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The National Science Education Standards address not only what students should learn about science but also how their learning should be assessed. How do we know what they know?

This accompanying volume to the Standards focuses on a key kind of assessment: the evaluation that occurs regularly in the classroom, by the teacher and his or her students as interacting participants. As students conduct experiments, for example, the teacher circulates around the room and asks individuals about their findings, using the feedback to adjust lessons plans and take other actions to boost learning.

Focusing on the teacher as the primary player in assessment, the book offers assessment guidelines and explores how they can be adapted to the individual classroom. It features examples, definitions, illustrative vignettes, and practical suggestions to help teachers obtain the greatest benefit from this daily evaluation and tailoring process. ... Read more

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Americans have adopted a reform agenda for their schools that calls for excellence in teaching and learning. School officials across the nation are hard at work targeting instruction at high levels for all students. Gaps remain, however, between the nation’s educational aspirations and student achievement. To address these gaps, policy makers have recently focused on the qualifications of teachers and the preparation of teacher candidates.

This book examines the appropriateness and technical quality of teacher licensure tests currently in use, evaluates the merits of using licensure test results to hold states and institutions of higher education accountable for the quality of teacher preparation and licensure, and suggests alternatives for developing and assessing beginning teacher competence.

Teaching is a complex activity. Definitions of quality teaching have changed and will continue to change over time as society’s values change. This book provides policy makers, teacher testers, and teacher educators with advice on how to use current tests to assess teacher candidates and evaluate teacher preparation, ensuring that America’s youth are being taught by the most qualified candidates. ... Read more

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The dramatic shift in the American labor market away from manufacturing and the growing gap in earnings between high school and college graduates have contributed to a sense of alarm about the capacity of the nation's schools to supply adequately skilled graduates to the work force. The role that schools can or should play in preparing people to enter the world of work is hotly debated. In an effort to nurture the important and ongoing national dialogue on these issues, the Board on Testing and Assessment asked researchers and policymakers to engage in an interdisciplinary review and discussion of available data and implications for assessment policy. "Transitions in Work and Learning" considers the role of assessment in facilitating improved labor market transitions and life-long learning of American workers. It addresses the apparent mismatch between skill requirements of high-performance workplaces and skills acquired by students in school, the validity of existing assessment technologies to determine skills and competencies of persons entering various occupations, and ethical and legal issues in the implementation of new testing and certification programs.The book also examines the role of assessment in determining needed skills; developing ongoing education and training; and providing information to employers, prospective workers, and schools. ... Read more

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Education is a hot topic. From the stage of presidential debates to tonight's dinner table, it is an issue that most Americans are deeply concerned about. While there are many strategies for improving the educational process, we need a way to find out what works and what doesn't work as well. Educational assessment seeks to determine just how well students are learning and is an integral part of our quest for improved education.

The nation is pinning greater expectations on educational assessment than ever before. We look to these assessment tools when documenting whether students and institutions are truly meeting education goals. But we must stop and ask a crucial question: What kind of assessment is most effective?

At a time when traditional testing is subject to increasing criticism, research suggests that new, exciting approaches to assessment may be on the horizon. Advances in the sciences of how people learn and how to measure such learning offer the hope of developing new kinds of assessments-assessments that help students succeed in school by making as clear as possible the nature of their accomplishments and the progress of their learning.

Knowing What Students Know essentially explains how expanding knowledge in the scientific fields of human learning and educational measurement can form the foundations of an improved approach to assessment. These advances suggest ways that the targets of assessment-what students know and how well they know it-as well as the methods used to make inferences about student learning can be made more valid and instructionally useful. Principles for designing and using these new kinds of assessments are presented, and examples are used to illustrate the principles. Implications for policy, practice, and research are also explored.

With the promise of a productive research-based approach to assessment of student learning, Knowing What Students Know will be important to education administrators, assessment designers, teachers and teacher educators, and education advocates. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

This book is a cure for insomnia
Unlike the book, this review will be pithy. Purely out of academic necessity I am required to read and utilize "Knowing What Students Know: The Science and Design of Educational Assessment," for a class in the masters program in which I am enrolled in the area of Educational Management. The authors go to painstaking measures to demonstrate their knowledge of a subject that could be explained in half the amount of words and explanations. The book makes the subject matter more complicated than is necessary. It turns a dry subject into a veritable Sahara-like atmosphere.

decent
This book is not terrible and provides a good overview and introduction to assessment. The previous reviewer of this book could not have been more wrong about grades. Actually, research shows grades are a horrible predictor of success when controlling for other factors (income, socio-economic status, etc.). Research also shows there is *no* link between a grade and what someone has learned. This is because grades are relative and measure an individual's performance at one time, although I will admit that using multiple methods and more numerous testing will increase the validity of grades. If tied to the learning goals of a course, grades can be effective. But as a policy making tool or measure of what someone has learned, grades really don't say much, if anything at all.

