Assessment Ideas to Try in Your Classroom

As teacher we know we have to use assessments to drive instruction but sifting through data is time consuming and confusing. So I’m sharing 5 simple assessment ideas to try in your classroom to quickly understand your students’ needs!

Do you have a love/hate relationship with assessment? I know I do! If it’s a quality, informative assessment that I’m choosing to give, then I’m all for it! It gives me great data on my students.

However, I know I’m not the only one who gets irritated and frustrated with district/county-mandated ones. Many times they aren’t aligned to the standards correctly and are time-consuming and exhausting for my students!

Well, being that Simply Creative Teaching is my name, it will come as no surprise to you that I am a huge fan of simple, effective strategies. So let’s have a quick chit chat about five of my favorite ways to assess students quickly and effectively without going crazy!

These assessment ideas to try in your classroom will simply your instruction and data!

Assessment Strategy #1: Sticky notes

What teacher doesn’t love a good sticky note? These are such a quick and easy way to gain valuable insight into your students’ understanding. There’s a few different ways I like to use sticky notes as quick checks:

• Solve a math problem
• Give an example of ___
• The most important thing I learned in today’s lesson was…
• Set a goal: Write 3-5 areas of improvement on the board, and have students place a sticky note with their name on it under the area they want to improve on.

Assessment Strategy #2: Rate Yourself

This strategy is super quick and easy! When students have completed something independently, I want to know before I take a look at it, how difficult this was for them. I give them a numbered scale, and they rate themselves by writing their number at the top of their paper by their name.

Assessment Strategy #3: Create a Task Card

This is one of my favorite strategies, and students love it, too! Using task cards in the classroom is fun, and I love giving students the opportunity to create their own task card!

Here’s how it works: Give all of your students one index card. On the front of the index card, have them create one question or problem to put on it. Then, on the back of the index card, students will write the answer to the question or problem they created. Once you collect all of the cards, you can check them, have students fix them if needed, and then use them the next day in your classroom!

I used this strategy when learning about arrays! You can read about that here!

Assessment Strategy #4: Math Snapshots

My fourth strategy is probably the most “formal” of all of the ones I’ve shared so far, but the information gained from these is incredibly valuable. These math snapshots were created as a way to keep track of how my students are doing on the most important grade level skills and standards.

I wanted a way to track progress throughout the year without diving into district-mandated formal assessments. Those were always too lengthy and exhausting.

With these snapshots, you’re truly getting a quick picture of how your students are performing on key grade level math skills. That’s why I love these one-page checklists!

You can read more about how to use these math snapshots over on this post!

Assessment Strategy #5: Exit tickets

While the first four strategies I’ve shared are great to use, sometimes you need some assessments that are just a bit more formal. That’s where these exit tickets come in handy.

I consider these exit tickets as a step up from using sticky notes. These are standards-based and quick. These are designed to be completed in less than 5 minutes!

They print four to a page, so when you hand them out to students they’re small and not intimidating! I made these for kindergarten, first grade, and second grade math standards, and I even have free exit tickets you can try with your students!

Click below to try download free exit tickets in your classroom!

I hope you found some of these assessment ideas strategies helpful!