importance of formative assessment essay

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Formative Assessment: Why Is It Still Important For Your Teaching?

Emma Johnson

Formative assessment is an essential tool for any teacher. It is not a new concept in education and it has been the focus of considerable research, with widespread agreement that this form of assessment is a key factor in improving learning and teaching.

In this blog we will be exploring formative assessment, looking at what it is, how it differs from other types of assessment, where it originated and what the key principles and features are.

What is formative assessment?

How is formative assessment different from other forms of assessment, where did formative assessment come from and why is it important, formative assessment, responsive teaching and assessment for learning, 10 key principles of formative assessment.

Examples of Formative Assessment

Formative assessment occurs at every stage of the learning process, with effective feedback used to improve students’ performance. Formative assessment is therefore different from assessment of learning, or ‘summative assessment’, where teachers collect information about the students’ attainment, often through an exam or test, at the end of a learning period.

The formative purpose is to close the gap between where the learner is then, to where they want to be. Teachers use assessment information to adjust their teaching strategies , with an emphasis on learning progress and achievement, rather than failure.

Examples of formative assessment

There are a wide range of assessment activities and assessment tools that teachers can adopt to ensure effective ongoing monitoring of the whole class. If students have a clear understanding of the learning intentions, they are able to have full involvement in the assessment process.

Use a range of strategies to make sure children have a clear understanding of the learning objectives. For example, use WILF (What I’m looking for) or success criteria; negotiate or share the criteria and write these on the board for children to see clearly.

Two stars and a wish is a simple way for introducing self and peer assessment, with children assessing their own or another student’s work, giving two things that were good and one thing which could have been improved. This needs to be modeled by the teacher the first time children are exposed to this form of assessment.

Regardless of the term being used by teachers and senior leaders, whether it be formative assessment, assessment for learning or responsive teaching, it is clear that the use of assessment and assessment strategies are a key component in ensuring student success for all in the classroom.

School leaders and teachers need to evaluate whether what is currently happening in their schools and in their classrooms is having a genuine impact on their teaching practice, student progress and student achievement.

If teachers are spending huge amounts of time filling out spreadsheets to show the progress the children are making, but this evidence isn’t being used to impact teaching and learning, then the spreadsheets are meaningless. All they are doing is providing information on what the students do and do not know. Real impact only occurs when this information is used effectively to improve the learning outcomes of all students.

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Why Formative Assessments Matter

importance of formative assessment essay

Summative assessments, or high stakes tests and projects, are what the eagle eye of our profession is fixated on right now, so teachers often find themselves in the tough position of racing, racing, racing through curriculum.

But what about informal or formative assessments? Are we putting enough effort into these?

What Are They?

Informal, or formative assessments are about checking for understanding in an effective way in order to guide instruction. They are used during instruction rather than at the end of a unit or course of study. And if we use them correctly, and often, yes, there is a chance instruction will slow when we discover we need to re-teach or review material the students wholly "did not get" -- and that's okay. Because sometimes we have to slow down in order to go quickly.

What this means is that if we are about getting to the end, we may lose our audience, the students. If you are not routinely checking for understanding then you are not in touch with your students' learning. Perhaps they are already far, far behind.

We are all guilty of this one -- the ultimate teacher copout: "Are there any questions, students?" Pause for three seconds. Silence. "No? Okay, let's move on."

Ever assign the big project, test, or report at the end of a unit and find yourself shocked with the results, and not in a good way? I have. The reason for the crummy results is not the students, but a lack of formative assessments along the way and discovering when, where, and how certain information needed to be re-taught or reviewed.

To Inform, Not Punish

If you find yourself wanting to spring a "gotcha" quiz on your students, ask yourself if it is really meant to collect important data or to freak them out and maybe "get them more serious about paying attention"?

Believe me, I've been there: wanting to punish the lazy, the cocky, the nonchalant. Sometimes we just want to see that hint of panic as they number 1 to 10 on their half sheets of paper (afterall, many of us experienced the "gotcha" quiz as students!)

If you feel tempted to do this, just say no; it's a mistake.

When and How?

Formative assessments are not about gotcha-ing students but about guiding where instruction needs to go next. We should use them frequently, and while or after kids learn a new idea, concept, or process.

When you are on your way to the Big End Project (or summative assessment) and students have just learned a piece or a step toward the end, check to see if they've got it.

And to avoid using the tired old quiz, here's a few ways you can check for understanding:

These can be fun and not daunting, for students or teacher. Give students a question to answer that targets the big idea of the lesson, and have them write a sentence or two. Stand by the door and collect them as they leave. Sit at your desk and thumb through them all, making three stacks: they get it, kind of get it, and don't get it all. The size of the stacks will tell you what to do next.

Student Checklist

Give your students a checklist and have them self-assess. Collect the checklists with each, or every other, new idea during a unit of study. Make sure they write a sentence or two explaining how they know they've got it, or why they think they are still struggling.

The Three-Minute Paper

This is more involved than the exit slip and often times, I'd give the kids more than three minutes. I don't use the word "essay" or they get too nervous. I might say, "Take out a piece of paper, and tell me what you have learned so far about ____________." Often they will basically write an essay (something they usually labor over in drafts and on their own!) I assess these the same way as the exit slip, by making the three stacks.

One-Sentence Summary

Ask students to write a summary sentence that answers the "who, what where, when, why, how" questions about the topic.

