<P> Some researchers have concluded that standards - based assessments may be an effective way to "prescribe instruction and to ensure that no child is left behind". </P> <P> The strongest evidence of improved learning gains comes from short - cycle (over seconds or minutes within a single lesson) formative assessment, and medium to long - term assessment where assessment is used to change the teacher's regular classroom practice . </P> <P> It is important for students to understand the goals and the criteria for success when learning in the classroom . Often teachers will introduce learning goals to their students before a lesson, but will not do an effective job in distinguishing between the end goals and what the students will be doing to achieve those goals . "When teachers start from what it is they want students to know and design their instruction backward from that goal, then instruction is far more likely to be effective". In a study done by Gray and Tall, they found that 72 students between the ages of 7 and 13 had different experiences when learning in mathematics . The study showed that higher achieving students looked over mathematical ambiguities, while the lower achieving students tended to get stuck on these misunderstandings . An example of this can be seen in the number 6 1 2 (\ displaystyle 6 (\ frac (1) (2))). Although it is not explicitly stated, the operation between these two numbers is addition . If we look at the number 6 x (\ displaystyle 6x), here the implied operation between 6 (\ displaystyle 6) and x (\ displaystyle x) is multiplication . Finally if we take a look at the number 61 (\ displaystyle 61), there is a completely different operation between the 6 and 1 . The study showed that higher achieving students were able to look past this while other students were not . </P> <P> Another study done by White and Frederiksen showed that when twelve 7th grade science classrooms were given time to reflect on what they deemed to be quality work, and how they thought they would be evaluated on their work, the gap between the high achieving students and the low achieving students was decreased . </P>

What is the meaning of formative assessment in hindi