Different Types of Formative Assessment

There are many types of formative assessments in the classroom. Some give immediate data while others may need further analysis. Using different types of formative assessment in the classroom gives varying levels of feedback to students and informs instruction. These 3 effective, formative assessment types of instruction will provide the data needed to give quality feedback to students, the part of the learning cycle that pushes students forward.

If you are ready to begin teaching and assessing through a standards based approach that allow data to drive instruction, then sign up below with your name and email to download the First Steps towards Data Driven Instruction: ideas for formative assessment organization that will get you started on the right track. This guide will get you moving in the right direction as you learn how to first organize your instruction and assessment process.

Why formative assessment is important

I used to rely more on summative assessments. This was before I saw the power that formative assessment can have on student learning. I saw the value of this practice time and time again…year after year in my classroom. 

There are many formative assessment templates out there but my first experience was an exit ticket. Surprisingly enough, my district had given us formative assessment examples for science in our lesson plans. There was an option of two exit tickets for each lesson. One tended to be multiple choice or matching while the other was more open-ended and had a rubric. Both of these exit tickets covered the same content with a different level of questioning.

I was able to quickly assess these exit tickets, add the “grades” (see next paragraph) to my checklist and pull a targeted group the next day to reteach the content. My students did SO much better on their summative assessment. I was impressed with how changing 5 minutes at the end of my lesson created such an impact. These exit tickets were in first grade but I’ve had many similar formative assessment examples for kindergarten and upper grades.

Should formative assessments be graded?

This question comes up a lot. In my opinion, I do not use formative assessments as grades. I do use them as classwork though and add them to my gradebook. This helps me to keep track of student progress over time. In order to do this, I create formative assessment types of coding for each assignment. It may be a check/minus system or a scale of 1-4.

These coding systems allow me to group similar students and place them on a scale so that continue to track progress along the way. Read more about this process here.

Types of Formative Assessment Tools

Rubrics

Rubrics are often lumped with summative assessement because of project based assessments. They have clear guidelines and provide ease when grading a project at the end of a unit. However, rubrics can be quite helpful as a formative assessment, especially to provide insight on student’s perspective of their own progress.

Self-assessment rubrics give teachers information about how students are feeling on a topic. This supports students in becoming goal oriented and understanding their own learning needs. Descriptors teach students how to self reflect in a meaningful way. Clear guidelines are helpful as students select their answer and provide ease when assessing. Student choices give direct feedback on student understanding.

Formative assessment examples for kindergarten may include a rubric with emojis. Students could color or point to an emoji that resonates with them after a lesson. A thumbs up/thumbs down is another option for kindergarten because they are simple and teach students to self-reflect.

Students in higher grades could use these rubrics. The descriptors may require more student analysis so including details and examples for each is helpful. I try to use phrases like all of the time, most of the time, some of the time and not at all for the descriptors. This makes it easy to reuse rubrics.

Anecdotal notes or checklists make tracking self assessments a much smoother process. Data collection is an important part of monitoring social emotional growth, goal setting and empowering students to advocate for themselves and their learning.

Questioning

Questions are a quick and powerful way to assess students. Use these fast ways to obtain data from students while using formative assessment in the classroom.

Effective formative assessment examples for reading could include interviews and conferring check-ins. Interviews are a quick way to track student understanding. Questions aligned with standards makes assessing much easier. This is extremely helpful because formative data is available at the end of the conference. I use genre related questions each unit to take anecdotal notes.

Try these free character interviews for a fiction unit to help you get started with formative assessment questions.

Formative assessment examples for questioning in science could be using an entry question on the board as students are coming into the room. Students could jot an answer to the question on a sticky note and place it around the question or place it in a notebook. Not only does questioning at the start of a lesson give you instant feedback of the depth you may need to go in on a concept but it can also provide instant student groupings.

Exit tickets

Content related exit tickets ensure students are understanding the information taught on a daily basis. To create these quickly, tie them in with the learning objective or target for the lesson. They will be meaningful and connected to the lesson while simplifying the prep that you need to do.

For example, if the learning target is I can create an ABAB pattern, the exit ticket could say draw an ABAB pattern below. Students could use crayons or other materials to draw the pattern. In just a few minutes, you have data. Add this data to a checklist to keep track of student progress. The data can create groups for further instruction. One group could have enrichment, while another may be some reteaching of the skill.

Exit tickets don’t have to be anything complex. They should give you data to move forward with instruction. The level of questioning that you use can make them differentiated and higher level if that is your purpose. They can be multiple choice, true/false, matching, or open-ended. There are many possibilities!

Other Ideas for Formative Assessment 

Learning tasks are different types of formative assessment in the classroom. These tasks tend to be open-ended and can take up to 30 minutes or 3 days. Read more about these tasks here. If you are looking for formative assessment examples for math, then this may be the one to try first.

Quicker formative assessment task examples may include students solving a problem on a whiteboard, completing independent work or a partner assignment. If data collected can be used to give feedback that improves the learning process before the summative assessment, it is formative assessment.

Longer formative assessment tasks examples may be an assignment that is taking place over multiple days. Typically with a task, teachers are asking students to solve some type of real world problem by coming up with solutions as they are making connections. 3-Act Tasks are an amazing way to promote higher level, open ended thinking in the classroom. These math tasks typically take multiple days with many opportunities for students to revise their work while receiving teacher and peer feedback. They can be powerful as an entry math task to get students thinking and making real world connections even before the unit officially begins.

Try out one of these formative assessment types and continue to use it in different ways, across subject areas until it becomes a normal part of your practice.

Need formative assessment strategies to help you get started? Start today by downloading my free organization guide below!