What is Pre-assessment?
Pre-assessment is an action or strategy at the start of instruction that reveals student’s incoming knowledge and skills and, in response, informs teaching and learning. It can occur at the start of a lesson, the beginning of a unit, or the introduction of a new idea, concept or skill. Think about the skilled baker who may have pre-measured all the ingredients only to discover that the bread is undercooked because the oven temperature wasn’t calibrated.

Why Should I Use It?
Emerging research on effective teaching and assessing confirms the value of starting where the students are in their sequence and cycle of learning. Teachers need to be attentive to gaps in knowledge, foundational skills, and preconceptions. John Hattie, in his research on Visible Learning, found that informative assessment has an effect size of .9, nearly at the top of his list. http://visible-learning.org/hattie-ranking-influences-effect-sizes-...

How Can I Use It?
Pre-assessment can be used to identify incoming knowledge, recognize misconceptions about a topic, raise student’s curiosity, and engage them in new learning. Pre-assessment informs planning and guides next steps for the teacher and the learner. Pre-assessment also supports the alignment of instruction with learning intentions, as well as selection of resources, pacing, and grouping. If it makes sense to use a GPS when traveling, then it also makes sense to use a pre-assessment when teaching to support each learner on their pathway to success.

Pre-assessment Without Technology
Corners: Students go to a posted subtopic of an upcoming unit (from shapes to nutrition) and collectively write what they know about their selected subtopic. (example, what is a quadrilateral or compare chronic to infectious diseases) Post, discuss, and review what everyone agrees is correct, what are the discrepancies, and which ones are definitely wrong. Then, ask students what else they want or need to know.
Entrance Slip: Students map what they know about a topic, respond to questions, solve a problem, or record their ideas about a topic.
Predictions: Students predict the content and purpose of upcoming learning about a given topic such as the solar system or the Renaissance

Pre-assessment with Technology
Padlet can be used for collective brainstorming or displaying incoming knowledge.
Lino is a type of electronic sticky note where students can post their ideas or sort responses by subcategory; perhaps cloud formations or systems of government.
Plickers lets you poll your class as each student holds up a card displaying their answer. Cards can be scanned with your phone producing a class graph or individual student report.
Additional quiz software includes Socrative, Goformative, Google Forms  and Edpuzzle

Pre-assessments should stretch beyond recall of prior learning. They can be used to pique student’s curiosity, support critical thinking, and encourage problem-solving. It’s important to keep in mind that just because you taught it yesterday, doesn’t mean students are ready to put it into practice today.

Posted by 

Laura Greenstein, assessmentnetwork.net @lauragteacher