Formative assessment techniques (practical ideas)

• Exit ticket (1–3 short prompts): “Name one idea you understood, one question you still have, one strategy that helped you.”
• Minute paper: summarize the main point in one sentence.
• Think-aloud pairs: students explain their reasoning while partner listens and asks one clarifying question.
• Low-stakes formative quiz with immediate feedback and explanations.
• Mini whiteboard show (everyone writes answer, you scan for patterns).
• Rubric-based peer feedback sessions with sentence starters (“I noticed…, I suggest…, I wonder…”).
• Formative “test items” where tasks are the same format as summative items (predicts validity).

Remember: formative assessment works only if feedback is timely and actionable.