Misconception Check

Provide students with common or predictable misconceptions about a specific principle, process, or concept. Ask them whether they agree or disagree and explain why. Also, to save time, you can present a misconception check in the form of multiple-choice or true/false.

Watch, Look, Listen

Simply observing the actions, behaviors, and words of students can provide a wealth of valuable data and serve as a formative assessment. You can take notes as they conference with one another, pair and share, or engage in collaborative learning groups (lab projects, literature circles, etc.).

What to look for? If there are small group conversations happening, and they are successfully applying the new learning, not just one student is talking; they are talking over each other, and they are animated with body, hands and eyes. On the other hand, if it is quiet during this talk time, and they are watching you watch them, they are most likely lost.

Your note taking can be as easy as making a check-plus mark after each child's name who shares something of value and on-target/topic with their group. (Put a check by each child you hear share so you can see how many you heard versus how many get it.) If I have 17 names with checks after them, but only four check-plus marks, it's time to review or re-teach.

How do you check for understanding with your students? What are some formative assessments that you find fun, engaging, and effective? Please share with us your thoughts, ideas and expertise!

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Formative assessment

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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Sarah Schaible

November 23rd, 2021, how to approach formative essays at lse.

0 comments | 3 shares

Estimated reading time: 10 minutes

As teachers will tell you, formative essays are the best opportunity to get feedback on your work. This is particularly important if you are studying a qualitative subject. Quantitative courses have more frequent homework assessments, but for any other modules, you only get the opportunity to submit your own work once or twice a term.

Having made the general importance of formatives clear, here are my pieces of advice:

1. Start early

By this, I don’t mean to start writing weeks before the deadline. However, I have found that it pays off to think about the topic early, perhaps once you receive the assignment prompt. This allows you to think about the topic in classes in the back of your head and might give you good ideas later on. Besides, this also means you will be able to clarify any questions.

2. Be strategic

Continuing about topic selection, it is worth thinking about the summative assignment when choosing your topic. This matters especially when your graded assignment is based on coursework, meaning you will submit an extended essay. Often, you will be able to draw and expand on the research you already did during the term. In my Master’s for instance, I submitted outlines and topic proposals for summative essays.

Being strategic also matters when the final assessment takes place in form of a timed exam. Most exams will require you to be strategic and choose topics to specialise in. Therefore, if you find something interesting during the term, you will be able to save yourself a lot of time later if you’ve already written an essay on it.

3. Plan ahead

To avoid stress just before the deadline of the formative, make sure to make a rough plan of when you are going to write your essay. I tend to do readings and then choose a day to sit down and write the essay. This doubles as practice for exams.

4. Prioritise

It often gets to week six or seven of the term and suddenly you have to fit in several assignments with your usual weekly tasks. This is undeniably stressful. To avoid burning out, it is worth considering whether you want to prioritise some tasks over others. Not everything needs to get done at once. It’s okay to do one thing at a time and plan on catching up on other tasks later in the term.

5. Implement feedback

The last step is key in making the most of your assignment. Look at the feedback that is given to you and try to take steps to implement it for future essays. You could, for example, go back to your notes and make changes. If you still have open questions, go to office hours or email your professors. This has often helped me to get an even better understanding.

These strategies have helped me to manage the increased workload in the middle of term. The most important thing to keep in mind: assignment season is temporary. Once your essays are submitted, there will be time to catch up on readings and enjoy more free time again. While making a start on an essay is always daunting, in my experience, completing it is very rewarding.

About the author

Hi, I'm Sarah! I am an LSE BA Anthropology and Law graduate and a current LLM student.

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Center for the Advancement of Teaching Excellence

Formative assessments.

Nicole Messier, CATE Instructional Designer February 4th, 2022

WHAT? Heading link Copy link

Formative assessments occur before, during, and after a class session and data collected is used to inform improvements to teaching practices and/or student learning and engagement.

Formative assessments are beneficial to instructors by helping them to understand students’ prior knowledge and skills, students’ current level of engagement with the course materials, and how to support students in their progression to achieve the learning objectives.
Formative assessments are beneficial to students by providing them with immediate feedback on their learning as well as opportunities to practice metacognition, which is an awareness of one’s own knowledge and thinking processes as well as an ability to self-monitor one’s learning path (e.g., self-assessment of learning) and adapt or make changes to one’s learning behaviors (e.g., goal setting).

Formative assessments can be viewed through two broad assessment strategies: assessments for learning and assessments as learning.

Assessment for learning (AfL) provides the instructor an opportunity to adapt their teaching practices to support current students’ needs through the collection of data as well as provide practice, feedback, and interaction with the students.
Assessment as learning (AaL) provides student ownership of learning by utilizing evidence-based learning strategies, promoting self-regulation, and providing opportunities for reflective learning.

Want to learn more about these assessment strategies? Please visit the Resources Section – CATE website to review resources, teaching guides, and more.

Non-Graded Formative Assessments (AfL & AaL) Heading link Copy link

Non-graded formative assessments (afl & aal).

Non-graded formative assessments can be used to examine current students’ learning and provide an opportunity for students to self-check their learning.

