Spaced Retrieval Practice

The strategy, as published

Exactly as it appears on the card

Part of Students as Owners of Their Learning in 02 Formative Assessment, 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

Quizzing on today's lesson checks whether the teaching landed. Quizzing on last month's checks something this strand cares about more: whether the learning survived. Returning to older material at increasing intervals is, as the card notes, one of the most robust findings in memory research.

It sits in a formative assessment strand because the results are evidence. What the class has forgotten tells you what needs revisiting before it is needed again.

What it might look like

One version of it, in a classroom

A weekly low stakes quiz in history draws two questions from last week, two from the last unit, and one from the autumn term. The autumn question is the one most pupils miss, so it returns in a different form the following week.

Try it

A way to begin

Add one deliberately old question to a quiz routine you already run. One question is enough to start seeing what has faded.

What to notice

Reading what happens

• The gap between performance on recent and older material. That gap is the forgetting the spacing works against.
• Whether pupils treat wrong answers as information or as failure. The low stakes framing has to be real, not just announced.

Things to think about

Before and while you use it

• Increasing intervals is the principle; re-reading is the trap. The card is explicit that re-reading notes is not the same as retrieving, and pupils will default to it because it feels easier.
• How far apart the returns come is a professional judgement for the teacher in the room, made with this class and this content in front of them. Increasing intervals is the fixed principle; the calendar that delivers it is yours.

Related strategies

Where this connects

• 📅 Distribute Practice Over Time Spread retrieval across days and weeks rather than cramming it into one session. Build review points into your medium-term plan. The calendar is part of the pedagogy. 01 Retrieval Practice · Spacing & Interleaving
• 🧠 Retrieval Beats Re-reading Replace re-reading with retrieval. Instead of reviewing notes, ask students to write down everything they remember, then check. The testing is the learning, not the preparation for it. 01 Retrieval Practice · The Testing Effect
• ⏱️ Forget Before You Retrieve Do not retrieve immediately after teaching. Wait a day, then quiz. Wait a week, then quiz again. The gap between learning and retrieval is where consolidation happens. 01 Retrieval Practice · Desirable Difficulties
• 📅 Review Little and Often Begin every lesson with a brief review of prior content: yesterday's, last week's, last month's. The most effective teachers check understanding constantly. If most students cannot answer, adjust the pace of teaching. 02 Formative Assessment · Students as Owners of Their Learning
• 🧪 Spaced Self Quizzing Teach students to quiz themselves rather than re-read notes. Re-reading feels productive but produces weak retention. Self quizzing feels harder but works. Retrieval effort drives long term memory. 02 Formative Assessment · Students as Owners of Their Learning

The wider thinking

Where the evidence sits

The tradition here is Bjork's work on desirable difficulties: spacing and retrieval both make practice feel harder now in exchange for retention later. The card’s attribution stands as published: Bjork.

The fuller picture, sources included, is in further reading and evidence for Formative Assessment.