(Thumbs are one of my favorite forms of formative assessment)
Be sure to read my Ed Week column, Ways to Include Students in the Formative Assessment Process.
As the new school year approaches (we go back in two more weeks), I’ve been thinking a bit on how I can be a little more intentional and strategic in using formative assessment.
For those who might be new to the term, formative assessments are ongoing practices that help both the teacher and student evaluate and reflect on how they are both doing, and what changes either or both might need to make to become a more effective teacher and learner (I’d love it if someone left a comment with a better definition). I use a lot of these in my classroom, ranging from regular cloze (fill-in-the-blank) and reading fluency assessments, to “show me with thumbs,” to observations. I feel that I use them pretty effectively, but also feel that I could do a better job applying what I learn from them in the classroom.
Again, for people who are new to these terms, formative assessments are often contrasted with summative assessments. Summative assessments are the mid-term and final exams, benchmarks, and state tests that we give. They’re designed to, at least theoretically, tell us what a student has learned and what she/he hasn’t learned.
Formative assessments are generally considered more useful to teachers, which is why I’m thinking about them. To quote Robert Marzano from The Art and Science of Teaching, formative assessments “might be one of the more powerful weapons in a teacher’s arsenal.” (p. 13).
Here are some resources that I’ve found useful in my reflections. is sort of a beginning of a “The Best…” list, since I know there is a lot out there, and a lot of people who know more than me about it. So I hope you’re contribute suggestions.
Here are my choices for The Best Resources For Learning About Formative Assessment:
Here’s a Slideshare presentation on Formative Assessment
And I thought the Wikipedia page on Formative Assessment was pretty decent, too.
Measuring reading fluency is one of the formative assessments we regularly do at our school. Basically, we have students read two separate passages to us for one minute each three times each year.
Of course, there is a little more to it than that…
Why Formative Assessments Matter is a nice and useful article by Rebecca Alber in Edutopia. It provides simple and helpful suggestions for teachers.
How to Look at Multiple-Choice Assessments Formatively by Heather Wolpert-Gawron at Edutopia.
One Test to Rule Them All is by Jason Buell.
Formative Assessment—A Process, Not a Test is a useful Ed Week article.
The Best Value in Formative Assessment is from ASCD’s Educational Leadership.
Staying Focused on Formative Assessment is by Rick Wormeli.
The Fundamentals of Formative Assessment is from ASCD.
22 Easy Formative Assessment Techniques for Measuring Student Learning is from The Northwest Evaluation Association.
I’m not a big fan of using digital devices for formative assessment, but I know it works well for others. Here are some related resources from NEA:
Digital Technology Tools for Implementing Formative Assessment – Post One
Digital Technology Tools for Implementing Formative Assessment – Post Two
Accurately Defining Formative Assessment is from Teach Learn Grow.
33 Digital Tools for Advancing Formative Assessment in the Classroom is from The Northwest Evaluation Association.
What if we approached testing this way? appeared in The Washington Post.
Efficient Ways to Check for Understanding is from Edutopia.
10 Assessments You Can Perform In 90 Seconds is from Teach Thought.
8 Formative Assessment Data Sources that Help Students Become Better Learners is from Teach Learn Grow.
Nice graphic on FA “@danieldmccabe: The Role of Formative Assessment #edchat #txeduchat #aussieED #tlap pic.twitter.com/MpOTwXrA7Y” #bcedchat
— Bryn Morgan Williams (@brynmw) November 10, 2014
Do you understand? is from TEFL Reflections.
56 Examples of Formative Assessment is by David Wees.
Formative Assessments are ‘Powerful’ is the title of one of my Education Week Teacher posts.
Understanding the differences in Talk to Check for Understanding and Talk to Create Understanding: pic.twitter.com/XeCjCClUQR
— Kylene Beers (@KyleneBeers) January 3, 2015
English teachers, are you asking the right questions? is a really interesting post from The British Council.
Formative Assessment: The Right Question at the Right Time is from Peter DeWitt’s Ed Week blog and shares a number of practical ideas.
60 Non-Threatening Formative Assessment Techniques is from Teach Thought.
10 Things You Don’t Know About Formative Assessment is by Angela Stockman.
30+ Formative Assessment Strategies is from EduChalkboard.
Formative Assessment – Is it a Silver Bullet? from Further Pedagogy is one of the best pieces I’ve seen on the topic.
UNDERSTANDING FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT: A SPECIAL REPORT is from Education Week.
It’s Time to Co-Design Assessments With Students is by Starr Sackstein.
Formative Assessment: It’s Not Just Another Thing to Do is from Teach Learn Grow.
Focusing Formative Assessment on the Needs of English Language Learners by WestEd #WeLeadEd #ELLchat #atplc #edchat https://t.co/q11AwuCGlG
— Dr. Rosa Perez-Isiah (@RosaIsiah) April 12, 2016
Formative feedback is like a good murder. Pretty irresistible quote. /via @mjfenton https://t.co/WDpVebv3hV pic.twitter.com/Mr9YfPcdvS
— Dan Meyer (@ddmeyer) April 28, 2016
The source of that quote is, sadly, a dead link. Shiny nickel if you can find it. https://t.co/wro6tD2HHC pic.twitter.com/RyoXOdULhy
— Dan Meyer (@ddmeyer) April 28, 2016
Formative Assessment Practices in Successful Middle Level Classrooms is from AMLE.
