experienced teachers, seven strategies were found that they used to design formative assessment plans that meet these criteria:

Starting from existing and consciously planned series of lessons.

Taking time to understand learning objectives.

Using existing lesson activities to elicit evidence of student learning instead of designing new ones.

Precisely measuring what they need to know to inform their formative decisions.

Combining various sources of information about all the students’ learning to inform their formative decisions.

Preparing different follow-ups to match different possible outcomes from formative assessment.

Purposely creating time and space for improvement and adjustment in the curriculum.

To discover the difficulties teachers can encounter in designing formative assessment plans that are aligned, include decision-driven data collection, and leave room for adjusting and improving teaching and learning, sub-question 1 asked which pitfalls can threaten the design of formative assessment plans. One frequently found pitfall was that formative assessment plans were incomplete or unclear. A formative assessment plan needs to clearly describe, explicitly link, and consciously match learning objectives, lesson activities, and assessment in line with what Biggs ( 1996 ) defined as constructive alignment. Additionally, a formative assessment plan needs to clearly describe, explicitly link, and consciously match intended formative decisions, data collection and follow-up to meet the criteria of decision-driven data collection and room for adjustment and improvement.

The other pitfalls that were found were:

A mismatch between the learning objectives, lesson activities, and/or assessment activities that resulted in less alignment;

The data planned to be collected for information about student learning was not the information that was needed to inform the corresponding formative decision and therefore was not considered decision-driven data collection;

The information on student learning gathered through the planned data collection did not become available or visible for the teacher to help them inform the corresponding formative decision and therefore is not part of decision-driven data collection; and

The planned room for adjustment and improvement was not followed by another checkpoint to establish whether it had helped to achieve the expected learning objectives and assess whether there had been enough room for adjustment and improvement.

Sub-question 2 was aimed at discovering what experienced teachers do to design formative assessment plans that are aligned, include decision-driven data collection, and leave room for adjustment and improvement. The interviewed teachers mentioned seven design strategies that help them avoid most of the pitfalls listed above and two other pitfalls that they experienced during designing formative assessment. The design strategies will be presented in more detail per criterion with the implications for improving the design steps. All implications are shown in a revised version of the design steps in Online Resource 2 . The pitfalls that these teachers did not yet find a solution for will also be presented together with the implications for future research.

Design Strategies for Achieving Alignment

The six interviewed teachers used three design strategies to ensure sufficient alignment in their formative assessment plans:

Start with existing and consciously planned series of lessons. When these are aligned with the learning objectives, there is a solid foundation for the formative assessment plan.

Take time to understand the learning objectives thoroughly. Aligning formative assessment plans requires teachers to take a good look at learning objectives, zoom in and out, transcend specifics to discover the coherence between objectives, and make them more specific for teachers and students to work with. The learning objectives are the thread that links everything together, and teachers use them during design and in their lessons to ensure and continuously check alignment.

Do not regard formative assessment as something new or extra that must be added to lesson plans. Instead, teachers should take the opportunity to re-purpose and evaluate known and existing lesson activities in their lesson plans to investigate the possibilities of using them as activities to elicit evidence about students’ learning as part of a formative assessment plan.

These findings have implications for design steps 1, 3, and 5:

Step 1: Describe the context. Based on these outcomes regarding alignment, the first design step should suggest teachers to start their design with existing series of lessons that have already been designed, checked, implemented, and evaluated with alignment in mind. Additionally, it should emphasize that teachers should not only describe the learning objectives but take time to thoroughly understand them by zooming in and out to look for overarching learning objectives to bring everything together.

Step 3: Design rich data collection. To contribute to alignment design step three should include the suggestion to re-purpose learning and assessment tasks that are already part of the existing series of lessons and use them formatively instead of adding on formative assessment.

Step 5: Take a helicopter view. This step is now situated at the end of the design process. However, according to the teachers, this step encompasses the total design process since they continuously check for alignment during the design and execution of the formative assessment plan.

Design Strategies for Decision-Driven Data Collection

The experienced teachers used two design strategies to design decision-driven data collection (Wiliam, 2013 , 2014 ):

Ensure to precisely measure what you need to know by matching the form and content of the data collection methods to the formative decision the teacher wants to make.

