Which assessment type is designed to evaluate students' understanding during the learning process?

Formative assessment is specifically designed to evaluate and monitor students' understanding and learning progress during the instructional process. This type of assessment is used by educators to gather feedback that can inform teaching strategies and help students identify their strengths and weaknesses while they are still in the learning phase. Rather than measuring what learners have accomplished at the end of an instructional unit (as in summative assessment), formative assessment provides opportunities for real-time adjustments to teaching and learning approaches.

In contrast, summative assessments occur at the end of an instructional period and are intended to evaluate what students have learned after the material has been taught. Diagnostic assessments are conducted before instruction begins to identify students' prior knowledge and skills, while benchmark assessments are used periodically to evaluate the progress of students in relation to defined standards. Each of these forms of assessment serves distinct purposes and provides different types of information, but formative assessment is uniquely focused on the ongoing learning process.