Quick Formative Assessment Strategies You Can Use Tomorrow
The unit test tells you who didn't learn it. By then, it's too late to do much about it.
Formative assessment is simply checking for understanding while there's still time to fix things. It doesn't need to be graded, and it doesn't need to take long. Here are six checks that fit into a real class period.
1. Exit tickets
One or two questions at the end of class, answered on a half sheet or sticky note. Sort them into three piles — got it, almost, lost — and plan tomorrow's warm-up around the middle pile.
2. Hinge questions
A single multiple-choice question asked at the midpoint of a lesson, where each wrong answer points to a specific misconception. If most of the room picks the same wrong answer, you know exactly what to reteach before moving on.
3. Mini whiteboards
Everyone writes an answer, everyone holds it up at the same time. You see thirty answers in five seconds, and nobody can hide behind the one kid who always raises a hand.
4. Fist to five
Students show zero to five fingers for how confident they feel. It's a feeling, not evidence, so pair it with something concrete — but it's a fast way to spot the kids who need you to walk over.
5. Think-pair-share with a listening ear
While partners talk, circulate and listen. You'll hear the misconceptions in their own words, which is often more useful than a written answer.
6. One-sentence summary
"In one sentence, what was today's lesson about?" It's harder than it sounds, and it quickly separates students who followed the lesson from students who just copied notes.
The part that matters most
A check for understanding is only formative if it changes what you do next. If the exit tickets say half the class is lost and tomorrow's lesson goes ahead as planned, the check was just paperwork.
For more options organized by purpose, see a list of formative assessment strategies that work in real classrooms. You can also download the free formative assessment strategies PDF for grades 6–12.