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.
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Natural Resources – Exit Tickets
Assess student understanding of natural resources with this set of exit tickets.
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13 Colonies Quiz
Locate and identify the 13 original colonies of the United States with a 13 Colonies Map Quiz.
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Multi-Digit Whole Numbers and Decimals – Exit Tickets
Assess student understanding of multi-digit whole numbers and decimals with this set of math exit tickets.
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World Continents and Oceans Exit Tickets
Determine your students' mastery of Geography concepts with a set of twenty continents and oceans exit tickets.
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Types of Landforms - Exit Tickets
Explore the features of various landforms with this set of 20 exit tickets.
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Countries of North America Exit Tickets
Assess student knowledge of the features and countries in North America with quick and easy exit tickets.
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3-2-1 Exit Ticket Template
Test your students' knowledge at the end of class with this 3-2-1 exit ticket template.
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Government Exit Tickets
Assess student knowledge of governmental concepts with quick and easy exit tickets.
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Exit Ticket – Editable Google Slide
Assess your students’ understanding of concepts just covered with this editable exit ticket template.
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3-2-1 Text Reflection Template
Quickly assess your students' comprehension after reading a fictional text with this 3-2-1 reflection activity.
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Forces Quiz
Assess students' understanding of contact and noncontact forces with this forces quiz for 3rd grade students.
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Action, Helping, and Linking Verbs Exit Ticket
Quickly assess your students' understanding of action, helping, and linking verbs with this exit ticket template.
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Multiplication Grid – Worksheet
Test your students' multiplication fluency with this half-page multiplication grid.
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5-Digit Place Value - Assessment
Assess your students' knowledge of place value to the ten thousands place with this open-ended worksheet.
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4-Digit Place Value - Assessment
Assess your students' knowledge of place value to the thousands place with this open-ended worksheet.
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Emoji Themed Self-Assessment Desk Cards
Print these emoji themed self-assessment cards for students to reflect on their learning and display on their desk to indicate the level of teacher support they need.
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Interactive Multiple Choice PowerPoint Template - Mathematics
Create an interactive math warm-up, review or assessment activity with this 11-slide PowerPoint template.
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Interactive Multiple Choice PowerPoint Template - Literacy
Create an interactive literacy warm-up, review or assessment activity with this 11-slide PowerPoint template.
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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.
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Learning Scale and Self-Assessment Checklists
Have your students reflect on their work and effort using this self-assessment learning scale.
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Multiplication Quiz Maker
Make printable timed multiplication test worksheets with a handy Multiplication Quiz Generator Widget!
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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.
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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!
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7 Clever Exit Ticket Ideas to Make This Assessment Tool Truly Effective
Are exit tickets effective? Try these fresh exit ticket ideas for the classroom to make this formative assessment idea work for your students!