Lesson 1 of 6 · 6 min · 8-card deck

What assessment is actually for

Formative vs summative — and why confusing them wastes everyone's time.

Assessment serves two distinct purposes. Formative assessment generates information that you and the pupil can act on to improve learning during a unit of work. Summative assessment captures what a pupil has achieved at a point in time, usually for reporting. The same task cannot do both well — yet most schools try.

Formative assessment is high-frequency, low-stakes and primarily for the teacher. Mini-whiteboard checks, hinge questions, exit tickets, low-stakes quizzes — these surface where pupils are so you can adapt your teaching. They should not generate grades or feed into reports.

Active recall flashcards

Work through every card. Try to answer in your head before flipping — the act of retrieving is what builds durable memory.

Card 1 of 80 understood

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Practice scenario

A department drops weekly graded mini-tests in favour of weekly low-stakes retrieval quizzes (unmarked, self-corrected) plus one end-of-half-term test. Pupil anxiety drops, retrieval scores rise, and end-of-half-term outcomes improve.

Try this in your classroom

Use formative checks every lesson — unmarked, ungraded.
Limit summative assessments to genuine end-of-unit moments.
Never grade a hinge question or mini-whiteboard check.
Be explicit with pupils about which type of assessment they're doing.