Professional Learning  ›  Assessment  ›  Workshops  ›  Reteaching from Formative Data
a ready-to-run workshopReteaching from Formative Data
Assessment · Workshop

Reteaching from Formative Data (Workshop)

Everything you need to lead this with your staff or PLC: a minute-by-minute run-of-show, what to say, what to hand out, and how to make it stick. Pick the length that fits your slot.

Key takeaway

Formative data that shows students did not learn something only matters if you act on it, and the right action is usually to reteach, but reteaching the same way louder rarely works; effective reteaching diagnoses what specifically went wrong and teaches it differently, and it happens before the class moves on and the gap compounds.

Format
PLC / team meeting
Length
45 minutes
Group size
Any (works 4-40)
Who can run it
Any teacher-leader
You will need
Slides (5)Printed handoutFormative data showing a gapA timer
Aligned to
Learning Forward: Rigorous ContentInTASC 6: AssessmentResearch on formative assessment and responsive reteaching
Share / assign

Why it works

The whole point of formative assessment is to inform action, and the most important action it calls for is reteaching what students did not learn, yet this is where formative assessment most often breaks down. A teacher gives an exit ticket, sees that half the class missed the key idea, and then teaches the next lesson as planned, because the curriculum must move on, leaving the gap in place to compound as everything built on that idea also fails to land. Acting on the data, by reteaching before moving on, is what makes formative assessment formative rather than just measurement. But reteaching has its own failure mode: teaching the same thing the same way, only louder, slower, or with more exasperation. If an explanation did not work the first time, repeating it rarely works the second, because the problem was the approach, not the volume. Effective reteaching rests on two moves. First, diagnose what specifically went wrong, using the formative data and a look at student work or errors to understand the nature of the misunderstanding, is it a specific misconception, a missing prerequisite, a confusing representation, a procedural slip, so that the reteaching targets the actual breakdown rather than vaguely redoing the lesson. Second, teach it differently: a new explanation, a different representation or model, a concrete example or analogy, a hands-on approach, having a peer explain, breaking it into smaller steps, whatever changes the approach so students have a genuinely new way into the idea. Reteaching also does not always mean reteaching the whole class; the formative data often shows that only some students need it, which points to small-group reteaching (connecting to flexible grouping) while others extend or apply. And timing matters: the closer the reteaching is to the original learning and before the class has built further on it, the smaller the gap and the easier the recovery, which is why catching it with formative assessment and acting promptly beats discovering it on a unit test. The mindset shift is treating a formative result that shows students did not learn not as a verdict to record and move past but as a signal to respond to, and responding by teaching differently, to the right students, promptly. The workshop helps teachers diagnose what a formative gap actually reveals and plan reteaching that changes the approach rather than repeating it, before the class moves on.

The research: Research on formative assessment and responsive, differentiated reteaching.

The run-of-show

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

    The core activity: diagnose the gap and reteach it differently

    The heart of the session is diagnosing what a formative gap actually reveals and planning reteaching that changes the approach, promptly.

    Reteach differently, and before moving onThe same explanation louder rarely works, and a gap left while the class moves on only compounds. Diagnose what actually went wrong, give students a genuinely new way into the idea, and do it promptly.

    Facilitator notes

    Not always the whole classFormative data often shows only some students need reteaching, which points to small-group reteaching while others extend, connecting directly to flexible grouping.

    Adapt it

    Participant handout

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

    K12 Academics · Professional Learning

    Reteaching from Formative Data: diagnose, differ, promptly

    Act on the gap: diagnose what specifically went wrong, reteach it with a genuinely different approach, to the students who need it, before moving on.

    1. The formative data and the gap it shows:
    2. What specifically went wrong (misconception, prerequisite, representation, slip):
    3. A genuinely different approach to reteach it:
    4. Who needs the reteaching (whole class or a small group):
    5. How I reteach promptly, before the class builds further:

    Make it stick

    Reteaching closes gaps before they compound. Close by setting the follow-up:

    Common questions

    The curriculum has to move on. How can I take time to reteach?
    Reteaching promptly usually saves time rather than costing it, because a gap left in place does not stay the same size, it compounds as everything built on that idea also fails to land, so you end up spending far more time later on confusion that traces back to the original gap. Catching it with formative assessment and reteaching before moving on is the efficient choice. Reteaching also does not always mean stopping the whole class: the data often shows only some students need it, so you can reteach a small group while others extend or apply, which keeps the class moving. And effective reteaching is targeted, aimed at the specific breakdown, so it is often quicker than the original lesson. The apparent tension between covering the curriculum and reteaching is largely resolved by acting promptly and reteaching only what and whom the data indicates.
    Why doesn't reteaching the same way work?
    Because if an explanation did not work the first time, the problem was usually the approach, not the volume or the repetition, so doing the same thing again, only louder, slower, or with more exasperation, tends to fail the same way. Students who did not understand a particular explanation, representation, or sequence need a genuinely different way into the idea, a new explanation, a different model or representation, a concrete example or analogy, a hands-on approach, a peer's explanation, or the idea broken into smaller steps. This is why diagnosis matters first: understanding what specifically went wrong tells you what kind of different approach is likely to work. Effective reteaching is not redoing the lesson; it is teaching the same content through a different path chosen to address the actual breakdown, which is a fundamentally different and more effective move than simply repeating yourself.
    How do I diagnose what specifically went wrong rather than just that students missed it?
    Look closely at the student work and errors, not just the scores, because the pattern of mistakes usually reveals the nature of the breakdown. The same wrong answer can come from different causes, a specific misconception, a missing prerequisite skill, a confusing representation in the original lesson, a careless procedural slip, and each calls for a different reteaching response. Examining how students went wrong, rather than only counting how many did, tells you which it is: a cluster of students making the same conceptual error points to a misconception to confront; students who stumble at a particular step may lack a prerequisite; scattered careless errors suggest a different issue than systematic misunderstanding. This diagnostic step is what lets reteaching target the actual problem, and it connects closely to error analysis, turning a formative result from a bare signal that something is wrong into specific guidance on what to do about it.

    Go deeper

    Build it into a bigger day

    Workshop
    Exit Tickets & Quick Checks
    Workshop
    Error Analysis
    Workshop
    Flexible Grouping from Data