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Education & Teaching vocabulary · Assessment and Grading

Formative assessment

Meaning in education & teaching, with examples

nounCore term

In education & teaching, formative assessment means: Assessment that takes place during learning to check how students are progressing and to adjust teaching, rather than to give a final grade.

In Turkish: biçimlendirici değerlendirme, süreç değerlendirme, izleme değerlendirmesi

How it is used

A standard term in teacher training and school policy, often explained as 'assessment for learning'. Exit tickets, quick quizzes, questioning and mini whiteboards are typical examples. Results are usually not counted in final grades.

Example sentences

  1. I use exit tickets as formative assessment to decide what to review the next day.

  2. Good formative assessment tells you who needs help before the unit test, not after it.

Common collocations

  • ongoing formative assessment
  • formative assessment strategies
  • use formative assessment
  • formative assessment tool
  • summative assessmentAssessment at the end of a unit, term or course that measures what students have learned, usually to give a grade or make a decision.
  • feedbackInformation given to a learner about their work or performance, explaining what went well and what they can do to improve.
  • check for understandingTo find out during a lesson whether students have really understood an explanation or instruction, usually by asking targeted questions or giving a quick task.
  • diagnostic assessmentAssessment done before teaching a topic or course to find out what students already know, what they misunderstand and where they need support.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Assessment and Grading

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