An argument for fudging the data
The thesis of this book is that (1) tests of educational assessment are increasingly being looked at by politicians (2) this has implications for the employment of educators and (3) being very clever, we teachers should be able to come up with new wasy of measuring student performance that won't actually test what the students have learned.

Okay, perhaps that's a bit overly cynical. But not by much.

Politicians are indeed looking closely at student performance, and for the first time in a long time, thinking about grading how wellthe public school are performing. And to be fair to the teachers, the intent often has as much to do with individual political aims as it does with education. So teachers repsond in kind, ganing the system, teaching to the exams and so forth. The only parties being left out of this game are the students themselves.

Assessment is needed, both to judge how well students are doing, and to judge how well the schools themselves are doing. The finny thing is that there is a measure that's been ignored in all of this. It's called grading.

Countless studies have been done over the past 50 years to determine what the best indicator of college performance is. People have looked at SAT scores, socioeconomic status, personality and dozens of other measure, and the one measure that consistently explains most of the varience is undergraduate grades. That's it. Even given the grade inflation of the past few decades, grades are still a pretty reasonable indicator. ... Read more

Product Description
The assessment tools in this revised edition help teachers identify children's difficulties and misconceptions and become more skilled and confident in planning programs for intervention and monitoring children's progress. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Assessing Young Children in Numeracy
Early Numeracy: Assessment for Teaching and Intervention is based on research about and work in the Math Recovery program.Since most American teachers will not have had training in Math Recovery, many will find this book difficult to use.It is worth the time one spends, however, because the book is filled with performance assessment tasks that can be used to help teachers uncover gaps in young children's early number sense.While the small font size and technical jargon are somewhat tedious, the book is well written and informative.I would recommend this book to teachers already somewhat familiar with children's number sense development who wish to further their learning.

Early Numeracy: Assessment Teaching and Intervention
This book clarifies what children really need to know. It gives testing tools and methods of intervention. It helped me to be more specific and set individual goals for the children in my class. I think it is a great resource. ... Read more

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READING ASSESSMENT takes a holistic view of children's needs and abilities in reading and language arts. The authors' provide future and veteran teachers with the means for assessing and improving all aspects of reading, and related facets of thinking, writing, spelling, and the emotional well-being of their students. Cutting-edge coverage in this edition includes attention to assessment and instruction for very young children, bilingual and secondary/adult students. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Reading Assessment for Diagnostic-Prescriptive Teaching
This is a product I needed for an online reading course - as a teacher.I've reviewed the book and it looks to be very informative and a useful tool in evaluating readers - anywhere from pre-kindergarden to 11th grade.I would recommend this book to anyone who is serious about assessing reading skills and learning about what to do about reading deficiencies in young readers. ... Read more

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Use teacher-made tests, appropriate testing accommodations, technology-based testing, and classroom-based assessments to give students with diverse needs the opportunity to achieve! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Forms, stories, vignettes, and checklists guide educators in the latest techniques
Spencer J. Salend's CLASSROOM TESTING AND ASSESSMENT FOR ALL STUDENTS: BEYOND STANDARDIZATION tells how to give all students an equal chance at superior performance on tests. Classroom and school-based examples supplement information outlining research-based strategies for teacher implementation. Forms, stories, vignettes, and checklists guide educators in the latest techniques. ... Read more

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State education departments and school districts face an important challenge in implementing a new law that requires disadvantaged students to be held to the same standards as other students. The new requirements come from provisions of the 1994 reauthorization of Title I, the largest federal effort in precollegiate education, which provides aid to 'level the field' for disadvantaged students. "Testing, Teaching, and Learning" is written to help states and school districts comply with the new law, offering guidance for designing and implementing assessment and accountability systems.This book examines standards-based education reform and reviews the research on student assessment, focusing on the needs of disadvantaged students covered by Title I. With examples of states and districts that have track records in new systems, the committee develops a practical 'decision framework' for education officials. The book explores how best to design assessment and accountability systems that support high levels of student learning and to work toward continuous improvement."Testing, Teaching, and Learning" will be an important tool for all involved in educating disadvantaged students - state and local administrators and classroom teachers. ... Read more