Combine various information on the learning of all students to inform formative decisions solidly. The teachers reported three approaches they designed to help them do this:

Teachers combined information from different formative checks — planned or on the fly from prior lessons — with data collection conducted up to and around the checkpoints to inform their formative decisions.

Teachers collected data only at the planned checkpoints, at which time they aim to gather rich information on all students by using multiple data collection methods simultaneously.

Teachers did not use checkpoints to gather new information on learning but used them to bring together all relevant information on learning from all prior lessons until that moment.

If data is consciously collected to match and inform the formative decisions, all these variations can be considered decision-driven data collection. The important overarching design strategy is that teachers combine information from multiple data collections to inform their formative decisions.

As for decision-driven data collection, the two strategies experienced teachers mentioned are already incorporated in the design steps. However, the importance of these strategies can be emphasized in design step 3 and 5 based on this study:

Step 3: Design rich data collection. To emphasize the collection of rich data, this step could recommend combining multiple data collection methods positioned at the checkpoint and/or in the lessons before the checkpoint to get an honest, reliable, and complete overview of student learning.

Step 5: Take a helicopter view. Since design step 3 already mentions that teachers should consider if the data collection measures what they need to know, this could be emphasized by including this as an extra check in design step 5.

Design Strategies for Creating Room for Adjustment and Improvement

Most of the experienced teachers in this study acknowledged the difficulty of creating room for adjustment and improvement (Veugen et al., 2021 ). As a result, the three design strategies the teachers used to create room for adjustment and improvement focus on increasing the possibility to use the outcomes of the checkpoints:

Ensure to prepare various follow-ups to ensure teachers always have assignments, tutorials, and instructions ready to go and suitable for different outcomes and students.

Consciously create space and time in the curriculum for adjustment and improvement. The teachers reported three approaches that helped them do this:

Teachers planned checkpoints with data collection to help them decide whether they can skip, speed up, or delay the curriculum to create room for adjustment and improvement.

Teachers planned to delay more advanced tasks until they were sure students had acquired the basics

Teachers planned space for student improvement outside the classroom or after the final test.

Most teachers thought it was also important that students learned to make their own improvement plans and become co-responsible for the learning process.

As for the design steps, the design strategies for creating room for adjustment and improvement may lead to changes in design steps 4 and 5:

Step 4 . Make room for adjustment and improvement. T eachers might find it helpful to prepare follow-ups in advance for multiple possible outcomes and all students at each checkpoint. This design step could incorporate this suggestion

Step 5 : Take a helicopter view. In this step, teachers could be encouraged to think about risks that could hinder the creation of room for adjustment and improvement after a checkpoint and how to prevent this or prepare an alternate plan.

Other Pitfalls

Apart from the design strategies, the interviews also disclosed that even experienced teachers face difficulties in designing formative assessment. The two pitfalls that were mentioned can make it hard for teachers to design and implement formative assessment plans that are aligned, include decision-driven data collection, and make room for adjustment and improvement despite of the strategies they already use.

Narrow Formative Decisions from the Foundation for Decision-Driven Data Collection

The teachers reported that three formative decisions at the checkpoints were the foundation for their formative data collection. These decisions were limited to: “Can I go on with the next lesson/chapter/learning objective or is something else needed?” However, to ensure decision-driven data collection contributes to creating the best suitable follow-up for students, the decisions should go beyond “Can I go on or not” and include “What is the best way to move forward?” Therefore, the decisions that are the foundation of decision-driven data collection should have a double focus.

The first focus refers to the “yes or no” decision (e.g., “Can I go on to the next chapter?” or “Is it necessary to differentiate?”). There, teachers need to add a “how to continue” decision (e.g., “What is the best way to go forward?” or “How should I differentiate in the next lesson?”, respectively). When teachers incorporate both in their formative decisions, it is more likely that decision-driven data collection will provide the information needed to choose the follow-up that best suits students’ needs.

The second focus involves collaboration. Teachers can use conversations with their students to discover the best suitable follow-up (Allal, 2020 ). Formative assessment will achieve its full potential when it is perceived as support for development and learning and discovering how to suit students’ needs best rather than solely used for control and accountability and solely focused on the go or no go (Ninomiya & Shuichi, 2016 ).

