As I look back, here are a few more of my reflections that remain timeless: 

Be intentional, but break the routines

• Become familiar with different types of scaffolds they can use during instruction. Feel empowered to provide these scaffolds during formative assessments and take note how and when your students are using them. Or better yet, use them as insightful peeks into their learning journey. Teacher favorites like sentence frames can be altered to help students formulate responses, but consider offering opportunities for students to brainstorm responses with their peers, or work through a Think-Write-Pair-Share activity. And then be open to removing or changing the scaffold when realizing that the student no longer needs it for that specific task. I’m a firm believer that scaffolds during instruction and assessment can change based on the task, the language, and the concept! The goal ultimately, is to help the student demonstrate their knowledge.  
   
• Consider that the student might know the content in their native language. Use scaffolds like non-verbal responses, role-play, or use sequence pictures to provide them with opportunities to show their knowledge. Then, provide access to the vocabulary and support them as they use it in context. You’ll soon see and hear students demonstrate mastery of the concept and the language during the next formative assessment.
   
• Do some light research to discover if there are similarities between the vocabulary they know and the vocabulary they’re being asked to use. Leverage their native language by making intentional connections between the languages, allowing them to make notes, draw images, and make the learning their own. A simple venn diagram for example, can help them remember affixes and suffixes when they’re comparing their languages. 

Set language goals

• When reviewing assessment results, take note of some of the accomplishments and use it to provide specific and effective feedback. Students need to know what they’re doing well so they can feel pride for their work and continue to build upon that. Then take note of 1-2 skills you can work on with the student. Model an example of how language is used and discuss how you’ll support that language learning journey. Then establish a measurable and reasonable goal that the student can work towards. 
   
• I’m reminded of Javier, a student whose goal-setting story served as an example of empowerment. The interesting thing is that it happened by chance. Javier shared that his goal outside of school was to be the best player in his video game group. He was good and he understood how to score. In school however, I hadn’t yet taken the time to help him create academic goals. It dawned on me to take advantage of what I had learned and compare his desire to improve his gaming skills to his need to demonstrate mastery on the next reading assessment.  Unexpectedly, he quickly realized that winning a video game was equal to demonstrating reading proficiency in the assessment. By creating a plan for both the game and the assessment, and listing the steps he needed to take, he was able to understand that the goal was the same for the both - master the skills and he would meet his goal. His understanding of how to make these points in and out of school helped him not only be a better gamer, but more importantly, a stronger independent learner.

Increase student agency 

• Formative assessments are meant to assess mastery of content and language, but they only serve that purpose when we use what we know about our students - their languages, their interests, their language skills - and ask them to use language in a way that demonstrates what they’ve learned or know. There are plenty of ways for students to demonstrate their knowledge. For example, Exit Tickets may ask students to respond to a prompt, but based on their strengths they might prefer to respond visually instead of in writing, or complete a physical task to demonstrate understanding. Ultimately, providing choice when asking students to “show what they know” can provide invaluable information about each students' comprehension and their need for additional support.

As you bring your strategy full circle, remember that formative assessment is not a one-time event or a checkbox — it’s a continuous process. When thoughtfully implemented, it gives you insight into student understanding, fuels timely adjustments, and supports learners where they are. The real magic happens when assessment becomes part of the learning journey, not an interruption. Strive to  build a classroom culture of reflection, feedback, and growth — one where both teacher and student evolve together. Embrace formative assessment not just as a tool, but as a mindset, and watch how your instruction and student success deepen over time.

Bilingual, bicultural, with strong Hispanic roots, and over 25 years in education, Sandra has served the needs of multilingual learners and their families through different roles in her career. With a desire to do even more for multilingual learners, she joined Ellevation Education in 2019 where she created instructional content for dual language programs and contributed to the development of professional learning modules. Sandra is committed to supporting multilingualism and multiculturalism as pathways of success for students and their families and can now be found advocating for multilingual learners on a national level.