CHAPTER 6:

REFINING
ASSESSMENTS
TO GUIDE
INSTRUCTION
AND BENEFIT
LEARNERS
PURPOSE OF ASSESSMENT

“We assess to inform instruction and

promote learning, not solely to judge it.”

“Adopt an attitude that assessment is FOR

students, not OF students as an end in
itself.”
FORMATIVE
ASSESSMENT
• Evaluates real-time learning; enables teachers to
adjust instruction and provide students
feedback
• “Teachers’ efficiency with formative assessment
is a key to students’ proficiency with summative
assessment.”
• Tip: Assess all students before assisting
individuals to avoid assessment misconceptions
from interacting with only a few students
(Ginsburg, 2012).
OBSERVATION
JOT DOWN
To be used by the
teacher during
direct instruction
or while observing
students engaged
in group or
independent tasks
IN-THE-MOMENT FORMATIVE
ASSESSMENTS
Checking-In:
• CUE Cards
• Feedback Numbers
• Action Responses
• Assessment Sticks
• Use available technology
IN-THE-MOMENT FORMATIVE
ASSESSMENTS
Exit Tickets
• Idea: use as advanced organizers by
posing a question at the beginning of a
lesson to prime students’ active listening;
then have students write a response at
the end of the lesson.
EXPANDED FORMATIVE
ASSESSMENTS
• Open-ended thinking prompts: “I notice…” “I
feel…” “I want…” “I think…”
• Three-Way Venn
• Analogies of Key Terminology
• 3-2-1 Summary
• Error Investigation
• Acrostic (using terms like KNOW or THINK)
• So Far prompts