Before class, questions can provide students with an opportunity to self-assess their learning as well as provide instructors with information for adapting their instruction.
During class, questions can provide a platform for discussion, interaction, and feedback.
After class, questions can provide students with opportunities to reflect, self-assess, and use retrieval practice .
Questions to gauge understanding of content in the video.
Think-pair-share – asking students to turn to their neighbor in class or small breakout groups in an online discussion and share their thoughts, ideas, or answers to a topic or question.
Muddiest point – asking students to identify a topic or theme that is unclear, or that they do not have confidence in their knowledge yet.
Three-minute reflection – asking students to pause and reflect on what they have learned during class (e.g., shared in a survey tool like Google Form , or in a discussion tool like Acadly ).
Asynchronous online sharing and brainstorming using Blackboard discussion boards or EdTech tools like Jamboard or Padlet.

Polling and video questions can be designed as assessment for learning (AfL) by gathering data for instructors to adapt their lectures and learning activities to meet students where they are or to provide opportunities for students to reflect on their learning. In-class activities such as think-pair-share and muddiest point or asynchronous sharing can be designed as assessment as learning (AaL) by providing opportunities for students to self-assess their learning and progress.

Example 1 - Polling Questions Heading link Copy link

Example 1 - polling questions.

An instructor wants to determine if students understand what is being discussed during the lecture and decides to create an opportunity for students to reflect and self-assess. The instructor designs a Likert scale poll where students are asked to rank their understanding of concepts from 1 – extremely muddy (no understanding of the concept) to 5 – ready to move on (a clear understanding of the concept). Based on student responses the instructor decides to revisit a muddy concept in the next class as well as provides additional resources via the course site on the concept to support student learning.

The instructor also encourages students to revisit concepts that they scored a three or lower on and write down questions about the concepts to share before the next class. The instructor decides to continue using the poll and the collection of questions on important concepts in the upcoming units. The instructor will utilize these questions throughout the term to support student learning.

This formative assessment example demonstrates assessment for learning (Afl) and assessment as learning (AaL) by collecting data to adapt instruction as well as provide students with the opportunity to self-assess.

Polling questions can also be used to verify that pre-class work was completed, as a knowledge check while taking attendance, as a quick confirmation of understanding while lecturing, or as an exit poll before leaving class (on-campus or synchronous online).

Non-graded formative assessments can be adapted to provide extrinsic motivation by awarding students credit if they achieve a certain percentage of correct answers (e.g., students complete at least 70% of the questions correctly to receive full credit). This type of extrinsic motivation shifts the focus from the students’ ability to answer the questions correctly to promoting self-assessment, practice, and goal setting.

Graded Formative Assessments (AfL & AaL) Heading link Copy link

Graded formative assessments (afl & aal).

Just like non-graded formative assessments, graded formative assessments can be used to examine current students’ learning and provide an opportunity for students to gauge their learning. Graded formative assessments should provide students with opportunities to practice skills, apply knowledge, and self-assess their learning.

One-minute essay – asking students to write down their thoughts on a topic at the end of a lecture.
Concept map – asking students to create a diagram showing relationships between concepts.
Authentic assessments – an assessment that involves a real-world task or application of knowledge instead of a traditional paper.
Reflections, journals, self-assessment of previous work
Discussion forums – academic discussions focused on a topic or question.
Group work or peer review
Video questions using EdTech tools like Panopto or Echo360 .

Formative assessments like in-class work, written assignments, discussion forums, and group work can be graded with a rubric to provide individualized feedback to students. Video questions using EdTech tools like Panopto or Echo360 and quizzes using Blackboard Tests, Pools, and Surveys can be automatically graded with immediate feedback provided to students.

Example 2 - Written Assignment Heading link Copy link

Example 2 - written assignment.

An instructor decides to create four formative written assessments to measure student learning and provide opportunities for students to self-assess and self-regulate their learning. These written assignments are designed to assess each of the learning objectives in the course. Students are required to find new evidence by performing research based on the aligned learning objective(s) in each assignment. In the first written assignment, students are provided with a rubric to self-assess their work and submit their self-assessment and work. The instructor provides personalized feedback using the rubric on their work and self-assessment. In the second and third written assignments, students are asked to submit their work and provide a review of their peers’ work using a rubric. The instructor provides feedback on the peer review only. In the fourth assignment, the students are asked to select one of the previous pieces of work and make revisions as well as write a reflection on the knowledge and skills that were developed by completing a self-assessment and two peer reviews.

This formative assessment example demonstrates the importance of feedback in improving student performance and learning. This example could come from a writing, research, or humanities course where students are expected to produce narrative, argumentative, persuasive, or analytical essays. These written assignments could also be in major coursework and be more authentic (involves a real-world task or application of knowledge instead of a traditional paper), for example, developing a memo, proposal, blog post, presentation, etc.

Formative assessments are used to provide opportunities for practice, feedback, and interaction ensuring students are active learners, instead of passive recipients of the information. In an active learning environment, student engagement, motivation, and outcomes are improved through the implementation of formative assessments. Students participate in meaningful learning activities and assessments that promote self-regulation, provide practice, and reinforce skills in an active learning environment.

Want to learn more about active learning strategies? Please visit the Resources Section – CATE website to review resources, teaching guides, and more.

WHY? Heading link Copy link

Why develop formative assessments in your course?

Since the late 90s, Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam have been challenging the view that summative assessment is the best way to measure learning and support student success. Black and Wiliam’s research on formative assessment and student achievement started the shift from a summative focus to a more balanced view of assessment for student success.

Studies have shown that students who participate in formative assessments have improved overall performance and higher scores than students who do not participate in the formative assessments (Robertson, 2019) .

Impact on Students Heading link Copy link

Impact on students.

