Formative Assessment
Assessment information is feedback information to teachers about their impact. - Steve and Michelle Ventura, Achievement Teams, 2022
Assessment Checklists - From Jim Knight's Impact Cycle
Formative Assessment List
From Jim Knight's Impact Cycle
Exit Tickets - Short tasks students hand in at the end of class completed on a small piece of paper or index card and may include a writing assignment, a short quiz, or a single question.
White Boards - Teachers ask all students to answer a question on their individual whiteboards, then hold them up at the same time. Teachers can then lead a clarifying discussion if there are conflicting answers.
Response Cards - Response cards include index cards with a "yes" on one side and a "no" on the other side, or cards with the colors red, yellow, and green on them. Teachers ask students to answer questions by holding up the appropriate card for their answer at the same time as their classmates.
Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down, Thumbs Wiggly - Students respond to questions through their thumbs: thumbs up means they understand/agree, thumbs down means they don't understand/agree, and holding thumbs horizontally and wiggling means they're not sure if they understand/agree.
Turn-To-Your-Neighbor - After students complete their learning task, teachers can ask them to compare their answer or idea with a neighboring student to see if they have the same answer. If yes, students give the teacher a thumbs up. If no, students give the teacher a thumbs down.
Hot Potato - The teacher asks a student a question to test their understanding of content. If the student gets the answer right, they get to ask another question that tests another student's understanding. The student asking the question must know the answer so they can confirm whether or not the new student gave the correct answer.
Graphic Organizers - Asking students to create graphic organizers is a good check of student understanding because in most cases students won't be able to create correct graphic organizers unless they understand the content.
Jigsaw or Gallery Walk - Students are organized into groups to create a poster on chart paper that they can display in the room. The poster should demonstrate the students' knowledge of content covered. Once the groups have finished, new groups are formed that include a member from each initial group. The groups then walk around the room, stopping at each poster. Whoever created the poster explains it to the rest of the new group.
Four Corners/Value Line - Students move to a location of the room based on their answer to a question. For example, a teacher might pose a multiple-choice question and designate each different corner as A, B, C, or D (four corners), or a value along a number line and ask students to move to the location on the line they believe corresponds to the value/answer (value line).
Paraphrasing - Teachers can assess student understanding by asking students to retell in their own words what they have learned.
Derived from Teach Like a Champion version 3.0 and Jim Knight's Impact Cycle
How is it Used by Teachers?
Frequent, interactive checks of students' progress to identify needs and adjust teaching appropriately.
Provides an avenue for teachers to know how well students are learning.
Teachers use data gathered from checks to modify their teaching and ensure students have mastered their learning.
Provides a way for teachers to dramatically increase engagement.
Checks for understanding, checklists, and rubrics can be used to assess student learning.
It doesn't become formative assessment until teachers use it to either adjust how they teach or what students do to increase their learning.
How is it Used by Students?
Ensures students know how well they are learning.
Gives students a clear goal and then gives them feedback on progress towards their goal.
Increases students’ belief that they can succeed. When students receive daily feedback on their progress, when they see clear evidence that they are progressing, they are much more confident that they can tackle the learning tasks that they experience in school.
