4 Simple Ways We Can Pre-Assess Students

By Barbara R. Blackburn | MiddleWeb | October 12, 2025

Effective instruction begins with knowing what students already understand. Barbara Blackburn, in her MiddleWeb article “4 Simple Ways We Can Pre-Assess Students,” highlights four straightforward and flexible strategies educators can use to gauge prior knowledge before launching into new lessons. These techniques—3 Alike/Red Herring, If/Then Statements, Word Sorts, and Analyzing Web Content—offer insight into student understanding while fostering critical thinking and engagement across all grade levels.

1. 3 Alike/Red Herring

This activity challenges students to uncover patterns and identify relationships between ideas, encouraging analytical reasoning rather than rote recall. Blackburn describes how she once listed cities—Raleigh, Sacramento, and Albany—and asked students to find the common link. Within moments, they recognized all were state capitals.

This technique, she explains, can be easily adapted to any subject area or grade level. In early childhood classrooms, teachers might use colors or shapes; in science, educators might present examples of chemical elements or animal classifications.

Adding a “Red Herring” twist, suggested by Blackburn’s colleague Lindsay Yearta, increases rigor. By including one example that does not belong, students must justify their reasoning. For example, listing Virginia, Florida, Arizona, and California prompts students to notice that Arizona lacks a coastline. This process not only checks prior knowledge but also cultivates reasoning, explanation, and justification skills—hallmarks of higher-order thinking.

2. If/Then Statements

Adapted from Jayne Bartlett’s Outstanding Assessment for Learning in the Classroom, this technique asks students to make conditional connections to show understanding. For example, in a math lesson, a student might say, “If I can multiply by 10, then I can divide by 10.” In language arts, they might derive spelling rules from verb endings, such as “If: taste → tasting, heat → heating, then the rule is: drop the ‘e’ before adding ‘-ing.’”

By having students articulate these connections before formal instruction, teachers can quickly gauge not only what students know but how they think. Blackburn notes that this method promotes metacognition and independence because learners analyze patterns and infer rules themselves, rather than receiving direct explanations.

3. Word Sorts

Word sorts provide a tactile, collaborative way to activate prior knowledge. Students receive a set of word cards related to a topic and group them by perceived connections. This process invites discussion and debate, allowing teachers to observe how students conceptualize relationships between terms.

After reading or instruction, students revisit their original groups, refining their understanding based on new learning. To add challenge, teachers can ask students to generate the words themselves before the lesson begins. Blackburn emphasizes that this strategy integrates vocabulary development, conceptual learning, and self-assessment in one seamless activity.

4. Analyzing Web Content

In this strategy, teachers intentionally create or modify an online article on the topic being introduced—embedding factual errors or misleading information. Students are then tasked with identifying and correcting inaccuracies. This not only measures what they already know but also builds digital literacy, critical reading, and fact-checking skills.

Blackburn explains that this approach works particularly well with upper-elementary and secondary students who regularly encounter digital information. By spotting the planted mistakes, learners demonstrate their grasp of key content and practice evaluating the credibility of sources—an essential 21st-century skill.

Takeaway for Educators

Blackburn’s four strategies demonstrate that effective pre-assessment doesn’t require elaborate testing or grading. Instead, these techniques transform pre-assessment into a dynamic learning experience that sparks curiosity, reveals misconceptions, and sets the stage for differentiated instruction.

Each activity encourages students to think critically, collaborate with peers, and take ownership of their learning process—all while giving teachers the insights they need to tailor lessons more effectively. By weaving these simple yet powerful pre-assessment tools into daily practice, educators can ensure instruction begins where students truly are, not where teachers assume them to be.

Original Article

Citation: Blackburn, B. R. (2025, October 12). 4 Simple Ways We Can Pre-Assess Students. MiddleWeb. https://www.middleweb.com/2025/10/4-simple-ways-we-can-pre-assess-s...

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OpenAI. (2025). ChatGPT (4) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com