Check, Don’t Assume

The strategy, as published

Exactly as it appears on the card

Part of Structuring Explanations in 05 Explanations & Modelling, where it sits alongside its neighbouring strategies, the infographic and the thinking for the whole area.

Why you might use it

The problem it may help with

A class that listens politely looks identical to a class that understands. Listening is not learning, and an explanation that is never checked is a guess about thirty minds.

Rosenshine's answer is to check understanding at every step and reteach before moving on. The explanation is the start, not the finish.

What it might look like

One version of it, in a classroom

Halfway through explaining photosynthesis, a teacher poses one question to the whole class and every pupil answers on a mini whiteboard. The spread of answers decides what happens next: move on, or reteach the step that wobbled.

Try it

A way to begin

Plan one check into the middle of your next explanation, answered by everyone at once rather than by one volunteer.

What to notice

Reading what happens

• The gap between who looked like they were following and who showed they were.
• What the wrong answers have in common. A shared error usually points at the explanation, not the pupils.
• How often the check changes what you do next. If it never does, it has become a ritual rather than a check.

Things to think about

Before and while you use it

• Checking every step changes your pacing, and that is the point rather than a cost; Rosenshine's sequence assumes you will sometimes reteach.
• Whole-class response beats sampling one or two hands, because the pupils you do not hear from are the ones assumptions get made about.

Related strategies

Where this connects

• ✍️ Mini Whiteboards All students write their response and hold it up simultaneously. The teacher reads the room in seconds: full participation, no waiting, no dominant voices. Works across all subjects. 02 Formative Assessment · Elicit Evidence of Learning
• 🔀 Hinge Questions A hinge question is a diagnostic question at a lesson turning point. Wrong answers each map to a known misconception. Responses tell you whether to move on or go back. Never improvise it. 02 Formative Assessment · Elicit Evidence of Learning
• 🌎 Every Voice, Every Time Eliciting evidence only works if every student can respond. Offer written, verbal, visual and digital means of expression. The method you choose decides who gets to show what they know. 02 Formative Assessment · Elicit Evidence of Learning
• 📚 Small Steps, Always Rosenshine: present new material in small steps with practice after each. Use animations to chunk information and reveal content gradually. Let students process before continuing. 05 Explanations & Modelling · Structuring Explanations

The wider thinking

Where the evidence sits

Checks for understanding are central to Rosenshine's principles of instruction; this card is that principle applied to the middle of an explanation rather than the end. The card’s attribution stands as published: Rosenshine.

The fuller picture, sources included, is in further reading and evidence for Explanations & Modelling.