{"id":32388,"date":"2026-02-10T15:46:46","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T15:46:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/provost.ncsu.edu\/ofe\/?page_id=32388"},"modified":"2026-04-24T15:12:58","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T15:12:58","slug":"classroom-assessment-techniques-cats","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/provost.ncsu.edu\/ofe\/classroom-assessment-techniques-cats\/","title":{"rendered":"Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs) are frequent, low-stakes formative assessments. Originally designed as simple, non-graded activities, they provide you and your students with immediate feedback on the teaching-learning process as it happens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Why Use CATs?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Provides just-in-time feedback on student comprehension with less effort than high-stakes exams.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Helps students become better at self-monitoring their own learning strategies.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Reduces student anxiety over graded assessments by clarifying your expectations.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Decreases feelings of anonymity, especially for students in large courses.Provides just-in-time feedback on student comprehension with less effort than high-stakes exams.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Helps students become better at self-monitoring their own learning strategies.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Reduces student anxiety over graded assessments by clarifying your expectations.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Decreases feelings of anonymity, especially for students in large courses.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>4 Steps to Implementation<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>1. Plan: Decide what you want to assess and choose an appropriate CAT.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2. Execute: Explain the purpose of the activity to your students and conduct it.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>3. Analyze: Review the results to determine what instructional changes, if any, are needed.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>4. Close the Loop: Tell your students what you learned from the exercise and how you will use that information.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Popular CAT Examples<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Quick Comprehension Checks<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Minute Paper: At the end of class, ask students to write down the most important point they learned and what question remains unanswered.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Muddiest Point: Ask students to identify the most unclear point from a lecture, reading, or unit.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Synthesis and Critical Thinking<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>One-Sentence Summary: Challenge students to summarize a topic by answering &#8220;Who does what to whom, when, where, how, and why?&#8221; in a single sentence.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Concept Maps: Have students draw diagrams to show the mental connections they are making between major concepts.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Problem-solving and Application<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Directed Paraphrasing: Ask students to translate newly learned material into layperson\u2019s terms for a specific target audience, like an employer or a grandparent.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Application Cards: After introducing a new theory or procedure, have students write down at least one possible, real-world application for it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What About Online Courses?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>All of these CATs can be effectively adapted for both online and face-to-face courses. Instructors can easily collect responses using Google Forms, Moodle links, or digital concept mapping tools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Need Help?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Contact the <a href=\"mailto:faculty-excellence@ncsu.edu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Office for Faculty Excellence<\/a> to schedule a consultation on designing CATs for your courses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs) Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs) are frequent, low-stakes formative assessments. Originally designed as simple, non-graded activities, they provide you and your students with immediate feedback on the&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"source":"","ncst_custom_author":"","ncst_show_custom_author":false,"ncst_dynamicHeaderBlockName":"ncst\/split-header","ncst_dynamicHeaderData":"{\"backgroundColor\":\"red_400\",\"imageID\":32389,\"imageURL\":\"https:\/\/provost.ncsu.edu\/ofe\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/02\/cats-1.png\",\"useCTA\":false,\"boxPosition\":\"left\",\"ctaNum\":\"one\"}","ncst_content_audit_freq":"","ncst_content_audit_date":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-32388","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/provost.ncsu.edu\/ofe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/32388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/provost.ncsu.edu\/ofe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/provost.ncsu.edu\/ofe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/provost.ncsu.edu\/ofe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/provost.ncsu.edu\/ofe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32388"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/provost.ncsu.edu\/ofe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/32388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32773,"href":"https:\/\/provost.ncsu.edu\/ofe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/32388\/revisions\/32773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/provost.ncsu.edu\/ofe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}