Limited Room for Improvement

While one teacher advocated for perceiving learning and formative assessment as a continuous process that transcends specific chapters or series of lessons, the other teachers often wondered “How much room for improvement can I give my students?” or “How can I justify continuous and differentiated learning processes that suit students’ needs and still achieve all the learning objectives with all my students within a specific time?”

The differences between these teachers and the choices they make can be explained in several ways. The teachers’ pedagogical foundation and their knowledge and skills regarding formative assessment can play a role, as can the amount of space they perceive to define and shape their work within the school context (i.e., their professional agency) (Heitink et al., 2016 ; Oolbekkink-Marchand et al., 2022 ). These differences can be used to explain why one experienced teacher creates room for improvement during a new chapter or delays a test, while others wonder how much room for improvement they can give their students before they must move forward to the next subject, lesson, or learning objective. The amount of space and freedom teachers experience to let formative assessment lead their teaching decisions and the role teachers’ agency and experience play in this process would be interesting subjects for future research.

Limitations and Implications for Future Research

A first limitation of this study was that the conclusions about sub-question 1 are based on formative assessment plans that were only a reality on paper. The outcomes of the analysis were based on the complete plans and the possible risks perceived in the incomplete plans. Since the formative assessment plans are merely a written plan rather than a reflection of action, they do not always show what a teacher really planned to do. During the interviews, it became clear that when teachers explained their formative assessment plans, a lot of information about them had not been written down but was still essential to comprehend what they planned to do. Since only six teachers were interviewed, it is possible that asking more teachers to explain their formative assessment plans might have led to fewer, more, or different pitfalls in designing formative assessment.

Another limitation of this study was the inclusion of only six experienced teachers, mainly from theoretical subjects. It is unclear whether less experienced teachers or teachers of more practical subjects would use the same or other design strategies to meet the three criteria. Future research could focus on collecting a range of design stories from experienced and new teachers, with or without prior knowledge and skills concerning formative assessment, of both theoretical and practical subjects.

In conclusion, it is interesting to note a paradox about formative assessment. The current study showed that when teachers consciously prepare, plan, and match their formative assessment in advance, this helps them to achieve alignment, decision-driven data collection, and room for adjustment and improvement. However, this contradicts Black and Wiliam’s ( 2009 ) definition, which emphasizes that formative assessment “is concerned with the creation of, and capitalization upon, ‘moments of contingency’” (p. 10). When formative assessment is extensively planned, are teachers still able to pick up on the element of surprise? Decision-driven data collection can present them with different outcomes than expected, so an unforeseen follow-up may be needed to best suit students’ needs. How can teachers keep an inquiring and open mind when they collect and analyze evidence of learning after they planned their formative decisions, data collection, and follow-ups in detail in advance?

Thus, it would be interesting for future research to discover how teachers use information about students’ learning to inform their decisions. Do they analyze this information with enough openness and curiosity to really discern students’ needs and adjust their planned follow-up based on unexpected outcomes?

Data Availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, [JS], upon reasonable request. The data will not become publicly available before the ending of the research project this study is connected to.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all who contributed to completing this study. We give special consideration to the schools who are our committed partners in learning about and designing formative assessment plans and the teachers who took the time to share their formative assessment plans and design stories.

This work was supported by the Taskforce for Applied Research SIA, or Regieorgaan SIA (grant number RAAK.PRO03.057).

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Research Centre Qualities of Teachers, School of Education, HAN University of Applied Sciences, Nijmegen, the Netherlands

Janneke van der Steen & Tamara van Schilt-Mol

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Janneke van der Steen: conceptualization, methodology, validation, formal analysis and investigation, data curation, writing — original draft preparation, visualization. Tamara van Schilt-Mol: conceptualization, methodology, supervision, validation, writing — review and editing, project administration, funding acquisition. Cees van der Vleuten: conceptualization, supervision, validation, writing — review and editing. Desirée Joosten-ten Brinke: conceptualization, supervision, validation, writing — review and editing.

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Correspondence to Janneke van der Steen .

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van der Steen, J., van Schilt-Mol, T., van der Vleuten, C. et al. Designing Formative Assessment That Improves Teaching and Learning: What Can Be Learned from the Design Stories of Experienced Teachers?. J Form Des Learn 7 , 182–194 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41686-023-00080-w

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Accepted : 28 September 2023

Published : 17 October 2023

Issue Date : December 2023

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s41686-023-00080-w

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