What is Formative Assessment

A process of evaluating students’ knowledge throughout the learning process in order to support student learning.

A range of formal and informal assessments used by instructors to evaluate student performance and make instructional adjustments as indicated.

A planned, ongoing process used by students and teachers to uncover evidence of student learning.

A series of formal and informal assessment procedures conducted by the teacher during the learning process to modify teaching and learning activities to enhance students’ learning ability.

Refers to quick and easy assessment methods used frequently to support learning while learning is still in progress.

Periodic feedback given to students to strengthen their learning.

A type of assessment, which is applied during the learning process, hence considered the progress of learners and intended to recover their weaknesses.

A type of assessment implemented during the learning process to give feedback on the learning process.

Formal and informal methods for determining ways to enhance teaching practice to improve student learning.

Designed to help students to gain understanding and to develop their good learning habits. Additonally it intends to promote student attainment.

That which aims to improve student learning, to improve the teaching of the teacher and to improve the teaching-learning process itself.

Tools that measure in-process evaluation of student learning.

Evaluation done during teaching in order to help students learn.

Any assessment process whose main purpose is to improve the teaching-learning processes that take place.

The process or tool used to measure, evaluate, and record the difference between a student’s current state or ability and an end goal or standard.

Procedures used by teachers during instruction in order to modify teaching in order to improve student achievement.

An assessment which uses insights about a learner's current understandings to alter the course of instruction and thus support the development of greater competence.

Is designed to provide ongoing feedback about student learning that can be used by instructors to improve their teaching and by students to improve their learning. Formative assessments identify student strengths and weaknesses and help instructors address those problems immediately.

A weekly quiz that provide learners with opportunities to cooperate through discussions of a MERLO item in small groups; then make their own decisions and send their individual responses to the instructor’s computer via mobile communication devices; followed by class discussion.

Informal assessment procedures conducted for the sake of understanding and measuring student learning during the process of learning, normally within the classroom.

Monitoring student learning and providing ongoing feedback over time.

monitors student learning to provide ongoing feedback that can be used by instructors to improve their teaching and by students to improve their learning.

Formative assessment represents the use of evidence and data to inform teaching and learning. The seven strategies for formative assessment (Stiggins et al., 2004) aim to improve students’ self-assessment, and rely on teachers’ feedback and peer assessment and self-assessment. Three essential questions help to organize the concept: Where am I going? Where am I now? What do I need to do to get there? Formative assessment is another concept with multiple meanings, but can be understood as “encompassing all those activities undertaken by teachers, and/or by their students, which provide information to be used as feedback to modify teaching and learning activities in which they are engaged” (Black and Wiliam, 1998, p. 8). The important distinction here is between summative, grades or test scores, and formative assessment, evidence collected and used to modify instruction and learning.

Assessments used throughout learning. Formative assessments show how a student is learning and can be ongoing and adjusted throughout. Formative assessments are a planned, ongoing process used to provide direction for further work.

The process of gathering specific data that may be used to alter education and student learning as it happens.

Any tasks or activity that provides information on current learning gains.

Assessment of learning to provide information to students for the purpose of helping them improve their learning.

A form of assessment that summarizes what students learned over a specific period of time. In particular to the C3 Framework, each supporting question has a formative assessment that allows students to share their learning within each task.

The process of continuously gathering evidence of student learning, prior to and during instruction, to determine the efficacy of instruction as well as the progress of student achievement.

The process or tool used to measure, evaluate, and record the difference between a student’s current state or ability and an end goal or standard.

Monitor learner learning to offer feedback that may be utilized by instructors to enhance their instruction as well as the learner's learning, the purpose of formative assessment.

A measure of student learning during a learning sequence that is leveraged so that it informs both the learner (progress and where to go next) and the instructor (in where to go from here).

Assessment of the products of ongoing learning activities that provides feedback to students on their progress towards known goals.

“The process of seeking and interpreting evidence for making substantively grounded decisions or judgements about the product of a learning task in order to decide where the learners are in their learning, where they need to go, and how best to get there” ( Colby-Kelly &Turner, 2007 , p.11).

A series of instructional procedures or assessments designed to monitor student learning and to provide ongoing feedback that can be used by instructors to improve their teaching and by students to improve their performance.

Also called, “assessment for learning”, this is conceived as an assessment which is conducted continuously to verify the learning process, inform both the teacher and students about their progress, and therefore, to change the aspects which are subject to improvement. It is often used as a counterpart of summative assessment.

The pedagogical practice of assessing students’ learning using a qualitative approach, aiming at providing feedback for future improvement on a task or knowledge.

Is used to determine student understanding of concepts without grades, to identify misconceptions, and alter classroom instruction accordingly.

