5 Free Assessment Tools for Teachers

Five verified free tools Canadian teachers can put to work this week, plus two commonly cited tools that turned out not to be a fit

Canadian teachers have more free, curriculum-aligned assessment tools on hand than most realize, they just live a cross a handful of different sites instead of one. Here is what each one is actually good for, and how to put it to work this week.

A quick diagnostic at the start of a unit, a formative check partway through, a way to see which students are actually stuck versus which just need more time - these are things every teacher needs and none of them require a budget. Between a provincial teacher federation’s assessment site, a free national math resource built by a university, and a federal skills program for older students, most classroom needs are covered without spending a cent. Pick the one or two that match your grade and province and you have a usable diagnostic bank by the end of this article.

What Free Software Is Aligned with the Curriculum in Canada for Assessments?

There is no single national tool, since curriculum and assessment are set provincially. The strongest free options are the Members Sharing in Assessment for Ontario elementary teachers, the Alberta Teachers’ Association’s formative assessment tool list, the University of Waterloo’s CEMC math resources, and the Government of Canada’s Skills for Success tools for older students. Each covers a different slice of the curriculum map, so most teachers end up combining two or three.

Members Sharing in Assessment

The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (“ETFO”) runs a free site for members and it is [ML1] organized by division: Primary (Kindergarten to Grade 3), Junior (Grades 4 to 6), Intermediate (Grades7 to 8), and a French stream. Each with formative and diagnostic tasks, checklists, and guidance on choosing the right tool for a given purpose. It is built specifically around the Ontario elementary curriculum and the Assessment for Learning cycle, so it is available to Ontario public elementary teachers.

Alberta Teachers’ Association: Free Formative Assessment Tools

The Alberta Teachers’ Association maintains a list of platforms that offer free, general-purpose formative assessment that are suitable to be used in any province. The list includes ClassFlow, Formative, Sli.do, GoClass, Flipgrid, Socrative, and Quizalize for Grades 3 to 12. It also lists ASSISTments, a nonprofit math platform that gives students immediate feedback and gives teachers real data on where a class is struggling.

CEMC: Free Math Resources from the University of Waterloo

The Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing at the University of Waterloo offers free math materials for grades 3 go 12, with no registration required. Problem of the Week, past contest questions with solutions, a problem set generator, and full courseware for Grades 7 to 12 give teacher anywhere in Canada a ready-to-use diagnostic or enrichment bank. These tools are particularly useful for spotting where a student’s math reasoning breaks down rather than just whether an answer is right.

Ontario Educational Resource Bank

The Ontario Educational Resource Bank holds more than 20,000 resources for Kindergarten to Grade 12, created by teachers for teachers and aligned to the Ontario curriculum, hosted through eLearning Ontario. It is free, but access is restricted to teachers and students in Ontario’s publicly funded school boards, so it is not available to a private tutor or a teacher outside Ontario’s public system.

Skills for Success (Government of Canada)

Skills for Success is a federal program built around nine foundational and transferable skills: reading, writing, numeracy, digital skills, problem solving, communication, creativity, collaboration, and adaptability, with free self-assessment tools for each one. It is aimed more a tolder students and adults preparing for the workforce than at younger classroom diagnostic work, so it fits best with Grade 9 to 12 students, adult learners, and career-readiness programming rather than as a general K to 8 tool.

Practical Note on Fit: Provincial and Access Limits

Two of these resources, the Ontario Educational Resource Bank and ETFO’s tools, are built for Ontario’s public system specifically, and the free TVOMathify tool for Grades 4 to 12 requires an Ontario Education Number. A teacher or tutor working outside Ontario, or outside the publicly funded system, will get more direct use out of CEMC, the Alberta Teachers’ Association’s list, and Skills for Success, since none of those three require provincial enrolment to access.

Where WASSAIL and Lyryx Learning Fit

Both names come up in general searches for Canadian assessment tools, but neither is a classroom fit. WASSAIL is an open-source platform built at the University of Alberta’s Augustana Faculty to help academic libraries measure the impact of information literacy instruction. It is, a university library tool, not a K to 12 classroom one. Lyryx Learning was a Calgary-based publisher of undergraduate math, statistics, and business open educational resources with paired online assessment, but it was acquired by Harris Computer Systems in August 2024 and now operates under a different structure, so it is no longer a standalone free K to 12 resource to point teachers toward.

a Free Tool Can Identify a Gap but Cannot Address it

These assessment tools can show where a student is struggling. What they are not built to do is adjust, in real time. The way a concept is explained until it clicks for one specific student, which is why one-on-one tutoring works where a free diagnostic leaves off. A checklist or a platform can flag that a student is stuck on fractions or sentence structure, but closing that specific gap requires responsive teaching by a qualified teacher.

Tutoring with Connect Education

Connect Education works exclusively with certified teachers in good standing with their provincial college of teachers. Certified teachers are matched with families across Canada for one-on-one support online or in person. Connect Education’s certified teachers build regular assessments into their tutoring program which allows them to continually track progress and adapt lessons to students’ needs.

Questions Educators Ask

What free software is aligned with the curriculum in Canada for assessments?

There is no single national tool, since curriculum and assessment are set provincially in Canada. The strongest free options are ETFO’s Members Sharing in Assessment for Ontario elementary teachers, the Alberta Teachers’ Association’s formative assessment tool list, the University of Waterloo’s CEMC math resources, and the Government of Canada’s Skills for Success tools for older students.

What is a good free assessment tool for a classroom teacher?

It depends on the subject and grade. ASSISTments is a strong free option for math with immediate feedback built in, ETFO’s tools suit Ontario elementary formative and diagnostic work, and CEMC’s problem sets suit Grades 3 to 12 math enrichment and diagnostic practice.

Is ASSISTments really free?

Yes. ASSISTments is a nonprofit, forever-free online math platform that gives students immediate feedback and gives teachers usable data on where a class is struggling, with no subscription required.

Can teachers outside Ontario use ETFO’s assessment tools?

ETFO only offers the Assessment for Learning collection to its members. Educators who have access can find diagnostic tasks, checklists, rubrics and other classroom assessment resources designed primarily around the Ontario curriculum.

Do free assessment tools replace one-on-one tutoring?

No. A free tool can flag that a student is behind on a specific skill, but closing that gap usually takes one-on-one time with a certified teacher who can adjust the explanation in real time, which is what these tools are not built to do.