Students who participate in formative assessments develop and improve several essential skills (Koka, 2017) including:

Communication skills
Collaboration skills
Problem-solving skills
Metacognition
Self-regulation skills

Student involvement, self-reflection, and open communication between faculty and students during formative assessments are vital to student success (Koka, 2017). Effective formative assessments include (Black, 2009):

“Clarifying and sharing learning intentions and criteria for success,
Engineering effective classroom discussions and other learning tasks that elicit evidence of student understanding,
Providing feedback that moves students forward,
Activating students as instructional resources for one another,
Activating students as the owners of their own learning.”

Use of EdTech Tools Heading link Copy link

Use of edtech tools.

Studies have shown that using EdTech tools for formative assessments improves the immediacy of scores and feedback to students. Student wait time and faculty workload are dramatically reduced by the utilization of EdTech tools (Robertson, 2019). The use of EdTech tools for formative assessments also improves student satisfaction, enjoyment, and engagement (Grier, 2021; Mdlalose, 2021). EdTech tools can be used for synchronous and asynchronous formative assessments; however, synchronous formative assessments can allow the instructor to clarify misconceptions and help foster more engagement during discussions to create a learning community (Mdlalose, 2021).

In a study and literature review by Robertson and Humphrey (2019), they determined elements needed for formative assessment tools to be effective, including timeliness of feedback, elaborative feedback from the instructor, personalized feedback for students, reusability (reusing existing questions or content), accessibility (does the use of the tool exclude some students), interface design (how easy it is to implement), interaction (does it improve the frequency of interactions between student and instructor), and cost (funded by the institution or personal expense). These elements should be taken into consideration as you determine which EdTech tool(s) to use for formative assessments.

Feedback & Formative Assessments Heading link Copy link

Feedback & formative assessments.

A critical component of any formative assessment is the timeliness of feedback. Studies have shown that it is the immediacy of feedback that is most beneficial to student learning (Robertson, 2019) . As you begin to design formative assessments or select an EdTech tool to develop a formative assessment, make sure to determine how you will provide feedback to students.

Reflect on the following questions regarding feedback and formative assessments:

How will you ensure that feedback to students is timely?
How will you design multiple opportunities for feedback interactions with you and/or among peers?
How will you distribute feedback interactions throughout the course?
How will you provide personalized feedback to students?

Want to learn more about grading and feedback? Please visit the Resources Section – CATE website to review resources, teaching guides, and more.

HOW? Heading link Copy link

How do you start designing formative assessments?

First, you can review your course outcomes and learning objectives to ensure alignment of the formative assessments developed. Formative assessments can help measure student achievement of learning objectives as well as provide students with actionable feedback and the instructor with data to make decisions on current teaching and instruction practices.

So how do you determine what type of formative assessment to design? Or the frequency and distribution of formative assessments in your course? Let’s dive into some of the elements that might impact your design decisions, including class size, discipline, modality, and EdTech tools .

Class Size Heading link Copy link

Formative assessments can be designed and implemented in any course size from small seminar courses to large lecture courses. The size of the class will influence the decisions that instructors make regarding the use of EdTech tools to deliver formative assessments.

Small Class Size

May allow for more formative assessments distributed throughout the course.
May allow for more immediacy of feedback and descriptive, personalized, or dialogic feedback from the instructor.

Large Class Size

May require instructors to utilize EdTech tools to deliver formative assessments that are distributed throughout the course.
May require instructors to utilize EdTech tools to deliver timely, consistent, and helpful feedback to students.

Discipline Heading link Copy link

Formative assessments can be implemented in any type of course or program. A few considerations when developing formative assessments:

To understand students’ prior knowledge and skills.
As learning for students to reflect and self-regulate their learning.
To measure achievement of learning objectives.
To collect data to make decisions about teaching and instruction.

In undergraduate general education coursework, instructors should consider using formative assessments to understand student goals and motivations for taking a course and how to support their goals (future learning and connection to future career) and sustain their engagement in a course that may not be directly or obviously related to the major program of study. In major coursework, instructors might want to consider using formative assessments to reinforce knowledge and practice skills needed for summative assessments and external accreditation or licensure exams.

Modality Heading link Copy link

The modality of your course will influence the planning and delivery of formative assessments. Formative assessments can be designed for both synchronous and asynchronous delivery for any course modality.

Synchronous formative assessments (during scheduled classes) can be administered in on-campus, online synchronous, hybrid, and synchronous distributed courses. For example, creating in-class polls or surveys using an EdTech tool like Acadly and iClickers .

Asynchronous formative assessments (outside of scheduled classes) can be administered in any type of course; however, asynchronous formative assessments are vital for online asynchronous courses to measure and reinforce learning. For example, creating weekly or unit quizzes in Blackboard using the Tests, Pools, and Surveys to reinforce student learning of the content.

Formative Assessment Tools Heading link Copy link

Formative assessment tools.

EdTech tools can help to reduce faculty workload by providing a delivery system that reaches students before, during, and/or after class sessions

Below are EdTech tools that are available to UIC faculty to create and/or grade formative assessments for and as learning.

Video and Questions Tools Heading link Copy link

Video and questions tools.

VoiceThread

Asynchronous formative assessment tools like videos with questions can help you provide opportunities for students to self-assess learning, receive feedback, and practice.

Questions, Surveys, and Polling Tools

iClickers
Blackboard surveys and quizzes
Google forms
Poll Everywhere

Question or polling tools can be administered synchronously to check understanding during a lecture in on-campus or online synchronous courses. Many of these tools can also be used asynchronously by providing a link in the course materials or announcements in the learning management system (LMS) – Blackboard .

