What type of evaluation is used to measure a student's academic progress?

Formative assessment is specifically designed to monitor student learning and provide ongoing feedback that can be used by instructors to improve their teaching and by students to enhance their learning. It involves various methods of collecting data on student performance during the learning process, such as quizzes, observations, and informal assessments. The key aspect of formative assessments is that they are conducted throughout the course of instruction, allowing educators to identify areas where students may need additional support or enrichment before the end of a unit or term.

This type of evaluation focuses on the improvement of learning rather than the final measurement of knowledge, which is characteristic of summative assessments. While diagnostic assessments are used to identify students' specific learning needs or potential learning disabilities before instruction begins, and standardized assessments aim to measure students' performance against a national or state standard, formative assessments are unique in their immediacy and ongoing nature, making them effective for tracking academic progress incrementally.