A process that focuses on overcoming difficulties and weaknesses and developing a student's learning in a continuous way.

A range of formal and informal assessment procedures employed by teachers during the learning process in order to modify teaching and learning activities to improve student attainment.

Assessment that not only stops at the judgement stage of the evidence of learning but follows on that by providing feedback to the learners and by checking whether that feedback has been acted upon to close the gap.

A way of monitoring student learning throughout the course and provide ongoing feedback to improve learning.

The use of dialogue between students and instructors throughout the process of a student completing a task. The purpose of formative assessment is to allow students to make adjustments to their product as their understanding increases based on feedback from the instructor. Formative assessment is in contrast to summative assessment which is an end-of task form of feedback in which the comments can no longer impact the student product.

Low-stakes and often frequent assessment intended to provide on-going feedback to the learner and teacher to inform instruction and learning.

Also known as ‘assessment for learning’. It’s a holistic iterative process of establishing what, how much and how well students are learning in relation to the learning goals and expected outcomes in order to inform tailored formative feedback and support further learning.

It is the assessment that takes place during the learning activity and provides the instructor with information on how well the learning objectives of a given subject are being met.

It refers to an ongoing process used to monitor the student learning by identifying areas of strength and weakness and guiding instructional decisions.

Assessment whose main function is the investment of the information produced based on the collected data, in the process of teaching and learning, through regulatory mechanisms.

Its purpose is to improve the quality of student learning rather than judging or grading students. For this reason, it is generally carried out during (or even at its beginning) of the learning process. Formative assessment provides diagnostic information for teachers and students to make the necessary adjustments to the teaching and learning process, including the use of alternative instructional approaches or the provision of more opportunities for practice.

Informal assessment that allow instructors to provide ongoing feedback to students.

Also known as ‘assessment for learning’. It’s a holistic iterative process of establishing what, how much and how well students are learning in relation to the learning goals and expected outcomes in order to inform tailored formative feedback and support further learning.

Assessment designed to provide regular, ongoing feedback about an intervention to determine what is successful and what is unsuccessful about the intervention relative to its goals; it takes place as the intervention is taking place.

A one-off assessment that measures skills or knowledge at a particular point in time.

The process by which teachers evaluate and assess learning in the middle of learning activity sequences. It is a measurement of learner achievement that intends to play a role in the formation and development of skills usually delivered informally and regularly as a part of classroom activities and performances.

Monitor student learning to offer feedback that may be utilised by instructors to enhance their instruction as well as the student's learning, the purpose of formative assessment.

Monitor student learning to offer feedback that may be utilised by instructors to enhance their instruction as well as the student's learning, the purpose of formative assessment.

The results of formative assessments are used for feedback during learning.

A strategy of an ongoing assessment of students’ learning to improve learning outcomes during the learning process.

Used to monitor learning process, skill acquisition, and academic progress during an instructional period or education program. Regular feedback is supposed to help teachers improve their teaching and students improve their learning.

Although there continue to be discussions and disagreements in the literature, formative assessment is usually taken to mean a zero-stakes assessment in which students receive feedback.

Improvement-oriented assessment which is not marked for summative purposes.

It is concerned with the promotion of learning during a period of instruction.

Monitoring student progress and providing feedback for learning.

Any assessment implemented to assess students and to allow the teacher to modify his or her teaching accordingly based on the results.

A form of assessment intended to help the students improve their learning by identifying and overcoming their weaknesses, rather than to evaluate their achievement. It may be graded or not.

Tool for determining students’ knowledge and understanding of the lesson objective during the lesson for the purpose of adjusting instruction as needed.

Where the focus is on feedback, noting strengths and weaknesses in the work produced, and how to improve on it (or similar products) in the future. In this context, the formative feedback is provided not to students (as per usual), but to teachers and regarding the testing instruments they produce.

Feedback that is provided with the primary purpose of a change in the learner’s behavior with no specific consequences based on the performance.

Assessments used for students’ developmental purposes.

Diagnosing learners for there misconceptions.

Assessment that is conducted during instruction or a learning activity with the goal of improving learning.

An assessment which is done during the instructional process to evaluate whether the students are learning the content.

Assessment that contributes to the learning, that takes places during the learning and is often in the form of immediate feedback.

Low-stakes assessments used throughout the learning process to check progress and gauge understanding.

Assessment that takes place during an instructional cycle. It can be used for enhancing and informing teaching and learning in classroom.

A range of formal and informal assessment procedures conducted by teachers during the learning process in order to modify teaching and learning activities to improve student learning.

Periodic measurement of a student’s growth as they progress towards mastering a mathematical skill.

A term used to describe assessment processes that are used to inform educators about learners’ understanding and help make decisions about future learning opportunities.

