What is formative assessment?

Formative assessment gathers evidence of understanding while learning is under way and uses it to adjust teaching and the next step.

Examples during lessons

A teacher might ask everyone the same short question and examine reasons, collect exit tickets or spot a common problem in draft writing. The aim is to understand where reasoning goes wrong, not just count correct answers. Learners can also review their own work or a peer’s explanation against criteria. Formal tests and marks are not required; small but meaningful evidence may suffice.

Using the response

Teachers may reteach a concept with another example, support a group or make the next task more demanding. Feedback should be specific enough for students to act on. Collecting answers without adjusting instruction is not formative assessment. EEF’s feedback guidance attends to how and when evidence is used.