Formative assessment is assessment for learning.
Formative assessment checks for understanding and provides students with feedback and support. It helps teachers recognize where students are struggling and make plans to address problems as they arise.
These checks should not be graded since the purpose of formative assessment techniques is to obtain feedback to use in improving teaching and learning, not to evaluate learning.
Sources: Carnegie Mellon University & Jay McTighe.
The following tools and strategies have been adapted from 8 Quick Checks for Understanding by Jay McTighe.
Ask students to display a designated hand signal to indicate their degree of confidence in their understanding of a concept, principle, or process. For example:
Thumbs up: I understand _____ and can explain it in my own words.
Wave hand: I’m not completely sure about _____ and doubt I could explain it.
Thumbs down: I don’t yet understand _____ and cannot explain it.
This can be done with heads down on a desk if you wish to give students more privacy.
Visual representations can also be used as formative assessments. Have students create a visual or symbolic representation (e.g., a graphic organizer, web, or concept map) of information and abstract concepts and then be prepared to explain their graphic. Picturing techniques are especially useful to see if students understand how various concepts or elements of a process are related.
Examples:
Draw a visual web of factors affecting plant growth.
Develop a concept map to illustrate how a bill becomes a law.
Create a story map or sequence diagram showing the major events in the story.
Resources
In collaborative/online learning environments, students can post their visuals on Padlet, on a Presentation Slide, or in Nearpod.
Having students regularly summarize what they are learning helps them increase comprehension and retention of new material, and also provides teachers with insight into whether students are really grasping important ideas.
Examples:
Resources
On an iPad or iOS device, Clips would be a quick way to summarize understanding. FlipGrid, iMovie, Voice Memo, Garageband, Keynote, or PowerPoint are also tools students could use to summarize with audio or video.
Ask students to teach a new concept or skill to someone else—a new student, a student who has just returned from absence, or a younger child. You’ll be able to gauge their degree of understanding as you review or observe their lesson.
Examples:
Resources
There are many digital resources that can support this approach, including Padlet, FlipGrid, Keynote, PowerPoint, Word, and Canva.
Show students a binary-choice statement or question containing an understanding or a common misconception and have them select a response (e.g., True or False, Agree or Disagree) and share it via a whiteboard, app, or hand signal (e.g., thumbs up or down). This is particularly effective to use in checking students’ prior knowledge or potential misconceptions before beginning new instruction.
Here are a couple of “choosing” formats with examples:
In Hybrid learning, students can use the chat to record their choices or respond to a poll.
Resources
An efficient and effective quick check for understanding involves troubleshooting. Present students with a common misconception or a frequent procedural error. See if they can:
Their responses will provide a quick check of the depth of their understanding.
Examples:
Resources
Microsoft Word, Canva, or Padlet may help with this strategy.
Understanding is revealed when students can transfer their learning to new situations. One of the best checks for understanding is to see if students can apply material in a somewhat novel context. This technique includes asking students to find or create new and novel examples to illustrate a newly learned concept.
Examples:
Another technique invites students to develop an analogy or metaphor to illustrate a newly learned concept or skill. The effectiveness of their explanatory analogy or metaphor can give you insight into their understanding. However, be cautious when interpreting student responses to this technique—a student may very well understand a concept but be unable to generate an appropriate analogy. Asking students to explain their analogies will give you further insight into their understanding.
Here’s a prompt for students: A _____ is like a _____ because _____.
Examples:
Resources
Students can also create visual analogies. In online/hybrid learning environments, students can post their analogies and metaphors in a chat box or on a Padlet or PowerPoint Slide.
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Note: Several of these techniques can be naturally used in conjunction with another popular formative assessment technique—an exit card—given to students at the end of a class period or end of the school day.
While these techniques can provide valuable information about the effectiveness of teaching and the quality of students’ learning, they’re not ends in themselves. Instead, they should be seen as the first step in a “feedback cycle.” The next step is to act on that feedback—reteaching something that many students failed to learn; correcting misconceptions that may be revealed; and/or providing scaffolded support to students who need it.
Please check out our Guide to Feedback for more information