What are the differences between a "guiding question," an "assessment question," and a "discussion question"?

Guiding questions are optional, multiple-choice questions used to check for student understanding while reading a text. Teachers can enable guiding questions, or guided reading mode, for specific students or an entire class when they assign a text on the digital platform. Students have up to four tries to get each question correct, and teachers can view this data in the Assignment Report. These questions do not impact a student's total score on an assignment.

Assessment questions are text-dependent multiple-choice or short-answer questions that are evidence based. This means that the student must refer back to the text to answer the question correctly. They are standardized, have a correct answer, and count towards the student's total grade. students only get one try to answer these correctly (unless you unsubmit their assignment). 

Discussion questions are open-ended questions intended to be used in class to spark a discussion or debate. They are not currently digitally assignable, but can be copied and shared with students. Students love to share their opinions with their peers, and studies show that students learn more in discussion-based classrooms. To learn more about out the research that supports CommonLit instructional practices, visit our research page.