George Lucas Educational Foundation

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.

Sort by:
Recommended
  • 60-Second Strategy: Whiteboard Relay

    The team competition is fierce in this informal assessment activity, in which students have to work together to win.
    2.1k
  • An Illustration depicting a formative assessment concept

    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
    69.7k
  • 3 Quick Feedback Techniques to Help Students Stay on Track

    These formative assessment strategies allow teachers to provide targeted feedback that students can use immediately.
    359
  • Delivering Effective Feedback With Microsoft OneNote

    This tool gives teachers the opportunity to observe students as they work and provide helpful feedback in real time.
    2
    174
  • 13 Formative Assessments That Inspire Creativity

    Sometimes mixing in formative assessments that go a step beyond exit slips and low-stakes quizzes can inject some fun—and creativity—into learning.
    6.5k
  • 10 Powerful Ways to End Your Lessons

    Instead of cleaning up or going over homework assignments, try these creative activities that can help students make sense of new material—and have fun in the process.
    5.9k
  • Illustration of an achievement gap concept

    Covid-19’s Impact on Students’ Academic and Mental Well-Being

    The pandemic has revealed—and exacerbated—inequities that hold many students back. Here’s how teachers can help.
    28.1k
  • Improving Your Pre-Unit Assessment

    Periodically challenging students with grade-level content they haven’t yet mastered helps construct deeper connections to key concepts.
    233
  • Teacher urges students to use a thumbs up

    8 Quick Checks for Understanding

    Formative assessment is a proven technique for improving student learning, and the strategies shared here by Jay McTighe work both in the classroom and remotely.
    18.8k
  • Using Live Writing to Provide Instant Feedback

    This technique allows teachers to read what their students are writing in the moment and provide timely and effective feedback.
    1
    246
  • Elementary-aged boy watching a video of his teacher reading a book on a smartphone

    Formative Assessment in Distance Learning

    The pandemic has closed schools, but schooling goes on—and it remains crucial that teachers find ways to see what students are learning.
    18.9k
  • Elementary school students working together at a whiteboard with their teacher observing

    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.
    21.4k
  • 7 Ways to Do Formative Assessments in Your Virtual Classroom

    Finding out what your students are really learning remains indispensable to teaching. Here’s what teachers are doing to check for understanding online. 
    14.9k
  • Team Quizzes: A Low-Risk, High-Yield Strategy

    Quizzes in small groups can be a low-risk, high-yield learning strategy that also fosters collaboration skills in high school students.
    2
    550
  • A female teacher in a blue shirt and glasses is sitting in a classroom alone, looking at papers.

    3 Ways Student Data Can Inform Your Teaching

    Gather and use valuable student data to inform your classroom practice.
    30.2k

Follow Edutopia

  • facebook icon
  • twitter icon
  • instagram icon
  • youtube icon
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

George Lucas Educational Foundation

Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.
Edutopia®, the EDU Logo™ and Lucas Education Research Logo® are trademarks or registered trademarks of the George Lucas Educational Foundation in the U.S. and other countries.