Assessment Creation and Grading Tools

Blackboard assignments drop box and rubrics

Assignments and scoring rubrics can be created in Blackboard for students to practice skills, receive feedback, and make revisions. Formative assessments can be created within Gradescope, or you can score in-class work using AI technology to reduce grading time, provide consistency in grading, and give general as well as personalized feedback to students.

Want to learn more about these formative assessment tools? Visit the EdTech section on the CATE website to learn more.

GETTING STARTED Heading link Copy link

Getting started.

The following steps will support you as you examine current formative assessment practices through the lens of assessment for learning (AfL) and assessment as learning (AaL) and develop new or adapt existing formative assessments.

Consider creating an outline of the course and determine when a learning objective is covered and should be assessed.
To collect data for decision-making about teaching and instruction (AfL).
To provide students opportunities for practice and feedback (AfL and AaL).
To promote self-regulation and reflective learning by students (AaL).
To provide differentiation for students to improve individual learning and performance (AfL).
Format: in-class work, question(s), written assignment, etc.
Delivery: paper and pencil, Blackboard, EdTech tool, etc.
Feedback: general (how to improve performance), personalized (student-specific), etc.
Scoring: graded, non-graded, participation points, or extra credit.
The fourth step is to review data collected from formative assessment(s) and reflect on the implementation of the formative assessment(s) to inform continuous improvements for equitable student outcomes.

CITING THIS GUIDE Heading link Copy link

Citing this guide.

Messier, N. (2022). “Formative assessments.” Center for the Advancement of Teaching Excellence at the University of Illinois Chicago. Retrieved [today’s date] from https://teaching.uic.edu/resources/teaching-guides/assessment-grading-practices/formative-assessments/

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Heading link Copy link

Additional resources.

Academic Planning Task Force. (2020). Guidelines for Assessment in Online Learning Environments .

Clifford, S. (2020). Eleven alternative assessments for a blended synchronous learning environment. Faculty Focus.

Crisp, E. (2020). Leveraging feedback experiences in online learning. EDUCAUSE

Dyer, K. (2019). 27 easy formative assessment strategies for gathering evidence of student learning. NWEA .

Gonzalez, J. (2020). 4 laws of learning (and how to follow them). Cult of Pedagogy .

Weinstein, Y., Sumeracki, M., Caviglioli, O. (n.d.). Six strategies for effective learning. The Learning Scientists .

Agarwal, P. (n.d.) Retrieval practice website

Hattie, J. (n.d.) Visible Learning website

Weinstein, Y., Sumeracki, M., Caviglioli, O. (n.d.). The Learning Scientists.

Wiliam, D. (n.d.) Dylan Wiliam’s website

REFERENCES Heading link Copy link

Black, P., Wiliam, D. (2009). Developing the theory of formative assessment. Educational Assessment Evaluation and Accountability. 21. 5-31. 10.1007/s11092-008-9068-5.

Earl, L.M., Katz, S. (2006). Rethinking classroom assessment with purpose in mind – Assessment for learning, assessment as learning, assessment of learning. Winnipeg, Manitoba: Crown in Right of Manitoba .

Grier, D., Lindt, S., Miller, S. (2021). Formative assessment with game-based technology. International Journal of Technology in Education and Science . 5. 193-202. 10.46328/ijtes.97.

Koka, R., Jurane-Bremane, A., Koke, T. (2017). Formative assessment in higher education: From theory to practice. European Journal of Social Sciences Education and Research . 9. 28. 10.26417/ejser.v9i1.p28-34.

Mdlalose, N., Ramaila, S., Ramnarain, U. (2021). Using Kahoot! As a formative assessment tool in science teacher education. International Journal of Higher Education . 11. 43-51. 10.5430/ijhe.v11n2p43.

Robertson, S., Humphrey, S., Steele, J. (2019). Using technology tools for formative assessments . Journal of Educators Online . Volume 16, Issue 2.

Weinstein, Y., Sumeracki, M., Caviglioli, O. (2019). Understanding how we learn – A visual guide. Routledge .

Formative and Summative Assessment

Assessment helps instructors and students monitor progress towards achieving learning objectives. Formative assessment is used throughout an instructional period to treat misconceptions, struggles, and learning gaps. Summative assessments evaluate learning, knowledge, proficiency, or success at the conclusion of an instructional period.

Below you will find formative and summative descriptions along with a diagram, examples, recommendations, and strategies/tools for the next steps.

Descriptions

Formative assessment (Image 1, left) refers to tools that identify misconceptions, struggles, and learning gaps along the way and assess how to close those gaps. It includes practical tools for helping to shape learning. It can even bolster students’ ability to take ownership of their education when they understand that the goal is to improve learning and not apply final marks (Trumbull and Lash, 2013). It can include students assessing themselves, peers, or even the instructor, through writing, quizzes, conversation, and more. Formative assessment occurs throughout a class or course and seeks to improve student achievement of learning objectives through approaches that can support specific student needs (Theal and Franklin, 2010, p. 151). In the classroom, formative assessment centers on practice and is often low-stakes. Students may or may not receive a grade.

In contrast, summative assessments (Image 1, right) evaluate student learning, knowledge, proficiency, or success after an instructional period, as a unit, course, or program. Summative assessments are almost always formally graded and often heavily weighted (though they do not need to be). Summative assessment can be used to significant effect in conjunction and in alignment with formative assessment, and instructors can consider a variety of ways to combine these approaches.

