Assessment Basics

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Why it works

New teachers frequently arrive thinking of assessment as the tests and quizzes that produce grades, which is only a small and not the most useful part of it, and that narrow view leads to teaching blind, delivering a lesson and only discovering days later, on a quiz, that half the class did not get it. The most important distinction to get straight early is between formative and summative assessment. Summative assessment measures learning at the end, the test, the project, the grade. Formative assessment is the ongoing, low-stakes checking during learning, exit tickets, quick questions, a show of hands, a glance at work in progress, whose entire purpose is to inform what the teacher does next. Formative assessment is the engine of responsive teaching, and it is where new teachers get the fastest improvement, because it closes the gap between teaching and learning in real time. The basics worth establishing are: check for understanding constantly and from everyone, not just the volunteers; use quick, low-stakes methods that give an honest read; and, crucially, act on what you find, reteach, adjust, group, rather than collecting information and pressing on regardless, which is the single most common waste. Alongside that sit a few summative essentials: assessments should align to what was actually taught, cover what matters, and be clear about criteria. And feedback, not just a grade, is what helps students improve. None of this requires sophistication; it requires a new teacher to stop equating assessment with grading and start using quick checks to steer. The workshop gives new teachers the core distinctions, a handful of simple formative techniques, and the habit of acting on what the checks reveal.

The research: New-teacher induction and formative assessment fundamentals.

The run-of-show

Choose your slot. The agenda, timings, and length update to match.

The core activity: build a check-and-act habit

The heart of the session is the formative-summative distinction and the habit of acting on what checks reveal.

Distinguish summative (measures learning at the end) from formative (ongoing, low-stakes, informs what you do next).
Check for understanding constantly and from everyone, not just the volunteers, using quick low-stakes methods.
Act on what you find, reteach, adjust, group, rather than collecting information and pressing on regardless.
Make summative assessments align to what was taught, and give feedback, not just a grade, so students can improve.

Assessment steers teaching, it is not just gradingThe most useful assessment is the quick, low-stakes checking that happens all lesson and tells you whether to move on or reteach. Check from everyone, and above all act on what you find, rather than teaching blind until the test.

Facilitator notes

Break the assessment-equals-grading assumption first; it is the root of teaching blind.
The single most common waste is checking and then pressing on regardless; acting on the data is the point.
Check from everyone, not just volunteers, or the read is biased and the gaps stay hidden.

Collecting checks and pressing on anyway wastes themThe value of a quick check is entirely in what you do next. If you gather the information and teach on regardless, you taught blind with extra steps.

Adapt it

Elementary: quick oral and whiteboard checks fit naturally; act on them immediately.
Secondary: exit tickets and all-class response give an honest read across a big class.
Any setting: start with one reliable quick check and the discipline of acting on it.

Participant handout

One page for every teacher. Print it, or save it as a PDF.

K12 Academics · Professional Learning

Assessment Basics: check, then act

Formative steers, summative measures: check from everyone with quick low-stakes methods, act on what you find, align summatives, give feedback.

Formative vs summative in my own words:
My quick checks for understanding:
What I do for each result (move on / reteach / group):
How I align a summative to what I taught:
How I give feedback, not just a grade:

Make it stick

Assessment steers teaching once checking is a habit. Close by setting the follow-up:

Name a check-in: are you checking from everyone and acting on it?
Bring one check that changed what you did next.
Keep acting on the data; a check you ignore is wasted.

Common questions

Isn't assessment basically tests and grades?

That is summative assessment, the end-of-learning measure, and it is only a small part. The most useful assessment for a new teacher is formative: the quick, low-stakes checking during a lesson, exit tickets, quick questions, a glance at work, whose purpose is to tell you what to do next. Equating assessment with grading leads to teaching blind until the test reveals a gap you could have caught in the moment.

What's the single most important assessment habit to build?

Acting on what you find. The most common waste among new teachers is checking for understanding and then pressing on regardless. A quick check is only valuable if it changes what you do, reteach, adjust, pull a group, move on. Build the reflex of pairing every check with a decision, and your teaching becomes responsive rather than blind.

How do I check understanding without it eating the lesson?

Use quick, low-stakes methods that read the whole class in seconds, a show of hands or fingers, mini-whiteboards, a one-question exit ticket, a glance at work in progress, and make sure you hear from everyone, not just volunteers. These take almost no time and give an honest read. The habit is lightweight; the payoff is catching gaps while you can still do something about them.