Classroom Assessment Techniques

Background Knowledge Probe

Assess students’ prior knowledge before introducing new material.

Give a short questionnaire or quiz at the beginning of a lesson or unit to surface assumptions or gaps.

Minute Paper

Quickly assess understanding of the day’s lesson.

Ask students to respond to two questions: 1) “What was the most important thing you learned today?” 2) What questions remain unaswered?

Muddiest Point

dentify areas of confusion.

At the end of a lesson, ask students to write a brief answer to “What was the most confusing part of today’s lesson?”

Classroom Opinion Polls

Gauge students’ beliefs or attitudes on a topic. Useful to spark discussion.

Ask for anonymous or quick poll responses to a controversial or open-ended question. May use tools like Poll Everywhere or Wooclap.

Directed Paraphrasing

Assess students’ ability to translate content into new language for a specific audience.

Ask students to paraphrase a concept as if explaining it to a peer, client, policymaker, etc.

One-Sentence Summary

Test synthesis of knowledge.

Given a topic, ask students to respond to: “Who did what to/for whom, when, where, how, and why?”

Concept Mapping

Visualize how students understand relationships among concepts.

Students create diagrams linking terms or ideas to show structure and connections.

Defining Features Matrix

Help students differentiate between similar concepts.

Provide a matrix with concepts and their features; students mark whether a feature applies to each concept.

Pro and Con Grid

Encourage balanced thinking about an issue.

Students list pros and cons of a policy, idea, method, or decision.

Documented Problem Solutions

Reveal students’ problem-solving process.

Students solve a problem and write down each step, decision, or rationale along the way.

Problem Recognition Tasks

Assess students’ ability to recognize the type of problem being presented.

Give scenarios and ask students to identify the type or category of problem it represents.

What’s the Principle

Check if students can apply general principles to specific cases.

Present problems and ask students to state the underlying principle or rule that applies.

Applications Cards

Reinforce transfer of learning.

After learning a concept, ask students to write down one real-world application or how it might be used in another context.

Student-Generated Test Questions

Promote metacognition and deeper learning.

Have students create and answer test questions based on recent material. Review for clarity and accuracy.