The accountability movement in education has caused school administrators and teachers to think differently about how they report, interpret, and use student assessment data. For example, legislative measures such as No Child Left Behind require school officials to report how all students are progressing toward established standards typically measured by state and district tests (Goertz and Duffy 2003). In addition to analyzing student scores on state and district tests, teachers are revising their day-to-day classroom assessment practices. No longer can teachers wait until the conclusion of an instructional sequence or grading period to review student data, provide feedback to students, or inform parents about their child's progress. Waiting to conduct assessments until after an instructional period misses opportunities for parents to provide ongoing support regarding their child's learning; teachers to reflect critically about their instruction and make important instructional adjustments; and students to adjust their thinking processes, engage in self-assessment, and have multiple opportunities to improve and demonstrate their learning. Because using information from ongoing assessments is so important, this article offers representative formative assessments that elementary, middle, and high school teachers can use in their classrooms to inform their instructional practices. Specifically, the authors illustrate assessments teachers can use before, during, and after instruction that will help them understand their students' learning and reflect upon their own instructional effectiveness. (Contains 2 figures and 1 table.)