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Written in a straightforward and conversational manner, this book integrates assessment and instruction to provide educators with an understanding of when to use different techniques to optimize student learning. The emphasis is on real-world applications, taken from the author's experiences of student assessment using mainstream assessment principles. The subject matter in each chapter is amplified frequently with examples from a broad range of educational settings as diverse as classroom teaching, school administration, school counseling, special education, and related special services for students with special needs. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Very Helpful Teaching Tool
This book was very helpful for me as I am taking the ABCTE for teacher certification. One of the categories for learning in this program is Assessment. The book gives a great deal of the technical terms in which I needed to know. It starts out with the first 3 or 4 chapters as very complex and technical but later has many familiar teaching situations to help paint a better picture about assessment. It will definitely be a tool to go back through if I need help in assessment aspects. ... Read more

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This book has been written for trainee teachers and newly qualified teachers teaching in Key Stages 1 and 2 who wish to develop their understanding and practice of assessment, one of the most difficult areas of professional practice for teachers.It includes practical tasks to enable you to practice the different skills involved in assessing children's learning: planning, listening, asking questions, observing, interpreting, diagnosing, making judgements, conferencing and target setting.There are also opportunities to consider the role of self-assessment in the process of assessing children's learning and setting targets for future teaching and learning, and you will find suggestions for ways in which you can begin to evaluate the range and purpose of different forms of record keeping. ... Read more

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Become a power teacher by using tests effectively to define learning targets, build standards-based assessments, and develop data-driven teaching strategies for enhanced student achievement. ... Read more

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Classroom Assessment FOR Student Learning: Doing It Right–Using It Well is a combination textbook and workbook grounded in research shown to increase student motivation and learning through improved classroom assessment. This user-friendly, practical book is full of real-world examples of what assessment for learning looks like in today’s classrooms.   Presented in a format appropriate for use by individuals or collaborative learning teams, the book has an exceptionally strong focus on integrating assessment with instruction through student involvement in the assessment process.

Customer Reviews (4)

Portfolios for Middle School Students
The 2nd best resource I have ever found. The CD helped with rubric creation and each chapter contained
ample resources for further information.

Simply Superb!
This book redefines how teachers should use assessment FOR learning. How many of us truly use assessment FOR learning? Teaching students how to use assessment empowers them and engages them in their own learning. I LOVE this book.

Book review
Great book with lots of practical ideas to use in the classroom.Best price I could find on this book.

Took my instruction to a new level
I picked up this book at the beginning of my third year of teaching.I found exactly what I needed to advance my instruction to the next level.I developed student-friendly learning targets for each math unit.I communicated the learning targets to students and families at the beginning of the unit.Students were strongly encouraged to use the learning targets to evaluate their own learning.One student eagerly asked, "Mrs W. can I check off each learning target as I learn it?" - JUST BRILLANT!
The book is well-written and packed with suggestions and ideas.Templates are included on the CD.This book is a must-have for you teaching library! ... Read more

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Schools have undergone enormous change in the last ten years in response to the standards movement.  New teachers will face the challenge of meeting state curriculum standards and new forms of assessment that derive in part from the No Child Left Behind policy.  As part of the “Pathways to Teaching Series”, Assessment Throughout the Year offers a brief, practical, and accessible text for teachers who need help mastering the skills of standards-based assessment and collaborative planning for this new teaching environment. 

This book on classroom-based assessment can help teachers, especially those new to the classroom, to plan their instruction at the beginning of the school year based on the standards assessment data, find alternative forms of cumulative assessment to evaluate student achievement as described in the state or district standards, and to design teaching practices to meet the curriculum pacing and benchmark assessments of the school year.   Learning objectives, chapter introductions, graphic organizers, and essential vocabulary at the beginning of each chapter prepare the reader for the content to follow. 

Product Description
Although computer-based tests (CBT) have been administered for many years, improvements in the speed and power of computers coupled with reductions in their cost have made large-scale computer delivery of tests increasingly feasible. CBT is now a common form of test delivery for licensure, certification, and admissions tests. Many large-scale, high-stakes testing programs have introduced CBT either as an option or as the sole means of test delivery. Although this movement to CBT has, to a great extent, been successful, it has not been without problems. Advances in psychometrics are required to ensure that those who rely on test results can have at least the same confidence in CBTs as they have in traditional forms of assessment.

This volume stems from an ETS-sponsored colloquium in which more than 200 measurement professionals from eight countries and 29 states convened to assess the current and future status of CBT. The formal agenda for the colloquium was divided into three major segments: Test Models, Test Administration, and Test Analysis and Scoring. Each segment consisted of several presentations followed by comments from noted psychometricians and a break-out session in which presenters and discussants identified important issues and established priorities for a CBT research agenda. This volume contains the papers presented at the colloquium, the discussant remarks based on those papers, and the research agenda that was generated from the break-out sessions.

Computer-Based Testing: Building the Foundation for Future Assessments is must reading for professionals, scholars, and advanced students working in the testing field, as well as people in the information technology field who have an interest in testing.
... Read more