Education - Just for Teachers: Assessment

This text is intended for the large group of non-measurement professionals who need to know about creating assessment tools and using them for decision-making. Teachers, administrators, and instructional support personnel will find that this book provides a balanced treatment of design, validation and use of assessment tools for varied learning outcomes and needs. This treatment includes traditional and alternative assessments. The book is straightforward and applied with minimal statistical content. Numerous examples, case studies, tables, figures, and a Web site with chapter highlights and exercises support the applied focus of this book. Psychologists or those involved with educational psychology.

This updated edition guides teachers and school leaders through the process of formative assessment-i.e., assessment as learning-where assessment occurs throughout the learning process to inform learning as opposed to assessment that occurs at the end of a learning unit to measure what students have learned (summative assessment). Formative assessment emphasizes the role of the student, not only as a contributor to the assessment and learning process, but the critical connector between them. This book: Addresses assessment in the context of what learning is Shows how to use formative assessment to motivate student learning Helps teachers extend student learning so that students become reflective self-regulators of their own learning Explores how teachers can make the shift to formative assessment by engaging in conceptual change

In this comprehensive guide to using data-driven strategies for curriculum, instruction, and assessment, the authors present step-by-step techniques and planning tools for designing instruction with student success in mind.

Topics include using data to assess classroom climate and create optimal learning conditions; using data to assess student learning styles and multiple intelligences; using data for diagnostic teaching before, during, and after instruction; using curriculum mapping and critical questions for standards-based unit planning; using adjustable assignments and flexible grouping for differentiated learning; using the most effective research-based instructional strategies; and using data for lesson planning in learning chunks that keep students active, engaged, and able to demonstrate what they know and can do.

Differentiated Assessment Strategies gives teachers: formative assessment strategies for all grade levels and content areas; tools for interpreting ongoing assessment data for immediate intervention and planning assessment strategies that provide immediate feedback to teachers and learners; methods for determining learner preferences, cognitive styles, and multiple intelligences; and tips for establishing a positive environment for assessment.

Classroom Assessment: Concepts and Applications views classroom assessment as an everyday, ongoing, integral part of teaching, not something that is separated from life in classrooms. The text is organized in a manner that follows the natural progression of teacher decision making, from organizing the class as a learning community to planning and conducting instruction to the formal evaluation of learning and, finally, to grading.

What teacher hasn't sometimes believed that the entire class understands a lesson, even though only a few students are nodding their heads and answering questions? Later, the teacher is dismayed when many students fail a related test. Why aren't students getting it? And, just as important, why didn't the teacher recognize the problem?

How can busy teachers successfully manage the complex task of assessing their students' reading comprehension? This invaluable book - the first stand-alone guide on the topic - presents reliable, research-supported guidelines and procedures for K-6 teachers to use in the classroom. Through practical tips and realistic examples, the book demonstrates time-saving ways to implement and adapt a wide range of existing assessments, rather than creating new ones. Also covered are strategies for conducting multiliteracy assessments, using classroom assessment to complement standardized testing, accommodating response-to-intervention mandates, and linking assessment to content-area instruction.

Presenting both traditional and innovative assessment methods integral to science teaching and learning, Essentials of Science Classroom Assessment shows teachers the connection between effective science assessment and improved student learning. The text uses a competence-based approach consistent with the National Science Education Standards to help teachers master assessment skills, apply them to science classroom instruction, and evaluate their impact on student learning.

The step-by-step instructions, scheduling guidelines, rubric assessments, and reproducible forms in this guide are the result of years of research, planning, and fine-tuning in the classroom. Inspiring student creativity while addressing standards has never been so easy! Teaching Writing with Rubrics includes: }} eleven comprehensive, ready-to-use lesson plans }} strategies to adapt assignments for students with learning disabilities, English Language Learner students, gifted students, and secondary school students }} numerous classroom-tested reproducibles.

Designing and Using Rubrics for Reading and Language Arts provides teachers with a step-by-step guide to creating and using rubrics to meet students′ needs. This comprehensive resource offers an overview of rubrics as an teaching tool, directions for creating rubrics, and over 40 examples of rubrics that cover key language processes and skills at the primary and middle school levels. The author also includes suggestions for introducing the rubrics to students, making assignments, and using the rubrics to assess student understanding. This revised edition presents expanded coverage of the process of developing rubrics, and features several new rubrics that address narrative writing, persuasive writing, comprehension monitoring, the use of presentation software, and information literacy skills.

This book helps teachers choose or develop sound instructional rubrics, use rubrics effectively with students to maximize learning, convert rubric scores to grades, and communicate with parents about the use of rubrics in the classroom.    The authors speak from direct experience in examining hundreds of rubrics for classroom use, developing rubrics for classroom use and state assessments, using rubrics in the classroom to help students learn, and speaking with parents, teachers, and students about rubrics.

This new edition retains the appeal, clarity and practicality that made the first so successful, and continues to provide a fundamental introduction to the principles and purposes of rubrics, with guidance on how to construct them, use them to align course content to learning outcomes, and apply them in a wide variety of courses, and to all forms of assignment. Reflecting developments since publication of the first edition, the authors have extended coverage to include: * Expanded discussion on use of rubrics for grading * Grading on-line with rubrics * Wider coverage of rubric types (e.g., holistic, rating scales) * Rubric construction in student affairs * Pros and cons of working with "ready-made" rubrics * Using rubrics to improve your teaching, and for SoTL * Use of rubrics in program assessment (case study) * Application of rubrics in the arts, for study abroad, service learning and students' independent learning * Up-dated literature review