Formative assessments are great at giving you a gauge of students understanding in close to real-time.
But classrooms aren’t a perfect, static environment. Things change every day, even minute to minute, and getting to each student can feel impossible.
However, there are formative assessment strategies that you can rely on, add to your toolkit, and adapt over time to match your teaching style and student needs.
Understanding Formative Assessment
Definition and Key Concepts
Formative assessment refers to a range of processes that you can use to monitor student learning. The goal is to gather continuous feedback to improve teaching and comprehension.
Unlike summative assessments, which are high stakes and occur at a learning period’s end, formative assessments are low stakes and frequent. They take many forms, such as quizzes, discussions, or peer reviews.
Key concepts include:
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Feedback loops: Close the gap between current and desired performance.
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Learner engagement: Ensure active participation.
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Adaptability: Modify lessons based on real-time insights.
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Supportive environment: Emphasise growth over performance measurement.
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Identification of learning gaps: Foster continuous improvement.
Differences from Summative Assessment
Formative assessments are ongoing checks during learning to guide progress and improve understanding, using tools like quizzes and feedback.
Summative assessments evaluate overall achievement at the end of a learning period through exams, projects, or standardised tests.
Benefits of Formative Assessment
Improving Student Engagement
Formative assessments encourage your students to actively demonstrate understanding in different ways, like group discussions or real-time quizzes.
This variety gives students respite from summative assessments, which can all look the same. Further, it provides opportunities for students to show their understanding in a personalised way.
Improving Learning Outcomes
Where formative assessments shine is a faster ‘feedback loop’.
If a student has an incorrect understanding about a topic or practice, a long feedback loop reinforces that understanding. Consequentially, it becomes harder and more time-consuming to undo that learning, and may have impacted important official assessments.
The speed of the formative assessment feedback loop means students are on the right track and reinforcing their correct understanding quickly.
Providing Feedback Opportunities
Regular, low-pressure assessments give you and your students immediate performance insights. You get a better understanding of them as individual students, and they get a better understanding of their own learning process.
Feedback doesn’t have to be one-sided. You can encourage peer-to-peer dialogue, giving students the chance to learn key feedback communication skills.
Challenges and Weaknesses
Time and Resource Constraints
If you’re facing a packed curricula and tight schedules, you’re left with little room for frequent, detailed assessments. Additionally, providing individualised feedback for each student can be time-consuming, especially in larger classes.
Resource limitations, like insufficient access to technology, or the training to use technology to its best ability, can lead to poor formative assessments.
Subjectivity and Bias Concerns
As assessments often involve qualitative feedback and judgments, they can be influenced by personal biases, potentially leading to unfair evaluations.
You might unintentionally favour certain students or hold preconceived notions about abilities, skewing feedback.
If this is something that feels too close to home, the best way to manage them is striving for consistency. Use rubrics with clear standards that give you the guideline to focus strictly on performance rather than perception. You can also reflect and work with your colleagues to identify and address potential biases.
Student Resistance and Anxiety
Some students may feel uncomfortable with continuous evaluation and feedback, especially if they have a fear of judgement or failure.
You might also face resistance if the formative assessments feel like more work with no value.
The best way to manage this is open communication and adaption. Be straightforward with your class with they ‘why’, and tweak the regularity or the intensity of the formative assessments to the more sensitive students.
Timing and Frequency
There’s a balance to be struck with formative assessments. You can’t have them too frequent and overwhelm students, but you can’t have them so far apart you miss the advantages of a quick feedback loop.
The way to find that balance is to integrate the assessments into the instruction.
For example, incorporating brief quizzes at lesson ends or reflective journal entries weekly provides insights without disrupting learning.
Timing is equally important; assessments should occur when students have had sufficient material exposure but not too late for misconceptions to take root.
Remember, flexibility is key!
Adapting to Diverse Learners
As your formative assessment practice develops, start to consider varying abilities, learning styles, and backgrounds when designing assessments. Offer multiple forms of demonstrating understanding, such as verbal presentations, written responses, or creative projects.
Differentiating assessment tasks allows students to engage in ways that resonate with strengths, promoting confidence. Provide accommodations for special needs, like extended time or alternative formats, ensuring equitable access.