Two diagrams showing the when, why, and how of formative and summative assessment. Formative: Help students to learn and practice, when - throughout the course, why - identify gaps and improve learning, how - via approaches that support specific student needs. Whereas, summative asses student performance, when at the end of an instructional period, why - collect evidence of student knowledge, skills or proficiency, how - via exit learning or a cumulative assessment.

Examples of Formative and Summative Assessments

Formative: l earn and practice.

In-class discussions
Clicker questions (e.g., Top Hat)
1-minute reflection writing assignments
Peer review
Homework assignments

Summative: Assess performance

Instructor-created exams
Standardized tests
Final projects
Final essays
Final presentations
Final reports
Final grades

Formative Assessment Recommendations

Ideally, formative assessment strategies improve teaching and learning simultaneously. Instructors can help students grow as learners by actively encouraging them to self-assess their skills and knowledge retention, and by giving clear instructions and feedback. Seven principles (adapted from Nicol and Macfarlane-Dick, 2007 with additions) can guide instructor strategies:

1. Keep clear criteria for what defines good performance

Instructors can explain criteria for A-F graded papers and encourage student discussion and reflection about these criteria (accomplish this through office hours, rubrics, post-grade peer review, or exam/assignment wrappers . Instructors may also hold class-wide conversations on performance criteria at strategic moments throughout the term.

2. Encourage students' self-reflection.

Instructors can ask students to utilize course criteria to evaluate their own or peers’ work and share what kinds of feedback they find most valuable. Also, instructors can ask students to describe their best work qualities, either through writing or group discussion.

3. Give students detailed, actionable feedback

Instructors can consistently provide specific feedback tied to predefined criteria, with opportunities to revise or apply feedback before final submission. Feedback may be corrective and forward-looking, rather than just evaluative. Examples include comments on multiple paper drafts, criterion discussions during 1-on-1 conferences, and regular online quizzes.

4. Encourage teacher and peer dialogue around learning

5. promote positive motivational beliefs and self-esteem.

Students will be more motivated and engaged when assured that an instructor cares for their development. Instructors can design assignments to allow for rewrites/resubmissions in assignments to promote learning development. These rewrites might utilize low-stakes assessments, or even automated online testing that is anonymous, and (if appropriate) allows for unlimited resubmissions.

6. Provide opportunities to close the gap between current and desired performance

Related to the above; instructors can improve student motivation and engagement by making visible any opportunities to close gaps between current and desired performance. Examples include opportunities for resubmission, specific action points for writing or task-based assignments, and sharing study or process strategies that an instructor would use to succeed.

7. Collect information to help shape teaching

Instructors can feel free to collect useful information from students to provide targeted feedback and instruction. Students can identify where they are having difficulties, either on an assignment or test or in written submissions. This approach also promotes metacognition, as students reflect upon their learning.

Instructors may find various other formative assessment techniques through CELT’s Classroom Assessment Techniques .

Summative Assessment Recommendations

Because summative assessments are usually higher-stakes than formative assessments, it is especially important to ensure that the assessment aligns with the instruction’s goals and expected outcomes.

1. Use a Rubric or Table of Specifications

Instructors can use a rubric to provide expected performance criteria for a range of grades. Rubrics will describe what an ideal assignment looks like, and “summarize” expected performance at the beginning of the term, providing students with a trajectory and sense of completion.

2. Design Clear, Effective Questions

If designing essay questions, instructors can ensure that questions meet criteria while allowing students the freedom to express their knowledge creatively and in ways that honor how they digested, constructed, or mastered meaning.

3. Assess Comprehensiveness.

Effective summative assessments allow students to consider the totality of a course’s content, make deep connections, demonstrate synthesized skills, and explore more profound concepts that drive or find a course’s ideas and content.

4. Make Parameters Clear

When approaching a final assessment, instructors can ensure that parameters are well defined (length of assessment, depth of response, time and date, grading standards). Also, knowledge assessed relates clearly to the content covered in course; and provides students with disabilities required space and support.

5. Consider Anonymous Grading.

Instructors may wish to know whose work they grade, to provide feedback that speaks to a student’s term-long trajectory. If instructors want to give a genuinely unbiased summative assessment, they can also consider a variety of anonymous grading techniques (see hide student names in SpeedGrader Canvas guide ).

Explore Assessment Strategies and Tools

Instructional strategies.

CELT’s online resources are organized to help an instructor sequentially work through the teaching process.

Learning Technology

A listing with applications that have been proven to meet the ISU’s security, accessibility, and purchasing standards.

Academic Integrity

Explore the following approaches and methods which emphasize prevention and education.

Nicol, D.J. and Macfarlane-Dick, D. (2006) Formative assessment and self‐regulated learning: a model and seven principles of good feedback practice. Studies in Higher Education 31 (2): 2-19.
Theall, M. and Franklin J.L. (2010). Assessing Teaching Practices and Effectiveness for Formative Purposes. In: A Guide to Faculty Development . KJ Gillespie and DL Robertson (Eds). Jossey Bass: San Francisco, CA.
Trumbull, E., & Lash, A. (2013). Understanding formative assessment: Insights from learning theory and measurement theory . San Francisco: WestEd.

