Which statement defines 'formative assessment'?

Formative assessment is fundamentally about monitoring student learning and progress during the instructional process. It is designed to provide ongoing feedback that can be used by instructors to improve their teaching and by students to enhance their learning. This type of assessment allows educators to identify areas where students are struggling and adjust their teaching methods accordingly, fostering a more responsive and effective educational environment.

By conducting assessments throughout a lesson or unit, teachers can gauge students' understanding in real time, facilitating immediate interventions designed to support student learning before moving on to new content. This contrasts with other types of assessments that focus solely on outcomes at the end, such as summative assessments, or assessments driven by external standards unrelated to the immediate learning context.