Formative Assessment Strategies for Gathering Evidence

of Student Learning

1. Entrance Tickets  Here, the teacher asks a question at the start of a lesson, and students write
their responses on index cards or strips of paper. The teacher uses them to
assess initial understanding of something to be discussed in that day’s lesson
or as a short summary of understanding of the previous day’s lesson. The
teacher designs the lesson around the fact that information on student
learning will be coming in at the start of the lesson and can be used to
improve the teaching and learning in that lesson. The teacher designs the
question, so it is easily interpreted and analyzed, allows time for herself
and/or the students to analyze the responses, and adjusts the lesson
accordingly (if needed).
2. Keep the Question With this formative assessment strategy, the teacher asks one student a
Going  question and then asks another student if that answer seems reasonable or
correct. Then, he asks a third student for an explanation of why there is an
agreement or not. This helps keep all the students engaged because they must
be prepared to either agree or disagree with the answers given and provide
explanations.

3. 30-Second Share Many students take a turn to report something learned in the lesson for up to
30 seconds each. Connections to the learning targets or success criteria are
what the teacher is looking for in the language used by the student. Make this
a routine at the end of a lesson so that all students could participate, share
insights, and clarify what was learned.
4. Parking Lot This is an underused strategy for students and one that can surface questions
before the learning, as well as during and after. This tool also offers an
anonymous place for questions that may be directly related to the content or
tangential to the current topic and provide insight into student thinking.
5. One-Minute Paper This might be considered a type of exit ticket as it is typically done near the
end of the day. Students, either individually or with a partner, are asked to
respond in writing to a single prompt. Typical prompts include:
 Most important learning from the day
 Most surprising concept
 Most confusing topic and why
 Identify something you think might appear on a test or quiz
6. 3-2-1 At the end of the learning, this strategy provides students a way to summarize
or even question what they just learned. Three prompts are provided for
students to respond to:
 3 things you did not know before
 2 things that surprised you about the topic
 1 thing you want to start doing with what you’ve learned
7. Assessment This post-assessment reflection is completed first by the individual student
Reflection and then shared in a small group. The teacher provides a list of questions, so
learners can reflect on their assessment experience. The questions provide
insight into both learning (the content) and learning tactics.  Download this
strategy
8. Personal learning Learners are asked to create a personal learning log or journal details of what
logs. they are learning, their thoughts and feelings about the topic, and the core
ideas or concepts of the online lesson. The teacher can then use this log to
track the learner’s progress.
9. Self-assessment Learners are encouraged to reflect upon their own learning experience and
determine their level of proficiency or knowledge mastery. They may also be
evaluated by their peers, who give them feedback and insight into their work.
This form of assessment is usually paired with another learning activity, such
as personal learning logs.
10. Frayer Model The purpose of the Frayer Model (Frayer, 1969; Buehl, 2001) is to identify and
define unfamiliar concepts and vocabulary. Students define a
concept/word/term, describe its essential characteristics, provide examples of
the idea and suggest non examples of the idea (knowing what a concept isn’t
helps define what it is). This information is placed on a chart that is divided
into four sections to provide a visual representation for students. The model
prompts students to understand words within the larger context of a reading
selection, as it asks students to analyse the concept/word (definition and
characteristics) and then synthesise or apply this information by thinking of
examples and non examples. It also activates prior knowledge of a topic and
builds connections.

11. Three Summaries Challenge students to critically think  by giving them this processing and
review activity.
To check their understanding of a new idea, concept or content piece, ask
them to write three summaries. The first should be 10 to 15 words. The second
is 30 to 50 words. The third is 75 to 100 words. By asking students to vary the
lengths of their summaries, they’ll have to remember different details as
they  refine their understandings. After, collect the summaries to see where
knowledge gaps are.

12. Hand it In, Pass it Run this short exercise to  build topic comprehension.
Out It starts by posing a question with an objective answer that’s explainable in a
few sentences. Without writing their names down, students should answer the
question on plain sheets of paper. As they hand the papers in to you, quickly
 distribute them back to students at random. Explain what the correct answer
is, so that they can grade the paper they’ve received. In doing so, they’ll
improve their understanding of the topic. Conclude the exercise by taking a
poll to measure how many papers had the right response.