Formative and Summative Assessment, by the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT) at Iowa State University is licensed under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 . This work, Formative and Summative Assessment, is a derivative of Formative and Summative Assessment developed by the Yale University Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning(retrieved on June 23, 2020) from https://poorvucenter.yale.edu/Formative-Summative-Assessments.

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The Potential of the Essay in Formative Assessment: Literature Review

Education. Innovation. Diversity.

This scientific research explores the potential of using essays as a formative assessment tool in the context of the competencies approach. The competencies approach emphasises the importance of focusing on learning progress and needs to promote successful learning, thus formative assessment plays a pivotal role in facilitating effective learning. The study highlights the significance of essay writing in promoting critical thinking, problem-solving, and self-directed learning. However, students often perceive essays solely as a means of summative assessment, lacking a comprehensive understanding of the assessment criteria. To address this issue, the research emphasizes the importance of involving students in the learning process by collectively defining outcomes, establishing assessment criteria, and providing constructive feedback. Clear objectives and feedback are crucial in fostering self-regulated learning and lifelong learning. The study highlights the need for student-teacher ...

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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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Importance of Formative Assessment

Welcome back to this week’s edition of Naiku’s Coach’s Corner.

This week, I want to discuss the importance of incorporating formative assessments into your classroom assessment practice. Formative assessment is a great way to measure a student’s performance during instruction, and usually occurs regularly throughout the instruction process. When we assess student learning for formative purposes, there may be no final mark on a student’s paper or summative grade in our grade book. Rather, formative assessment can serve as practice for our students, much like a meaningful homework assignment does. And the key to effective formative assessment is the descriptive feedback that we as teacher provide to our students. Below, I discuss 3 ways in which formative assessments can be used to ensure the success of all students.

1. Formative assessments allow us to adapt instruction based on results, making modifications and improvements that will produce immediate benefits for our students’ learning. Much like pre-assessments, formative assessments can be done in two different ways within Naiku. First, you can simply conduct a Quick Question session to poll your students. This will give you a quick and informal way to check for understanding during your lesson. Quick Question is especially helpful when you do not have an assessment pre-made, but you still want to have an measure of how students are retaining information. Second, you can prepare a longer formative assessment for your students. In both cases, Naiku provides instant results with some great data points. These results can be used to find where the shortcomings are within your instruction, or among your students.

2. Formative assessments give our students evidence of their current progress to actively manage and adjust their own learning. This also provides our students the ability to track their educational goals. With the instant results that Naiku provides, students have the ability to assess their learning at a metacognitive level. In short terms, metacognition is the ability for a student to think about thinking. This can be taken even further because students have the ability to reflect on each assessment. Naiku also allows students to set goals and journal about their educational experiences with our ‘Journal’ feature. These journals are shared with the teacher, which allows teachers to really get a glimpse inside each of their student’s educational journey.

3. Formative assessments give us the ability to provide constant feedback to our students. This allows our students to be part of the learning environment and to develop self-assessment strategies that will help with the understanding of their own thought process. With Naiku’s ‘Feedback’ feature, teachers and students can leave one another feedback on a given assessment. This can act as a sort of conversation pertaining specifically to that student’s learning.

Formative assessments can be done in two different ways. They can be done formally. Formal assessments often times, but not always, are used as a grade in a students academic record. Formal formative assessments can include quizzes, work samples, daily work, exit slips, and journals.

Formative assessment can also be done in an informal manner. Informal assessments are often times not used for grading purposes. Rather they are used to get a quick reference of how your students are understanding a specific topic or lesson. Informal formative assessments can include white board demonstrations, thumbs up/thumbs down, directed questions, and discussion reflections.

I have created a sample formative assessment covering “The Water Cycle” for grade 8 science. If you are already logged into your Naiku account you can find this pre-assessment here. You can also search for this assessment by clicking “Search” from your assessments page. In the “Assessment Name” box, enter Water Cycle Quiz” and click search. I have this formative assessment set up as a quiz, but it could be used in various applications. These questions could be broken up and used as homework assignments, entrance/exit slips, etc. Remember, formative assessments can be used in the grade book but do not have to be. As you start using formative assessments more often, you will gain a better idea of when it is appropriate to assign grades for a given assessment.

I hope you found the information useful and find ways to incorporate formative assessments into your classroom. Next time, I’ll discuss the importance of summative assessments and suggest ways to incorporate this critical assessment technique with Naiku. If you have suggestions for future topics that you would like to see me discuss, please send me a note at [email protected].

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Naiku provides over 50 ACT Quick Checks for teachers to use for student progress monitoring in all ACT test subjects. ACT Quick Checks are short, topic-focused, formative assessments; typically 6-12 questions in length. Each Quick Check contains questions from a single topic, such as Math-Functions, so teachers can use to easily monitor progress between benchmark […]

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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.