Student Self Assessment and Self-Regulation – A Cornerstone of Successful Formative Assessment is from Teach Learn Grown. Coincidentally, I published a post at the British Council on the same topic this week – Strategies for self assessment.
Trying on Formative Assessment in Your Classroom – How to Keep It Simple is by Kathy Dyer.
27 Easy Formative Assessment Strategies for Gathering Evidence of Student Learning is from Kathy Dyer.
Try Fun and Games with Formative Assessment is from Middleweb.
In the video below, Dylan Wiliam suggests that multiple choice questions are an effective way to use mini-whiteboards for formative assessment.
How formative assessment boosts metacognition—and learning is from Teach Learn Grow.
ASSESSMENT & HOMEWORK IN THE AGE OF COVID-19
Relying on Formative Assessments to Improve Instruction? Think Again is by Dylan Wiliam.
Formative Assessment for Remote Teaching: Understanding Learning Intentions is from ASCD.
8 Quick Checks for Understanding is from Jay McTighe.
What is formative assessment? is from Teach Learn Grow.
3 tips for understanding when—and how—to use formative assessment is from Teach Learn Grow.
Using Drawings for Formative Assessment is from Edutopia.
Spotlight: Formative Assessment – Improving Learning for Every Child is from HundrED.
Easy, no-tech formative assessment ideas. https://t.co/e9OUpw7qpk by @DitchThatTxtbk pic.twitter.com/f0PgfEH5eS
— Miguel Míguez (@onthesamepagelt) October 4, 2022
13 Formative Assessments That Inspire Creativity is from Edutopia.
🚨 NEW! This one-pager summarises Dylan Wiliam and Siobhán Leahy’s five formative assessment strategies that teachers can use to move learners forward.
📥 Grab a HQ copy: https://t.co/o3BIboLthf
☕️ Support my work: https://t.co/zsLEhqdYBG pic.twitter.com/92HDKwmeXk
— Jamie Clark (@XpatEducator) July 31, 2023
Five Tools for Creating Automatically Scored Formative Assessments is from Richard Byrne.
How I’m Visualizing Assessment Data For Students
Revisiting Dylan Wiliam’s Five Brilliant Formative Assessment Strategies. is from TeacherHead.
Again, feel free to offer additional suggestions.
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Thanks for the useful resources, Larry. And I think your definition of formative assessment is great–simple and to the point. On a formal level, one thing I advocate for both formative and summative purposes is a daily opening Quick Quiz, which contains two questions on recently covered material and two on material going back as far as the start of the year (and even previous courses). But I also stress informal, in the moment assessment techniques, some of which I describe in two blog posts you and your readers may want to check out:
http://ginsburgcoachingtt.wordpress.com/2010/02/06/assessing-through-asking/
http://ginsburgcoachingtt.wordpress.com/2010/02/10/practice-with-coaching-makes-proficient/
Thanks for the post. I think the best formative assessment resource out there is Keeping Learning on Track (KLT) developed by Educational Testing Service. I work with six urban high schools in MA, as the Director of Secondary Curriculum and we just finished a two-year research study using the program. It’s entirely teacher led, and focused on assessment for learning rather than assessment of learning. We have a large population of English Language Learners and the KLT tools have proven to be very successful with language learners. We are extending the program into our elementary and middle schools this year. Thanks again for all the great posts and resources.
Valuable information with opportunity to easily access your resources for the reader. Two observations for helping readers be more efficient and less tired: 1) Watch if the readers move their lips when they read silently (although many of us might mouth the words when we are studying a passage or rereading to remember) Explain why moving lips slows down the reader. 2) Watch if the readers move their heads back and forth as they track the words across the page. Readers get tired easily from this type of reading. Help them break this habit. Chin in hand while elbow is stationary on desk. Demonstrate how to look at phrases and move eyes across the page without moving heads . Focus more on center of page instead of the beginning and end of a line Practice with the readers.
Thanks for the great work with the blogs and I appreciate everyone’s responses.
Hi Larry, Thanks for the thought-provoking post and the definitions. I come from the world of International Education, particularly the International Baccalaureate programs. Many school districts in the US are now implementing these academically rigorous programs.
In those programs, most of all in the elementary school program (PYP) and the middle school version (MYP), those definitions don’t really apply. Yes, formative assessment is all about the learning process providing the teacher feedback on teaching so that instruction can be modified to make learning more effective. However, when it comes to summative assessment, the model is different. Rather than have an examination or test that provides a grade, the IB model requires the teacher to take all evidence of learning into account when assigning a grade. This means that the teacher needs to use assessment tools to measure learning during the formative assessment period (using rubrics, continuums, exemplars, grading schemes, etc) and take any examination, test or quiz results into account.
Put simply, formative assessment is best teaching practice, while summative assessment is a process. Summative assessment is not an event.
I can understand that the model is different in different countries, and for differing reasons. However, I thought I’d point out an essential difference with the IB international programs.
Love that you’re promoting formative assessment! Such a great way to engage the classroom and adjust teaching in the moment. Here’s another blog you may want to consider adding to your arsenal that speaks to all things formative assessment, including ideas, tips, etc…
http://www.nwea.org/blog/category/formative-assessment/
Thanks Larry!
Love your ideas on formative assessment. We also have been doing lots of work in our district on this topic. Here’s a link to a wikipage I’ve organized called “Let the Data Be Your Guide” with tons of resources on the topic of formative assessment as well as data discussions, feedback, and student self-assessment:
http://letthedatabeyourguide.wikispaces.com/