13. Partner Quiz Develop  peer teaching  skills in your class  by running partner quizzes, which
also allow students to assess themselves.
To launch a partner quiz, pair students together and provide an open question
to tackle. As they work to solve it, encourage them to give each other
corrective feedback — identifying mistakes and explaining how to reach
proper solutions. Once the pair has answered the question, each student can
independently work on a question related to the same concept. You can
collect responses to wrap up the exercise.

14. Highlighter Assess student understanding of a text-based resource  through this solo and
small-group exercise.
Each student should read the same written passage or resource, highlighting
sentences that stick out as important or interesting. Once everyone is done,
divide the class into groups of three or four. Within his or her group, each
student must share the sentences he or she highlighted. Each group should be
able to pinpoint the text’s main idea or theme in doing so, submitting an
explanation so you can determine general comprehension levels.

15. Transfer the Help students grasp a new concept  by having them apply it to a different
Concept area.
Let’s say you’ve recently taught how to identify protagonists and antagonists
in novels. After determining students have a strong command of the concept,
watch a clip from a show, movie or perhaps shorter media such as
advertisements. Individually, have them write down who the protagonists and
antagonists are to ensure their  understanding isn’t confined to one medium.

16. Think-Pair-Share Oversee a think-pair-share exercise to  deliver three content-processing

activities in one, easily assessing student understanding during the last stage.
As the name of this  differentiated instruction  strategy implies, start by asking
each student to  think  about a specific topic or answer a given question.
Next,  pair  students together to discuss their findings. Finally, each pair
should  share  their thoughts with the class and accept questions from
classmates.

17. Stop and Go Allow students to give you real-time feedback as you teach  with “stop and
go” cards.
Purchasable or assignable as an art task, they’re two-sided cards — one green
and one red. As you deliver a lesson, students should hold the green side
toward you if they understand everything. If something’s unclear, encourage
them to turn the red side forward. When you see red, stop and clarify — or
expand upon — your points until you see green again. This should help you
quickly assess if students are processing content as you deliver it.
18. Letters through Organize this creative writing assignment to  gauge comprehension in history
Time class.
Students assume the role of a specific historical figure, relevant to course
content, and pair with a classmate from the same setting. Each student in the
duo must write a series of letters to one another. These letters should discuss
an event or isolated time period that’s historically significant. As well as acting
as a formative assessment, the exercise can effectively prepare students for
essays, reports, long-answer tests and other summative assessments.

19. Entry and Exit Gather information about how well students processed your most recent
Tickets lesson  by giving them five minutes to write an entry or exit ticket.
As a formative assessment, entry tickets should ask students to reflect on a
specific class or exercise from the previous day. Exit tickets should involve
students summarizing what they’ve just learned. Either way, you’ll receive
small products that let you easily see how well students processed and
retained key content, indicating knowledge gaps.

20. Two Roses and a Determine content for your next class  by concluding a lesson, presentation or
Thorn chapter reading with  Two Roses and a Thorn  — a  quick-to-deliver  type of exit
ticket and reflection exercise.
Each student must note two topics or concepts he or she enjoyed learning
about, and another they didn’t like or still have questions about. They must
hand in their responses before leaving class. If students share the same
difficulties or dislikes, it may indicate a need to re-explore a topic or shift your
approach to teaching it.

21. Countdown Deliver this activity if  Two Roses and a Thorn  doesn’t provide enough insight,
or  you feel your students need a deeper exercise.
Best used to end the day,  Countdown  requires students to create three
distinct lists. They must state and explain (a) three ideas or concepts they
learned, (b) two ideas or concepts that surprised them and (c) one thing they
intend to start doing based on what they learned. Collective responses should
indicate if students generally grasped a day’s material.

22. Metacognition Pinpoint  trouble spots and knowledge gaps  before a summative
Sheets assessment  by having students answer specific questions about the given
topic.
This starts by distributing sheets of paper with the following questions: (a)
“Can you summarize the topic?”, (b) “How can you apply the topic?” and (c)
“What questions do you still have about the topic?” Encouraging detailed
answers should help you identify which students are struggling, and what
their specific struggles are.

