Black and Wiliam in their landmark work on formative assessment suggest that they know of no other tool that can deliver academic achievement as that provided by formative assessment. If one accepts that work, then clearly the utilization of classroom techniques that deliver data to the teacher in real time must be aggressively embraced and grown. No other technology can support this sort of environment better than student response systems. As the pioneer in introducing this technology into the K-12 market, I have seen the extremely positive results that this technology has delivered – it has been substantial as reflected by the number of companies that have now entered this market.

As this technology continues to penetrate all K-12 classrooms, it is vital that teachers across K-12 classrooms understand the strategies for implementing interactive, data gathering technologies. Each classroom in the 21st century should be a rich formative assessment classroom and technology is the key to deliver that juggernaut in an efficient and academically successful manner.