Assessment for Learning: 7 Techniques That Actually Work

Assessment for learning (AfL) — sometimes called formative assessment — is the process of gathering evidence about what pupils understand during learning, and adjusting teaching in response. Not at the end of a unit. During it, while you can still do something.

The research evidence is strong. Dylan Wiliam's work suggests that well-implemented formative assessment can produce the equivalent of two additional months of learning per year. The caveat: 'well-implemented'. The traffic-light cups and vague thumbs-up/thumbs-down systems that fill CPD handbooks are not well-implemented. Here are seven techniques that are.

1. Hinge questions

A hinge question is a multiple-choice question where the wrong answers are carefully designed to reveal specific misconceptions, not just random guessing.

The key: each wrong answer should only be chosen by pupils who have a specific, identifiable misunderstanding. If you know WHICH wrong answer a pupil chose, you know exactly what they're confused about and what to address.

Example: "Which of these is a prime number? A) 1 B) 9 C) 11 D) 21"

If a pupil chooses A, they think 1 is prime (it isn't — it only has one factor). If they choose B, they're confusing odd numbers with primes. If they choose D, they haven't checked divisibility. Each answer gives you different diagnostic information.

Build a bank of hinge questions for key concepts across your year. Use mini-whiteboards to get simultaneous responses from the class.

2. Mini-whiteboard cold calling

Hands up tells you who knows the answer, not who doesn't. Mini-whiteboards with cold calling tells you what everyone knows.

Set a question. Everyone writes their answer simultaneously — no looking around. On your signal, everyone holds up their board. You scan the room in two seconds and you know exactly who is secure, who has the wrong answer, and what the wrong answers are.

This only works if you've built a classroom culture where wrong answers are normal and safe. If pupils feel exposed by incorrect answers, they'll write small or copy their neighbour. Invest in psychological safety first.

3. Exit tickets with diagnosis

An exit ticket is not a quiz — it's a diagnostic. The point is not to generate grades; it's to find out who understood today's lesson before they go home and who didn't.

Design the ticket around the single most important thing from today's lesson. Not three things. One thing. Ask it in two different ways (one recall, one application).

Sort the tickets that evening into three piles: got it, nearly there, needs support. Tomorrow's lesson starts with a brief targeted recap for the 'needs support' group — ten minutes, often enough to close the gap.

4. "Prove it" questions

After a pupil gives a correct answer, ask: "Can you prove that?" or "How do you know?"

This works for two reasons. First, it pushes beyond surface recall into genuine understanding. Second, it normalises the expectation that all answers — correct ones included — need justification. This means wrong answers don't feel specially singled out when you ask for justification.

5. Learning from mistakes — publicly

Take a common wrong answer (never with names attached) and put it on the board. Ask: "This is a real answer from someone in Year 4. What's right about it? What's wrong? What would you add or change?"

This technique does several things: it normalises mistakes, it develops critical thinking, it gives pupils language to articulate misconceptions, and it lets you address the wrong answer without targeting any individual.

6. The 3-2-1 exit slip variation

Ask pupils to write: - 3 things they learned today - 2 things they're still unsure about - 1 question they'd like to ask

The 'unsure' and 'question' rows give you the most useful data. Read them that evening and plan tomorrow's starter around the most common uncertainty.

7. Targeted questioning with wait time

Research consistently shows that increasing wait time after a question — from 1 second (average) to 3–5 seconds — produces longer responses, more pupil-to-pupil interaction, more speculative thinking, and higher-order answers.

Harder to do than it sounds. The silence feels long. Keep waiting.

Combine with deliberate cold calling — choosing who answers, not who volunteers. Keep a mental or physical record of who you've asked recently to ensure even distribution over a lesson.

What not to do

Don't conflate AfL with marking. Most of what we call assessment is retrospective marking done after the moment to intervene has passed. AfL happens during learning, in real time.

Don't use red/amber/green systems unless you've thought carefully about what you'll DO with the information. If green means "carry on" and red means "never mind", it isn't assessment — it's data collection without consequence.