23. Venn Diagram Have students compare and contrast a topic using a Venn diagram.
24. Formative Quizzes Give students quizzes, which either you mark, or they mark. You can use the
information gathered from the quizzes to guide your instruction, or to give
feedback to the students.
25. Write it Down! Have students write down an explanation of what they understand. Read
these explanations to help inform your instruction, and write comments on
them (or discuss them with the student) to give them feedback.
26. Create It! This is similar to checking for transfer. Have students build/create something
that requires that they apply what they have learned.
27. Doodle Time Have students draw what they understand, instead of writing it.
28. Speaking Photos Chose two or three photos that represent a process. Have students write
captions for each photo followed by a short summary.
29. Partner Quizzes Students work on the first question together and provide each other with
feedback, then work independently on a new question covering same concept
30. Direct to the Point Have the students answer the Essential Question from the lesson (either
verbally or written) and from there assess evidences of learning.

Reference: https://www.nwea.org/blog/2019/27-easy-formative-assessment-strategies-for-gathering-
evidence-of-student-learning/
1. Elaboration Explain and describe ideas with many details.
This method asks students to go beyond simple recall of information and start
making connections within the content. Students should ask themselves open-
ended questions about the material, answer in as much detail as possible, then
check the materials to make sure their understanding is correct.

2. Concrete Use specific examples to understand abstract ideas.

Examples Most teachers already use this strategy in their own teaching; it’s a natural part of
explaining a new concept. But what we don’t necessarily do is help students
extend their understanding by coming up with examples of their own.

3. Dual Coding Combine words and visuals.

When information is presented to us, it is often accompanied by some kind of
visual: An image, a chart or graph, or a graphic organizer. When students are
studying, they should make it a habit to pay attention to those visuals and link
them to the text by explaining what they mean in their own words. Then, students
can create their own visuals of the concepts they are learning. This process
reinforces the concepts in the brain through two different paths, making it easier
to retrieve later.

4. Mnemonics  The usage of rhyming, words, and acronyms can help learners memorize
the items taught.
 Letters used as acronyms may aid in remembering things faster. There’s
also acrostics that might come in handy for keeping a lot of details in
mind. An example is organization names. Another case are the letters for
tuning a guitar.
 Special words and those that rhyme can be substituted or shortened.
Through them, it would be easy to commit lengthy words and phrases to
memory. For example, one can use poetry and make original songs to
recall points sometimes.

5. Organization: This works by creating a consistent box to put the information in. That helps
students keep all the related information together, instead of it being split apart.
For example, it’s easier for you to remember a list of words if you form a sentence
with them.
6. Association  Creating strong connections between different elements is also a strategy for
meaningful learning. Strong associations are helpful because when you see either
one of the two things, you’ll remember the other one easily. Let students
associate concepts, processes or whatever the lesson is all about to that which
enables them to grasp it firmly.
7. Inquiry-Based This student-centered learning style encourages independence, autonomy and
Style hands-on learning, with students leading the way and receiving guidance from
their teachers. Match this style with an appropriate formative assessment type
that utilizes inquiry in view of attaining the target competencies.
8. Visual Learning Students retain information best by viewing pictures, movies, or images and
Strategy respond well to colors and mind maps. Have the students draw or illustrate the
lesson by way of concept maps, graphic organizers and the likes.
9. Social Learning Learning takes place when students participate in collaborative activities with
Strategy. other people such as quizzing each other or having a study group. Match this
learning strategy with any formative assessment characterized by collaboration,
interaction or dialogue.

10. Solitary Learning also takes place when students process their own feelings and thoughts.
Learning Strategy Introspection, making notes and reciting them back are useful activities when
studying by themselves. This learning strategy best matches with formative
assessments characterized by introspection and reflection.
11. Logical Logical thinking is another dimension of learning. Logical, or mathematical
Learning Strategy learners use logic and structures in order to learn effectively. This strategy is not
limited to numbers and statistics. This also applies to analysis, rationalizations and
reasoning.
12. Verbal Learning Learning also takes place when utilizing words. Whether information is spoken or
Strategy written, learners memorize information through the use of language. This strategy
matches formative assessments involving reading writing, telling stories,
recitations and others. Gardner states “the linguistic intelligence is activated when
individuals encounter the sounds of a language or when they wish to communicate
something verbally to another person” (1993).