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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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COMMENTS

Formative Assessment: Why Is It Still Important For Your Teaching?
Formative assessment should be used to enhance all learners' opportunities to learn in all areas of educational activity, enabling all learners to achieve their best and be recognised for their efforts. Focuses on how students learn. The teacher and the student should be thinking about the process of learning.
Why Formative Assessments Matter
Informal, or formative assessments are about checking for understanding in an effective way in order to guide instruction. They are used during instruction rather than at the end of a unit or course of study. And if we use them correctly, and often, yes, there is a chance instruction will slow when we discover we need to re-teach or review ...
Formative assessment: A systematic review of critical teacher
1. Introduction. Using assessment for a formative purpose is intended to guide students' learning processes and improve students' learning outcomes (Van der Kleij, Vermeulen, Schildkamp, & Eggen, 2015; Bennett, 2011; Black & Wiliam, 1998).Based on its promising potential for enhancing student learning (Black & Wiliam, 1998), formative assessment has become a "policy pillar of educational ...
PDF The Effects of Formative Assessment on Academic Achievement ...
Formative assessment is viewed as the most critical assessment strategy in many cities of Canada as well. Countries such as Finland, Germany, Sweden and Spain also emphasize the importance of formative assessment and the necessity of constant assessment of each student using different assessment methods such as verbal feedback, interviews and ...
Formative Assessment
Assessment comes in two forms: formative and summative. Formative assessment occurs during the learning process, focuses on improvement (rather than evaluation) and is often informal and low-stakes. Adjustments in Instruction. Formative assessment allows instructors to gain valuable feedback—what students have learned, how well they can articulate concepts, what problems they can solve.
Teachers' Essential Guide to Formative Assessment
A formative assessment is a teaching practice—a question, an activity, or an assignment—meant to gain information about student learning. It's formative in that it is intentionally done for the purpose of planning or adjusting future instruction and activities. Like we consider our formative years when we draw conclusions about ourselves, a ...
The role of formative assessment in effective learning environments
Dylan Wiliam describes assessment as the bridge between teaching and learning. The concept of " formative assessment" emerged with recognition of the importance of feedback and application of navigational metaphors about staying on course through corrective steering. There is substantial evidence, reviewed here, on how feedback improves learning but most studies suffer from weak ...
Formative assessment
Formative assessment. 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 ...
THE POTENTIAL OF THE ESSAY IN FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT ...
A very important element of formative assessment is giving and receiving feedback. However, most teachers face difficulty in giving students feedback due to various reasons, such as the large ...
How to Approach Formative Essays at LSE
5. Implement feedback. The last step is key in making the most of your assignment. Look at the feedback that is given to you and try to take steps to implement it for future essays. You could, for example, go back to your notes and make changes. If you still have open questions, go to office hours or email your professors.
Formative Assessments
This formative assessment example demonstrates the importance of feedback in improving student performance and learning. This example could come from a writing, research, or humanities course where students are expected to produce narrative, argumentative, persuasive, or analytical essays.
Formative and Summative Assessment
Formative assessment occurs throughout a class or course and seeks to improve student achievement of learning objectives through approaches that can support specific student needs (Theal and Franklin, 2010, p. 151). In the classroom, formative assessment centers on practice and is often low-stakes. Students may or may not receive a grade.
PDF THE POTENTIAL OF THE ESSAY IN FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT ...
of the essay before it is submitted to the teacher for summative assessment is very important (West, Malcolm, Keywood, & Hill, 2019). A schematic representation of the factors and
Formative Assessment: Balancing Educational Effectiveness and Resource
The research findings highlight the crucial importance of assessment generally, and formative assessment in particular, on student learning in higher education. Research pressures, larger classes and more distance learning are all challenges that make the balancing act between resource efficiency and educational effectiveness increasingly ...
(PDF) The Potential of the Essay in Formative Assessment: Literature
This scientific research explores the potential of using essays as a formative assessment tool in the context of the competencies approach. The competencies approach emphasises the importance of focusing on learning progress and needs to promote successful learning, thus formative assessment plays a pivotal role in facilitating effective learning.
The importance of formative assessment in the learning ...
Pedernales; with the aim o f raising a wareness in th e teachers of the inst itution, the importance of formative evaluation as a means to raise the quality of. performance of students, and thus ...
PDF Evidence on formative classroom assessment for learning
Formative assessment contrasts with summative assessment. Formative assessments aim at improving education, while summative assessments aim at measuring education (Pryor, 2015). ... is important to remember the structural constraints that they are working under. 4 As noted above, CA appears to have been reduced to a bureaucratic procedure in ...
PDF FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT
teachers and school leaders on formative assessment: what it is and how to build it into regular classroom practice. Used alongside a set of clearly defined and challenging learning intentions, formative assessment is continuous feedback that allows a teacher to evaluate impact and a student to move their learning forward2.
Formative and Summative Assessment
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 ...
Importance of Formative Assessment
Rather, formative assessment can serve as practice for our students, much like a meaningful homework assignment does. And the key to effective formative assessment is the descriptive feedback that we as teacher provide to our students. Below, I discuss 3 ways in which formative assessments can be used to ensure the success of all students. 1.
14 Examples of Formative Assessment [+FAQs]
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 ...
Essay On Formative Assessment
Essay On Formative Assessment. "Formative assessment is a process used by teacher and students during instruction that provides feedback to adjust on going teaching and learning to improve students' achievement of intended instructional outcomes (Caroline Wylie and Christine Lyon, 2013).". I believe that formative assessments are ...
Formative vs Summative
The purpose of formative assessment is to monitor student learning and provide ongoing feedback to staff and students. It is assessment for learning. If designed appropriately, it helps students identify their strengths and weaknesses, can enable students to improve their self-regulatory skills so that they manage their education in a less haphazard fashion than is commonly found.
Formative Assessment A Critical Analysis Education Essay
In 1998, Black and Wiliam published two important papers - an article in which they argued that formative assessment, when properly employed in the classroom, would help students learn what was being taught to a significantly improved extent, and an in depth meta-analysis which would provide the evidence base to suggest that the benefits ...