Formative Assessment
Constant, low-stakes information to adjust teaching before the final exam. Not to grade — to learn.
What is it?
Formative assessment is assessment that occurs during the learning process, with the explicit goal of informing both the teacher and the student about how learning is progressing so that adjustments can be made in real time. Its opposite, summative assessment, occurs at the end and only classifies. Formative assessment happens in the middle and changes what happens next.
Dylan Wiliam and Paul Black, who produced the most cited meta-analysis on the subject (Inside the Black Box, 1998), found that improving formative assessment practices generates gains equivalent to moving from the 50th to the 85th percentile — more impact than most educational interventions. The key: frequent, specific, actionable feedback that closes the gap between where the student is and where they need to be.
Wiliam identifies five key strategies: 1) sharing learning objectives and success criteria, 2) using activities and questions that reveal evidence of learning, 3) giving feedback that advances learning, 4) activating students as learning resources for each other (peer assessment), and 5) activating students as owners of their own learning (self-assessment).
Assessment is formative only when the evidence obtained is actually used to adapt teaching to meet student needs.
— Dylan WiliamWhat does it look like in class?
Before explaining a new topic, the teacher uses an 'entry question': 'What do you already know about photosynthesis? Write 3 words.' Students place their responses on a wall. The teacher reads them in 2 minutes and adjusts their explanation to what the class already knows (or doesn't).
During a class, the teacher asks all students to write the answer to a question on small whiteboards and hold them up simultaneously. The teacher scans the room in 10 seconds and sees the distribution of responses. No one is called out — everyone responds. It reveals who understands and who doesn't without the anxiety of individual questioning.
Instead of 'any questions?', the teacher uses exit tickets: 3 minutes before the end of class, students write on a card: one thing they understood, one thing they still have doubts about. The teacher reads them after class and starts the next session addressing the most common doubts.
In a writing unit, students swap essays with a partner and use a rubric to comment. The teacher does not grade this — it is an opportunity for students to practice calibrating quality and to receive feedback from someone who is learning the same thing.
Signs it works
- The teacher regularly adjusts plans based on what they observe in the class — formative assessment actually changes what happens next
- Students can explain where they are in relation to the learning objective — not just 'I'm doing okay'
- Error is treated as information, not as failure — when many students make the same mistake, it is teaching data
- Feedback is specific and actionable: not 'needs improvement' but 'this paragraph lacks an example — add one'
- Students regularly assess each other using criteria — it is not just the teacher's job
Common mistakes
Using formative assessment for grading — as soon as it counts in the gradebook, it stops being formative
Giving feedback without time to act on it — feedback only learns when the student does something with it
Only asking 'any questions?' — it reveals nothing. The student who doesn't understand rarely raises their hand
Confusing monitoring (observing) with formative assessment — monitoring without adjusting is just data collection
Key thinkers
Education researcher and co-author of Inside the Black Box. Leading reference on formative assessment. His five key strategies framework is used by teachers worldwide.
Professor emeritus at King's College London and co-author of the meta-analysis that established the evidence base for formative assessment.
Argentine education expert and reference for formative assessment in Latin America. Her book Formative Assessment offers a conceptual framework with practical applications.
American researcher and author of How to Give Effective Feedback to Your Students. Specialist in the design of quality feedback as a component of formative assessment.
Dive deeper
BookEmbedded Formative Assessment — Dylan WiliamThe practical guide for implementing Wiliam's five strategies. Concrete, ready-to-use techniques for each strategy. Required for any teacher interested in evidence-based assessment.
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BookFormative Assessment — Rebeca AnijovichThe Spanish-language reference for formative assessment in Latin American classrooms. Connects theory with practical instruments adaptable for different disciplines.
WebsiteFormative Assessment — DEXPAGuide in Spanish on what formative assessment is, what it is not, and how to implement it in experience design with practical examples.
PDFInside the Black Box — Black & WiliamThe original 1998 article that changed the field of assessment. Free PDF. Synthesis of research showing that improving formative assessment has more impact than almost any other educational intervention.
WebsiteFormative Assessment Tools — EdutopiaCollection of practical articles on specific formative assessment techniques: exit tickets, whiteboards, think-pair-share, and more.
ToolExit Ticket
ToolComprehension Stoplight
ToolOpinion Thermometer
ToolLive Word Cloud