Which of the following is NOT a formative assessment strategy?

• A. Quick checks
• B. Exit tickets
• C. Thumbs up/down
• D. Standardized tests

Answer: (D)

Formative assessment strategies are checks for understanding you use during instruction to guide teaching and support students’ learning. Quick checks, exit tickets, and thumbs up/down are all examples of this kind: they give immediate feedback on what students know or don’t know so you can adjust your lesson on the fly. Standardized tests, however, are designed to measure achievement at a later point and are usually used for accountability or benchmarking rather than guiding day-to-day instruction. They’re typically infrequent and don’t provide the immediate feedback teachers need to tailor instruction, so they are not formative.