Planning with Purpose: Examples of Formative Assessments in Reading

Looking for examples of formative assessments in reading and not sure where to start? Recognizing the purpose of an assessment is key to planning with intention. It’s important to consider what you’re trying to learn about your students and how will you find that information. Finally, remember that teachers should always think about how they’ll measure student understanding when lesson planning. Use these reading formative assessments throughout your planning processes.

First, make sure to get organized before using formative assessments for reading! Data can be very overwhelming when it’s all over the place, so streamline the assessment system before using assessment for formative purposes. Sign up below to download this FREE guide as you learn how to organize formative assessment in your classroom.

What is an Example of a Formative Assessment?

Formative assessments in reading can look a variety of different ways. The important thing to remember when using this type of assessment is the information that you, as the teacher, are gaining about your students. That’s why it’s always best to start by thinking about the purpose and then plan with intention. Here is an example.

When working in book clubs, students should be focused on honing their active participation skills. With the desire to gain insight on student’s perspectives, a teacher could use a self-assessment to help students reflect on their participation.

Next, since confidence plays an important part in active participation, these self-assessments will help teachers learn how students feel about themselves in this setting. These examples of formative assessments in reading could be used to create groups that focus on improving participation. In addition, teachers could use these groups to reflect upon and learn strategies to set more effective participation goals for future book club meetings. Read more about formative assessment ideas for book clubs here.

Formative Assessment Examples for Reading

Remember, formative assessments should be low stakes with minimal or no grading. There are, of course, always practice opportunities to allow teachers to pivot, personalize, and strategize future learning to ensure students are making progress before a summative assessment. But make sure you use templates to make formative assessments easy to adapt for daily use.

Finally, prompt/question ideas could be based on character traits, setting, plot, theme, or other related reading strategies . Then, apply prompts to the examples of formative assessments in reading listed below.

Entry Slips

Entry slips are types of formative assessment in reading that can be used to give quick feedback for instruction to be adapted for that day’s lesson. Of course, groups may be formed differently for that day. For example, the opening of the lesson be reiterate a concept or the mini-lesson may be tweaked to review concepts.

How to gather that information:

• Google forms– First, remember that technology is helpful when asking multiple questions because it does the analyzing for you. Quickly create polls, multiple choice, or matching questions on Google forms, where results show up immediately. So, if the whole class misses a question, this is a great thing to project and go over as a lesson opener.
• Peardeck– Next, while this program has a subscription, it also gives instant feedback in the moment. Add questions to lesson presentations to ensure formative assessment happens throughout your lesson.
• Whiteboard or chart paper polls/questions– Students can write their name or move an object with their name under the correct response to a question. You can also use individual papers, but that will take a few minutes to analyze.
• Sticky notes– Finally, use student jots as a quick, simple tool to express thinking and gauge understanding.

Whole Class Assessments

All in all, remember that, when looking for a formative assessment for read aloud or mini-lesson, whole group assessments give a general idea of what the class is understanding.

How to gather that information:

• Think-pair-share– Students think to themselves first, pair up with a buddy, and share their ideas. In addition, teachers can walk around during this time and listen in.
• Thumbs up/thumbs down– Next, you could get students to respond using just a thumbs up or thumbs down. The directions of the thumbs can be a simple yes/no or something more complex, like naming a character the protagonist or antagonist.
• Fist to 5– Have students put their hand by their chest to rate their understanding of a concept.
• Reading or writing partners– Finally, assign students a buddy to check in with during class discussions. Assigned partners are great in this setting so you can be sure students are working on the same reading strategy or skill.

Interviews

Interviews often involve questioning and time to share thinking. Using time limits may be helpful as they can go long.

How to gather that information:

• Prompting questions- First, create a list of prompting questions like the ones below and interview students individually. Here are some conference forms already created for poetry, nonfiction, and a FREE one for fiction books.
• Character interviews– In a small group, students can take on the role of a character. Ask students questions that they should answer as their character. We even make name plates to really get into character.
• Talk shows– Try out turning your whole class into a live talk show. Ask students to take on the role of a character. You can take turns interviewing different students as you ask prompting questions about a book. It’s always entertaining for students if you dress up as a talk show host or even change your voice! Whatever seems fun and natural to you. I usually try to carry a clipboard while I’m the host to record student thinking.

Directed Assignments

Directed assignments with targeted concepts serve well as formative assessments for reading comprehension. Remember that rubrics are important to include for all of these ideas. This way you’ll make sure students know what is expected of them. And they can adjust their work accordingly before turning it in.

Here’s how to gather that information:

• Summaries of chapters or events
• Timeline of events or historical concepts
• Concept maps about character, setting, plot, or theme
• Doodles (visualizations) for any thoughts when reading
• Reading responses to respond to specific questions or prompts

Quizzes/Polls

Quizzes and polls tend to be a bit more lengthy than an exit ticket. Fortunately, though, they can be adapted based on classroom needs. These are helpful formative assessments to gauge strengths and areas of growth for students before getting to the summative assessment. Digital quizzes or polls save so much time and are engaging formative assessment examples for reading. And it’s sometimes helpful to make bigger quizzes, which use similar test taking language as summative assessments.

Here is how to gather that information:

• Digital Quizzes– Kahoot, Quizlet, and Quizizz are all websites to create your own quiz or use an already created quiz. Many are aligned to standards, making it easy to use in the classroom with minimal adjustments.
• Paper/Pencil– Design assessments based on teacher need. Students can grade their own work or a peer’s.

Self Assessments

Self assessments can allow reflection time and measure a student’s confidence on a topic. These are powerful to use at the end of a lesson in place of an exit ticket.

Here’s how to gather that information:

• Reading notebook– This can be a more personal way for students to reflect on their learning. Students can take a few minutes at the end of a lesson to write down something that they learned, answer a question, or respond to a read aloud. This is a great writing about reading opportunity.
• Rubrics– Create an adaptable rubric template. This is the easiest way to make these a part of a reading block. Students can use them to rate their understanding, performance, or confidence on a concept.

Exit Tickets

An exit ticket can include ideas listed above, but this is really a way to assess knowledge at the end of a lesson in order to prepare for the next day. These work best with 1-3 questions that take students 5 minutes or less. They should be easy to assess.

Here is how to gather that information:

• Here’s what I’m thinking chart– Students post a sticky note on their name or number on the chart with an idea or drawing related to the question or prompt. This is extremely easy to adapt for each lesson and can be used on a daily basis. It’s a great way to get students to share and improve their reading jots too! These are great for open-ended thinking.
• Half sheet check-in– Create a template with different types of questions (multiple choice, matching, etc.) and change to fit a lesson’s needs. Using a half sheet makes them quick and easy to adapt. These are great for concrete thinking.

Examples of formative assessments for reading comprehension

Rubrics give students clear expectations and lead them into deeper learning. Create an adaptable rubric for each type of formative assessment. Remember, rubrics are easy to use once they become a part of your daily repertoire.

Find a way to keep track of student rubric scores and other formative assessments. For example, a checklist like the one below can make it very simple to list a number next to a student’s name.

Best of all, you can adapt each of these formative assessments for reading to meet specific daily instruction. So, when you plan, think about the purpose of the assessment first as you choose which formative assessment best meets your goal for the day or for the lesson. If you’re looking for more formative assessment ideas, read through this list and apply the suggestions to any content area.

And don’t forget, if you didn’t get a chance to grab my FREE guide on how to organize formative assessment, download it below!