Each of these successful systems differ from each other in organization, accountability, and pedagogy, but what they have in common is extensive reliance on formative assessment. The techniques for formative assessment are similarly wide ranging, but are in all cases built on a foundation of sound theory and methodology.
Finland
In Finland, national education strategy has moved away from heavy-handed central 
control and external testing to local control with to led by highly trained teachers with community and administrative support.
More Information on Finland’s schools
The system relies heavily on formative assessment for its success. “The main purpose of assessing students is to guide and encourage students’ own reflection and self-assessment” (Darling-Hammond, 2010). Teachers learn strategies to stimulate active learning skills. Instead of relying on multiple choice tests, open-ended questions are the norm.
A closer examination of the Finnish system is that the separation between high and low achieving students is much narrower than in other countries. Formative assessment is found to be particularly effective in helping lower performing students and students with special needs.
Singapore
Singapore’s approach to curriculum is different from Finland, in that it is far more centralized. (Hogan, 2014). What they have in common is a reliance on formative assessment. They specifically piloted a capacity building model developed by education researcher Dylan Wiliam called “Keeping Learning on Track” Teachers would form Teacher Learning Communities to collaborate on a collection of formative assessment techniques. By using the Wiliam model, the techniques were grounded in a sound formative assessment framework. (Fangxi, Teng, Tan, & Peng, 2014).
Massachusetts
The Massachusetts Department of Education, in its guidelines for evaluation of school performance, specifies the quality of formative assessment as a critical factor. Students receive constructive feedback based on data analysis, as well as guidance on how to improve.” Emphasis is given to providing “timely interventions” to students as they engage in their coursework. (MDoE, 2012).
North Carolina
North Carolina teachers specifically avoid grading when applying formative assessment techniques, and these type of “minute-to-minute” short-cycle interventions are excluded from the standard accountability systems. Teachers are encouraged to let students make mistakes and learn from them, without pressure from administrators to obtain right answers to every question. The feedback involved in formative assessment is descriptive in nature so that students know what they need to do next to improve learning.
Performance goals vs. Learning goals
The Hong Kong Institute of Education did research on students’ goal orientation. They 
found that students were more likely to find teacher feedback useful if they had a learning goal orientation, as opposed to students who were mostly interested in getting good grades performance goal. Hong Kong has made serious efforts to focus students on subject mastery and less on achieving grades.
References
Darling-Hammond, L. (2010). What we can learn from Finland’s successful school reform. Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education, Retrieved from https://edpolicy.stanford.edu/publications/pubs/543
Fangxi, T., Teng, E., Tan, J., & Peng, Y. W. (2014). Holistic assessment implementation in Singapore primary schools–part II: Developing teacher assessment capacity to improve student learning. International Association for Educational Assessment. Retrieved from http://www.iaea.info/documents/paper_226dc1b5b9.pdf
Hogan, D. (2014, February 11). Why is Singapore’s school system so successful, and is it a model for the west? Retrieved from http://theconversation.com/why-is-singapores-school-system-so-successful-and-is-it-a-model-for-the-west-22917
Massachusetts Department of Education (2012). Conditions for school effectiveness self-assessment. Retrieved from http://www.mass.gov/edu/docs/ese/accountability/school-effect-self-assessment.pdf
North Carolina Public Schools (n.d.) Learn more about formative assessment. Retrieved from http://www.ncpublicschools.org/accountability/educators/vision/formative
Spector, J. M., Ifenthaler, D., Sampson, D., Yang, L. J., Mukama, E., Warusavitarana, A., Huang, R. (2016). Technology enhanced formative assessment for 21st century learning. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 19(3), 58.
Wiliam, D., (2009). Assessment for Learning: Why, What, and How?. London: Institute of Education.
Yang L., Sin K. F., Li X. Y., Guo, J. S., & Lui, M. (2014). Understanding the power of feedback in education: A Validation study of the Feedback Orientation Scale (FOS) in classrooms. The International Journal of Psychological and Educational Assessment, 16(2), 20-46.
Technology for Formative Assessments 