Formative- Easy Formative Assessments for Students.

Formative is a website that allows teachers to create formative assessments for their students. The assessments work well for individual, partner/small group, or teacher-led instruction and there are a variety of ways the instruction can be implemented.

After creating an account or logging in with Google, Clever, or Microsoft the teacher will need to make a class group. Creating classes is convenient for teachers with multiple classes or sections but it can also be a powerful tool for differentiation. Create a new class by clicking on the “+New Class” tab at the top of the website or import students by syncing a Google Classroom or Clever Roster.

Once a class is created and the teacher decides on how students should access it, it’s time to create a formative. To do this a teacher will need to go to the formative tab and click the “+New Formative” button. The top corner is where a teacher can add a title to the formative and then click the blue + button to add content for students.

The free version of Formative includes the following options:

• Add content by embedding

• Add an image

• Add a text block (great for title, reading, or directions)

• Add a Youtube video

• Add a whiteboard for students to write or draw (this is really good for students with tablets but more challenging for students working on a laptop/computer)

• Multiple-choice questions

• Multiple selection questions

• True or false questions

• Show your work questions

• Short answer questions

• Essay questions

Be careful when putting correct answers for the short answer and essay questions because the grading mechanism for the free version is very sensitive (though a teacher can allow a partial match, case sensitivity, and show your work with the paid version). It is often easier to leave that question ungraded and go in and check it manually.

With the paid version teachers have access to additional features such as:

• Adding audio recordings

• Allowing students to give audio responses

• Categorizing questions

• Graphing questions

• Matching questions

• Numeric questions

• Resequencing question

These are features that will give students a wider variety of tools that can deepen their understanding and enhance their interactions with the content.

One of the strongest features of Formative is real-time responses. Every answer a student puts is available to the teacher within seconds. This is a great way to see which students may be rushing through or struggling. The answer dashboard can also be utilized as a whole-class review tool. By clicking the “hide name” button the answer dashboard can be displayed anonymously and the class can go through and see the thought processes of their peers.

If Formative is not used as an online worksheet it can be a very useful classroom tool. The premium features certainly enhance both the teacher and student’s experience but at $15/month it might not be worth the upgrade. Certainly, try the free trial and see how much use you get out of the extra features. Overall, Goformative is a solid tool that gives teachers a lot of freedom to create a custom as well as real-time monitoring.

Overall Score

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5

Fun Factor

🥳🥳🥳 3/5

Affordability

💸💸💸 3/5

(Premium $15/month as of 12/2020)

Best for

❌Pre-k

❌Kindergarten

❌Lower elementary (1-3)

✔️Upper elementary (4-6)

✔️Secondary Science

✔️ Secondary Math

✔️ Secondary English

✔️ Secondary History

✔️ Electives