George Lucas Educational Foundation
Edutopia

Formative Assessment

Find and share ideas for checking in with students during a project, class, or semester to assess their learning and see if content or instruction needs adjusting.

  • 3 Ways to Ask Questions That Engage the Whole Class

    These techniques guide all students to process course content and then actively demonstrate their learning.
    Pérsida and Bill Himmele

  • 6 Tips for Managing the Feedback Workload

    Providing feedback is proven to increase student learning, and there are ways to make the work involved more manageable.
    Andrew Miller

  • 7 Smart, Fast Ways to Do Formative Assessment

    Within these methods you’ll find close to 40 tools and tricks for finding out what your students know while they’re still learning.
    Laura Thomas

  • Inviting Participation With Thumbs-Up Responses

    A quick assessment strategy replaces raised hands, encouraging more students to contribute by accommodating their different processing needs.

  • Fantastic, Fast Formative Assessment Tools

    Checking for understanding is good for both students and teachers. We’ve rounded up a variety of digital tools to help you do it.
    Vicki Davis

  • 60-Second Strategy: Participation Cards

    A quick formative assessment tool also encourages all students—even shy ones—to participate in discussions.

  • 3 Ways Student Data Can Inform Your Teaching

    Gather and use valuable student data to inform your classroom practice.
    Rebecca Alber

  • 60-Second Strategy: Closing The Loop

    A strategy for using a quick, whole-class reflection on content as a verbal exit ticket.

  • Boosting Engagement With Notices and Wonders

    When students make “I notice” and “I wonder” comments on course content, teachers can see what they know—and what they need to learn.

  • 60-Second Strategy: TAG Feedback

    This quick exercise scaffolds peer critique for elementary students.

  • 56 Examples of Formative Assessment

    Formative assessment can be as simple as thumbs up or down and as creative as having students illustrate a page of a story.
    David Wees

  • Dipsticks: Efficient Ways to Check for Understanding

    Through alternative formative assessment, teachers can check for student understanding without falling back on the tedious or intimidating pop quiz.
    Todd Finley

  • 6 Hand Signals That Bring Learning to Life

    Nonverbals are gestural cues that can help students quickly and respectfully communicate their reactions, needs, and levels of understanding in a fast-paced classroom.
    Ellie Cowen

  • Questioning That Deepens Comprehension

    Scaffold students’ thinking about complex texts by asking what the text says, how it works, what it means, and what it inspires them to do.
    Douglas Fisher

  • 5 Research-Based Tips for Providing Students with Meaningful Feedback

    Feedback is an essential part of learning, but not all of it is productive. We’ve collected five best practices for giving students feedback.
    Marianne Stenger