FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT IN THE EARLY YEARS OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: LEARNING EVIDENCE AND PEDAGOGICAL DECISION-MAKING IN A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW

Abstract

This article presents a systematic literature review on formative assessment practices in the early years of Elementary School, focusing on the relationship between learning evidence and pedagogical decision-making. The problem guiding the review is to understand how scientific production has characterized and investigated formative assessment practices at this stage and how the evidence obtained is used to guide teaching and favor learning. The methodology adopted was a systematic literature review, of a bibliographic nature and qualitative approach, with thematic synthesis of the selected studies and documentation of the search and selection flow according to the PRISMA 2020 guidelines. The search was carried out in the SciELO database (Brazil collection), with descriptors in Portuguese, English and Spanish, from 2015 to 2026. More than 500 raw records were identified; after removing duplicates and applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, 8 studies composed the final corpus. The results show the scarcity of empirical research on formative assessment specifically in the early years, the predominance of conceptual and policy discussions, the centrality of the articulation between summative and formative assessment, the role of feedback and self-regulation, and teachers' formative gaps in assessment. It is concluded that scientific production still incipiently describes the path from evidence collection to pedagogical decision-making in the early years, indicating the need for research that investigates the daily assessment practices in the classroom.