Formative Assessments Menu
Assessments (FAs)/Common Formative Assessment (CFAs)
ASSESSMENTS
(Name/description/classroom
instructional or common)
Slate/white board drills (instructional):
students write answer on slate/whiteboard and hold
up for teacher perusal
ACTIVE Reading Sheets (instructional):
Students mark/explain text by asking
questions, making connections, tracking
information, inferring, visualizing, and
creating a main idea statement.
Desk Maps (instructional): Focal points,
key points, key learning are taped to top
of desk, dynamic document. Teacher can
monitor understanding by glancing at
maps.
Anticipation Guides (instructional): a
pre/post-reading activity to introduce
major ideas, check background
knowledge, and check understanding.
IMPACT ON
INSTRUCTION/STUDENT LEARNING
Student’s involvement:
Self/Peer Assessment
(Most effective for assessing
introductory knowledge, application,
mastery as well as most effective for
whole group, small group, pairs, or 1-1
assessment)
Whole or small group; more effective for
assessing lower taxonomy learning
(recall) and/or introductory knowledge
(answers that are short and closed
ended).
Whole or small group; effective for
assessing application and mastery level
skills. Meet w/partners or teachers.
(HS/MS)
Individual
(Ele)
Whole or small group; effective for
assessing introductory and application
knowledge.
Meets with peers; students
take control of where they
are in the process.
Students would indicate
progress throughout the
lesson (and summary
sentences)
Student monitors change of
perspective, acquisition of
new knowledge, new info.,
student highlights the info.
(pulled statements from reading –
agree/disagree, pre/post reading)
Save the Last Word (instructional): A
post-reading activity where students lead
a discussion on thought provoking
passages.
(students pull a quote that talks to a key
point, read the quote to their group –
others discuss first)
Double Entry Journal (instructional or
common): A during reading activity where
students choose passages from a reading
and respond to them in writing.
Small group; effective for assessing
application and mastery knowledge.
Individual activity; effective for assessing
application knowledge with teacherstudent conference, can assess mastery.
Students can follow own
progress and see where
his/her gaps of
understanding are.
(HS/MS)
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Formative Assessments Menu
Demonstrating Reading Strategies in
Content Area Text (instructional or
common): Students demonstrate in
writing the successful use of
comprehension strategies in studentchosen content area text.
Students bring text and write down two
strategies they used to read that text.
Think, Pair, Share (instructional):
Students take time to reflect on their
response, share it with a partner, and
then report out to the teacher/class
Goal Setting (instructional):
Body Movement (instructional):
Questioning strategies (instructional):
Questions aligned with learning
goal(s)/E.Q. Crosses taxonomy, designed
to elicit higher order thinking
Active Votes/Clicker system
(instructional): Students respond via
technology system – immediate feedback
available
Choral Response:
Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down/Thumbs
Sideways OR Hand signals:
Word Cards/manipulatives:
Exit tickets: Student shares something
they’ve learned or want to know more
about to exit lesson or part of lesson.
Running Records:
Readers’ Theater:
Conferencing: Quick or extended
dialogue between student and teacher
(descriptive feedback is critical)
Strategy notebooks:
Rubrics (instructional and common):
Turn and Talk:
Student questioning strategies: who,
what, when, where, why, how
Assessment anchors:
Learning Progressions (checklists):
Paraphrasing:
Surveys:
KWL (or some adaptation of the
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Whole group/individual; effective for
assessing applications and mastery
knowledge.
Students compare to
rubric and monitor their
own progress.
Pairs or small groups; effective at all
levels of taxonomy.
Peer coaching – student selfmonitoring
Dynamic process – can be individual,
group, and/or whole
Individual, small or whole group
Individual, small or whole group
Student directed
Small or whole group activity; Can be
used at all taxonomy levels dependent
upon the questions asked.
Students can chart
individual progress; note
patterns of understanding
Students can be taught the
strategies to develop their
own questions reflective of
levels of understanding
Small or whole group
Small or whole group
Varies upon purpose
Individual, although could be done as
partners or small group dependent upon
activity
Small groups, individual, pairs
“Tomorrow I will…” lends a
record of progress and
promotes accountability to
learning.
Peer to peer
Self monitoring of
expectations met and
learning progress toward
benchmarks
Students must have some
knowledge to create
purposeful questions
Student driven
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Formative Assessments Menu
strategy)
Self-assessment and student selfprogress monitoring:
Happy/Sad faces or Red/Green/Yellow:
Teacher Observations/Observation Look Fors:
Anecdotal Records:
Summarizing:
Foldables:
Socratic Seminar:
Journaling/Learning Logs/Reflections:
Body Language:
Sticky Notes:
Graphic Organizers (student created):
Teacher Questioning Strategies (thick
and thin):
Reference:
http://www.pdesas.org/Assessment/About
Formative Assessments – Those assessments used by all teachers within their instructional practices to
continually gauge student understanding to inform instruction. Attributes: acknowledges learning
progression, demands articulated learning goals, requires descriptive feedback, engages students metacognitively, generates collaboration
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Provide immediate feedback to student and teacher
Assess learning in context or new context
Inform and guide instructional practice
Are aligned to learning outcomes
Are framed by instructional practice
Assess learning along continuum of taxonomy levels and understanding
Actively motivate and involve students in the learning process
Are not graded/scored
Common Formative Assessments (those used by all teachers in a common subject area, more formal
than instructional formative assessments) –
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Assess higher order thinking
Require application rather than recall
Assess learning in a new context
Provide immediate feedback to student and teacher (timely for effective feedback)
Actively motivate and involved students in the process
Diagnose needs of individuals and groups
Prescribe follow-up actions
Are frequent and short
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Formative Assessments Menu
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Are assessments FOR learning rather than assessments OF learning
Are teacher created, not standardized
Are inclusive of multiple types of problems
Are collaboratively scored and analyzed if formal
-identify which students have demonstrated mastery of essential standards
-identify effective instructional practices
-identify patterns in student mistakes
-measure the accuracy of the assessment
-plan and target interventions (to ensure higher levels of learning for all
students)
Are based on power standards
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