This paper taking students of civil engineering specialty in Nantong University as an example, analyzed the students' discipline basic course learning, in which data envelopment analysis model and formative evaluation method are applied. The result indicates it can help students to find the key factors affecting their own learning, to adjust learning strategies and improve the learning efficiency in the formative assessment using data envelopment analysis model. Meanwhile, it can help teachers to analyze the problems existing in teaching, to explore the reform in teaching methods and improve the teaching level.