Research School Network: Adaptive Teaching Starts Before the Lesson Using Pre-assessment to inform adaptive teaching

Adaptive teaching is often considered to be something that happens during a lesson. A teacher notices a misconception, adjusts their explanation, provides additional scaffolding or increases the level of challenge. These responsive decisions are a vital part of effective teaching. However, some of the most effective adaptations may begin before the lesson has even started.

This idea aligns closely with the Education Endowment Foundation’s recent work on Checking for Understanding That Leads to Action. This provides a helpful reminder that assessment is only valuable when it changes what teachers do next. The purpose of checking understanding is not simply to find out who has understood; it is to enable teachers to make informed decisions about how best to move learning forward.

The EEF’s ​‘Check. Adapt.’ approach encourages teachers to respond to evidence of pupil understanding by deciding whether they need to pause and fix a misconception, adapt support for pupils who are unsure, or extend learning for pupils who are ready to go further. So when should this checking begin?

We often talk about meeting pupils where they are. However, this requires us to know where they are in the first place. Diagnostic assessment provides teachers with valuable information about pupils’ starting points. It can reveal what pupils already know, misconceptions that may prevent future learning, gaps in foundational knowledge and pupils who are ready to deepen their understanding. Rather than discovering halfway through a lesson that pupils are not yet ready for new learning, teachers can use evidence gathered beforehand to anticipate where support, explanation or challenge may be needed. This shifts the sequence from ​‘Teach Check Adapt’ towards ​‘Check Anticipate Teach Check Adapt’, ensuring the response begins from a more informed position.

Pre-assessment

Pre-assessment does not need to mean lengthy tests or additional workload. It can be a short, purposeful activity designed to uncover what pupils understand before new teaching begins.

This might be a retrieval task, a small number of diagnostic questions, a spelling pre-test or a maths task designed to expose misconceptions. The purpose is not to categorise pupils or create fixed groups. It is to support teacher decision-making. A good diagnostic activity does not simply tell us who got the answer right or wrong. It helps us understand why.

Maths Example

Before the first lesson, pupils complete a small number of questions designed to explore their existing understanding. The teacher discovers that:

• some pupils can compare fractions and explain their reasoning
• some understand the concept when supported by visuals but struggle with abstract concepts
• some do not understand the relationship between numerators and denominators
• some are not yet secure with prerequisite knowledge

This information allows the teacher to make more precise decisions.

Which pupils need further modelling?
Who requires additional scaffolding?
Who is ready to apply their understanding in a more complex context?

The adaptation has started before the lesson begins.

Spelling Example

Before introducing a new spelling pattern, a short pre-test could highlight that errors are being made for very different reasons:

• some have misunderstood the spelling rule
• some have gaps in phonological knowledge
• some understand the pattern but need further opportunities for practice
• some have already mastered the pattern and need greater challenge

Without this information, all pupils may receive the same instruction. With it, teaching becomes more targeted and responsive.

Challenge

When we talk about adaptive teaching, discussions understandably often focus on pupils who are struggling. Ensuring that pupils facing barriers, including pupils with SEND and those experiencing disadvantage, receive appropriate support is fundamental to inclusive practice. However, there is a risk that adaptive teaching becomes associated only with identifying gaps. Adaptive teaching is not simply about helping pupils catch up but about understanding what every pupil needs next.

As in the examples above, a diagnostic assessment may reveal that a pupil requires additional explanation or carefully designed scaffolding. Equally, it may reveal that another pupil has already secured the intended learning and is ready for greater challenge from the beginning of the lesson.

Without this information, some pupils may spend valuable learning time revisiting content they have already mastered, while others may move forward without the foundations they need.

The most inclusive classrooms are not those where every pupil completes the same task with the same level of support. They are classrooms where teachers understand learners well enough to provide the right support and challenge at the right time.

If adaptive teaching is about meeting pupils where they are, pre-assessment helps us find them.