You can also leverage technology to create personalised experiences, using tools offering adaptive feedback.
Examples of Formative Assessment Strategies
1. Exit Tickets
Exit tickets are a quick, effective way to gauge student understanding at a lesson’s end. These are short prompts or questions that you ask students to respond to before they leave. For example, after a lesson on photosynthesis, you might ask them to write one thing they learned and one lingering question. This method helps identify concepts needing further exploration and encourages reflection on learning.
2. Think-Pair-Share
Think-Pair-Share is a collaborative learning strategy for fostering participation. Students first think about a question independently, then discuss thoughts with a partner before sharing with the larger group. For instance, in a history class discussing WWII causes, students might reflect individually, discuss in pairs, and present conclusions. This encourages active participation and allows you to assess understanding through discussion.
3. Concept Mapping
Concept mapping involves creating visual representations of key concepts and their relationships. This strategy helps students organise information, aiding complex topic understanding. For example, in a biology class, students might create a concept map to show relationships between ecosystems. Reviewing these maps identifies misconceptions and areas needing further attention.
4. Peer Review
Peer review allows students to evaluate each other’s work, providing constructive feedback and gaining peer insights. For an English class, students might review each other’s essays, highlighting strengths and suggesting improvements. This process develops critical thinking and communication skills, providing valuable feedback for future revisions.
5. One-Minute Papers
The one-minute paper is a quick formative assessment where students write a brief response to a lesson-related question. For instance, after a math lesson on fractions, you might ask them to jot down a summary of what they learned. This helps consolidate learning and provides immediate feedback, guiding your instructional planning.
6. Digital Polls and Quizzes
Using digital tools like Kahoot or Google Forms, you can create interactive polls and quizzes that provide instant feedback. During a science lesson on chemical reactions, a quiz can assess understanding. These tools make learning engaging and allow you to quickly identify struggling areas, enabling timely interventions.
7. Jigsaw Method
The Jigsaw Method divides students into small groups, where each member learns a segment of a larger topic and teaches it to their group. In a literature class, students might explore different themes in a novel and share insights. This technique fosters collaboration and ensures all students actively engage with the material.
8. Learning Journals
Learning journals encourage students to reflect on their learning journey, document progress, and set goals. In a geography class, students could maintain a journal on climate change observations. Regularly reviewing entries helps track progress and identify areas of misunderstanding or interest.
9. Self-Assessment Checklists
Self-assessment checklists guide students in evaluating their learning and performance. In an art class, students might use a checklist to assess artwork elements, such as composition. This practice promotes self-awareness and encourages ownership of learning.
10. Gallery Walks
Gallery walks involve students displaying their work around the classroom, then walking around to view and discuss each piece. In a history class, students might create posters about historical events and circulate to learn from each other. This interactive assessment allows engagement with diverse perspectives and enhances visual learning.
11. Annotated Diagrams
Annotated diagrams require students to label and explain diagram parts, providing insights into their understanding of complex processes or systems. In a physics lesson on circuits, students might annotate a diagram showing electricity flow. These assessments help clarify thinking and pinpoint misconceptions.
12. Role-Playing
Role-playing allows students to explore different perspectives and deepen subject understanding. In a social studies class, students might role-play historical figures in a constitutional rights debate. This immersive strategy helps students internalise and articulate concepts in a dynamic way.
13. Interactive Notebooks
Interactive notebooks are personalised learning tools where students compile notes, reflections, and creative expressions. In a language class, these notebooks may include vocabulary, grammar exercises, and cultural reflections. Regular checks offer insights into engagement and comprehension.
14. Classroom Polls
Classroom polls offer a quick way to assess opinions or topic understanding. Using tools like Mentimeter, you can pose questions and see real-time responses. In a health class, you could poll students about healthy lifestyle choices, using responses to drive discussion and learning.
15. Fishbowl Discussions
Fishbowl discussions involve a small group discussing a topic while the class observes, later swapping roles. In a literature class, it could be used to analyse character motives in a novel. This method encourages active listening, critical thinking and allows you to assess analytical and speaking skills.
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