The purpose of formative assessment is student improvement in learning. Formative assessment empowers students to become aware of learning gaps, make  changes and see their own growth through  more assessments. Formative assessment needs to be a  process or a cycle of improvement.  However, this cycle does not work if we use one-size-fits-all solutions to students' learning gaps.

After monitoring and diagnosing students, we provide formative feedback.  We carefully explain  to the students the learning problem and a strategy that can lead to success.  The  learners understand the feedback, practice the new strategy, and implement it properly. Even though they try the new strategy numerous times, they may  not show any improvement in subsequent assessments. The feedback strategy has not been effective for the students.

As we analyze the situation, we  realize that we usually give a certain strategy solution for a specific learning gap as a universal fix.  We may discover that we are giving the students our favorite strategy.  For example, if students have a learning gap in writing a paragraph, we ask  them do a "hand" activity in which they see a hand, identify each finger with a part of a paragraph, and write that paragraph part in a hand drawing.  Unfortunately, this strategy may not work for them. For example, students who are not  visual learners may not be effective in implementing a visual learning style strategy (the hand drawing).

We have to move from a universal one-size-fits-all formative assessment solution to a formative assessment solution customized for our students.  We can help our students more by not only analyzing the learning gap but also finding out more about the students' learning style.  We differentiate feedback. As diagnosticians, we can find a formative strategy that more closely matches the students' learning style. For a  kinesthetic learner, we may have colored sticks that represent topic sentence, evidence, and  examples. The students physically rearrange these sticks to show the order of the paragraph.

You may be thinking that this customizing of feedback will require much effort each time students display the learning gap. The first time you encounter students with a specific learning gap, you word process the learning gap.  Next , as you determine particular learning styles for your individual students, you word process those learning style strategies under the learning  gap.  You can build up a large library of learning gaps and learning style solution strategies in a relatively short time.  The next time pupils  have a learning gap in writing a paragraph and they know their earning style, you can check your word processed library. You can refine this listing as you do more formative assessment on this learning gap.

By identifying the precise learning gap and identifying the learning style of the students, you can better provide formative feedback that moves the students forward in their learning.  They are not stuck in our one-size-fits-all strategy that does not work for them.