Proponents of formative assessment (FA) assert that students develop a deeper understanding of their learning when the essential components of formative feedback and cultural responsiveness are effectively incorporated as central features of the formative assessment process. Even with growing international agreement among the research community about the benefits of FA in improving student learning, examination performance and promoting life-long learning, the standards-based reform agenda found in the US has created a politically inhospitable climate for the assessment-driven transformation of classroom practice. This article draws from some 75 sources on instruction and assessment in order to make sense of a) the debate surrounding FA in the US and b) the cultural and individual developmental issues encapsulated within the extensive conceptual territory that is FA. The article has five main sections: the emergence of the term "formative assessment"; FA in the context of the US; the strategies and principles on which formative practices are founded; the debate in the US on formative assessment; formative assessment and culturally responsive pedagogy.