Formative Assessments Teaching Resources
Make formative assessment easy this school year with printable exit tickets, self-assessment cards and more teacher-created resources for your elementary or middle school classroom.
Each formative assessment printable or digital resource in this collection has undergone a careful review by one of the expert teachers on the Teach Starter team to ensure it's ready for your classroom and your students!
Curious about how to make formative assessments effective in your classroom? Read on for a primer from our teacher team!
What Is a Formative Assessment?
Formative assessment is a method of monitoring your students’ learning in the midst of your lessons. Because the goal is simply to assess if your students understood the lesson — and if you need to make adjustments in your teaching — there's no grading required.
This assessment type stands out from summative assessments, which are typically subject to grading. Summative assessments occur at the end of a learning progression and are solely focused on evaluating content mastery.
Why Are Formative Assessments Important?
When it comes to assessing students, formative assessments are a crucial tool in any teacher's toolbox because they give you a chance to provide feedback or make adjustments to your teaching quickly, and they come in handy for both you and your students.
As a teacher, a formative assessment helps you see where students might be struggling and address the problem immediately. For students, these brief knowledge checks help them identify their own weaknesses and ask for help.
Use our sticky note template to print lines on sticky notes for students to fill out a simple assessment with some details about what they've learned.
How to Make Your Formative Assessments Effective
Want to get the most out of your formative assessments? In addition to the countless assessment tools in this collection, our teacher team has created a list of ideas to help you enhance their effectiveness.
- Keep it simple. You don't have to reinvent the wheel to assess your students' basic understanding. Something as simple as just one or two questions on the main point of the lesson can be incredibly effective!
- Add these assessments to your classroom routines. In addition to being simple, these assessments should not take up a lot of classtime. Establishing a system and routine for different content will allow you to get the assessment done and move on to the next item on your classroom schedule in a timely manner.
- Don't take it personally. When students hand back an assessment that indicates your lesson did not come across the way you'd hoped, it can feel like a major letdown. It's important to allow yourself to adapt and learn from the experience, rather than taking it personally. Remember that even if one lesson worked last year, you have a whole new set of kids with their own individual needs!
- Be flexible. Nothing is more frustrating than having to revisit a lesson when you have so much to do and only so much instruction time. Remember this assessment data is simply making you a better teacher, and it's important to be flexible!
As noted before, these assessments should not be graded and should not carry any significant weight since they’re only part of the learning process! This enables students to answer without fear of penalty, making them substantially more effective.
- Plus Plan
Countries of North America Exit Tickets
Assess student knowledge of the features and countries in North America with quick and easy exit tickets.
- Plus Plan
U.S. Mountain and River Exit Tickets
Assess your students’ knowledge of the major rivers and mountains in the United States with a set of exit tickets.
- Plus Plan
3-2-1 Exit Ticket Template
Test your students' knowledge at the end of class with this 3-2-1 exit ticket template.
- Plus Plan
Government Exit Tickets
Assess student knowledge of governmental concepts with quick and easy exit tickets.
- Plus Plan
Quiz and Swap - 2nd Grade End-of-Year Review
Prepare your students for their end of grade assessments with an End-of-Year Quiz and Swap Review Game.
- Plus Plan
Quiz and Swap - 3rd Grade End-of-Year Test Prep Game
Get your students up, moving, and practicing third grade test prep skills with an End-of-Year Quiz and Swap Review Game.
- Plus Plan
Exit Ticket – Editable Google Slide
Assess your students’ understanding of concepts just covered with this editable exit ticket template.
- Free Plan
Quick Phonics Screener- Single Letter Phoneme
Test your students' knowledge of single letter phonemes with this student assessment kit.
- Plus Plan
Assessment Rubric – Biographical Texts
An assessment rubric designed to help teachers to assess students’ biography writing.
- Plus Plan
Individual Oral Presentation Assessment Rubric
Use an individual oral presentation rubric to help your students work out their presentation plans.
- Free Plan
3-2-1 Text Reflection Template
Quickly assess your students' comprehension after reading a fictional text with this 3-2-1 reflection activity.
- Plus Plan
Diagnostic Reading Assessment for Teachers (Phonological Awareness)
Test your students' phonological awareness with this diagnostic reading assessment.
- Plus Plan
Multiplication Grid – Worksheet
Test your students' multiplication fluency with this half-page multiplication grid.
- Plus Plan
Assessment Rubric - Opinion Writing
An assessment rubric designed to help teachers to assess students' opinion writing.
- Plus Plan
Assessment Rubric - Poetry
An assessment rubric designed to help teachers to assess student's poetry.
- Plus Plan
Assessment Rubric - Narrative Writing
An assessment rubric designed to help teachers to assess students' narrative writing.
- Plus Plan
Assessment Rubric - Procedural Writing
An assessment rubric designed to help teachers to assess students' procedural writing.
- Plus Plan
Assessment Rubric - Informative Writing
An assessment rubric designed to help teachers to assess students' informative writing.
- Plus Plan
Phonics Assessment - Long and Short Vowel Sound
Test your students' long and short vowel sound knowledge with this phonics assessment kit.
- Plus Plan
5-Digit Place Value - Assessment
Assess your students' knowledge of place value to the ten thousands place with this open-ended worksheet.
- Plus Plan
4-Digit Place Value - Assessment
Assess your students' knowledge of place value to the thousands place with this open-ended worksheet.
- Plus Plan
Interactive Multiple Choice PowerPoint Template - Mathematics
Create an interactive math warm-up, review or assessment activity with this 11-slide PowerPoint template.
- Plus Plan
Interactive Multiple Choice PowerPoint Template - Literacy
Create an interactive literacy warm-up, review or assessment activity with this 11-slide PowerPoint template.
- Plus Plan
4th Grade Reading Fluency Passages
Assess student fluency with a printable pack of reading fluency passages for 4th grade.
- Plus Plan
2nd Grade Fluency Reading Passages
Download a printable pack of 2nd grade reading fluency passages with a printable ORF assessment pack.
- Plus Plan
Clock Reading & Elapsed Time Quiz
Assess your students' knowledge of telling time to the minute and working with elapsed time with this Clock Reading, Conversions, and Elapsed Time test.
- Plus Plan
Assessment Rubric - Historical Recounts
An assessment rubric designed to help teachers to assess students' historical recounts.
- Plus Plan
Numeracy Assessment Tool - Grade 5
A set of 6 numeracy assessment tools suited to Grade 5 students
- Plus Plan
Learning Scale and Self-Assessment Checklists
Have your students reflect on their work and effort using this self-assessment learning scale.
-
6 Types of Assessment in Education + How to Use Them in Your Classroom
Learn about the different types of assessment in education and how to improve your student progress monitoring.
-
18 Formative Assessment Examples Elementary Students Love as Much as Teachers Do
Get fun formative assessment examples and ideas that are perfect for elementary school teachers. Each has been teacher-tested and approved.
-
9 Optimistic Closures for Class and Wrap Up Activities for Lessons That Work Like a Charm
Here are some great ways to close out a lesson in the classroom. Closing a lesson well helps students retain information and helps you assess where they are at!