Methods that teachers use to conduct evaluation of student comprehension, learning needs and academic progress.

An assessment that is used to create change or improvement in whatever process was evaluated.

A type of assessment in which the goal is not to score the students but to support them. For instance, by giving them detailed feedback. That way, students could progressively improve their understanding of the lesson.

Provide an opportunity for learners to experiment in a safe environment and to identify their own level of performance and how they might improve their future performances.

The evaluation of knowledge development that takes place periodically while instruction is occurring and can be informally done via discussions or more formally done via quizzes.

It evaluates the students' learning process with respect to the degree of development of competences, giving priority to the learning process itself in relation to the students' development rather than the result.

Also known as ‘assessment for learning’. It’s a holistic iterative process of establishing what, how much and how well students are learning in relation to the learning goals and expected outcomes in order to inform tailored formative feedback and support further learning.

An informal assessment of student understanding often used prior to teaching.

Assessment occurring throughout the timeframe of a course which analyzes the quality of the work presented by students to determine the next steps in helping them to improve in their learning.

Planned, ongoing monitoring of student learning that includes feedback and opportunities for reflection.

Includes a variety of formal and informal assessment procedures that teachers use during the learning process with the goal of collecting data about student understanding that will allow the teacher to modify instructional activities to increase student learning.

A range of assessment approaches that focus on providing ongoing, informative feedback to be used for the purpose of improving teaching, learning, or practices.

Formal and informal assessment methods conducted by educators concurrent with student learning used to adapt teaching and learning activities to improve student achievement.

Monitor student learning to offer feedback that may be utilised by instructors to enhance their instruction as well as the student's learning, the purpose of formative assessment.

Assessment practices including frequent classroom activities that teachers and students undertake to assess the students' proficiency.

Evaluating students’ language development to plan subsequent instruction and to provide useful feedback to students on their performance.

An instructional practice of involving students in developing shared understanding of learning goals and assessment criteria, providing feedback, and changing instruction in light of feedback.

On-going assessments that help to determine current status, future goals, and rate of progress. These can be student-centered and link well to the development of 21 st century skills.

Written, oral, or visual assessments that inform learning. These assessments can be in the moment assessments or preplanned assessments. The intent of these assessments is the learning about student understanding.

Assessment activities that are designed to help the learner improve.

Collecting information about learners’ ongoing performance during instruction so that further tasks could be designed in a way that enhances learners’ current performance levels towards learning objectives.

The process of collecting data on students’ understanding, analyzing data, and making instructional decisions based on the data.

activities that aim to provide information in the form of feedback by both students and teachers with the aim of being able to productively alter teaching and learning activities. Black Wiliam and Yao maintain that formative feedback is characterized by oral dialogues, peer dialogues and written work.

A form of assessment intended to give students feedback on their learning progress and to give the teacher an indication of what students have mastered and areas of difficulty.

The collection of data to determine if progress is being made toward learning outcomes. If weaknesses are identified, results are used to make changes in the curriculum or in courses.

The task and feedback occur at a time when the student (and instructor) still has ample opportunity to rectify unsatisfactory language learning performance.

Assessment for learning, including formative assessment, formative feedback, or diagnostic testing, is a set of formal and informal assessment procedures carried out by teachers in the learning process to modify teaching and learning activities to increase student achievement.

Assessment process aimed at improving student learning, teaching practice and the teaching-learning processes carried out.

The collection of data before or during a program, which helps to determine the need for a program, guide the planning process, or change the program while it is ongoing.

Where the focus is on feedback, noting strengths and weaknesses in the work produced, and how to improve on it (or similar products) in the future. In this context, the formative feedback is provided not to students (as per usual), but to teachers and regarding the testing instruments they produce.

Is a process of gauging the students' knowledge as they learn. It is an on-going assessment, and it involves putting together a series of exercises to help the instructor monitor the student’s progress during the course.

Evaluative measures collected during an instructional program that allow for changes to be made in that program prior to the end of instructional program.

It is defined as a set of formal or informal diagnostic test or assessment procedures conducted during the learning process in order to modify the lesson-plan, teaching methods and learning activities in view of improving the student attainment.

A wide variety of methods that teachers use to evaluate students’ comprehension, learning needs, and academic progress during an educational process.

Information used to adapt teaching and learning to meet student needs during the process of instruction.

A method that instructors use to conduct in-process evaluations of student comprehension, learning needs, and academic progress during a lesson. The ongoing feedback is used by instructors to improve their teaching and as well for the students to improve their learning.

Methods used to conduct in-process evaluations of student comprehension, learning needs, and academic progress during a lesson, unit, or course.

A process by which teachers and students gather evidence of teaching and learning with the purpose of providing feedback and supporting student learning.