Conducting formative assessment with Stile
Formative assessment is one of the most effective ways that we can help improve student learning.
The trick, of course, is to do it effectively and in the limited time that we have. That’s where Stile comes in.
Some of the key benefits of using Stile for formative assessment are:
- You can provide students with feedback faster than is otherwise possible.
- Students can change their responses based on your feedback, building a record of their improvement over time.
- You will save time writing reports and preparing for parent-teacher interviews.
Before class
Skim through the Stile lessons you’re about to teach — decide which questions you’re going to assess and provide students with feedback on. In most cases, these questions should elicit understanding of the lesson’s learning goals. Let’s call these key questions.
Tip: Many of Stile’s units contain quizzes. These are perfect for your key questions as every question is designed to elicit understanding of the learning goals.
In class
Inform students of the key questions you will be assessing. Conduct your class as you normally would.
Either during or after class
Use Quick Review to provide students with written feedback on key questions.

Tip: there are two ways that you can provide feedback on a given question: Leave a comment in the comment box; or highlight a section of text in the student’s response and add an inline comment.
Ask students to review your comments and resubmit their work if required. We suggest repeating this feedback loop until you’re satisfied with your students’ responses.
When writing reports or preparing for parent-teacher interviews
Use the Markbook to navigate through all of a student’s work in Stile.

When looking at a student’s lesson submission, you may wish to view the various versions of their work to showcase their improvement over time.
Lab safety notes
While Stile provides you with the option, you don’t have to provide feedback on every question! Rather, simply decide on your key questions and focus your feedback on them.
Along those same lines, you don’t need to have students respond to every question in Stile. Simply delete any questions you don’t want students to respond to or answer some questions verbally as a class.

This article is an excerpt of the Stile Guide. View and download the full Guide here or read another excerpt:
- Teaching with Stile in the classroom: a beginner’s guide
- Teaching with Stile in the classroom for experienced Stilists
- Running a prac with Stile
- Running a test with Stile
- Setting Stile for homework
Would you like to be a Stile Luminary? Watch the webinar to find out more.

