This handbook is designed as a quick reference for first-year teachers who find themselves in an assessment driven environment with little experience to help make sense of the language, underlying philosophy, or organizational structure of the assessment system. The handbook begins with advice on developing and evaluating effective learning…

The importance of educational accountability and assessment literacy is recognized as a long-term challenge to the educational system. The complexities in becoming an assessment literate and provide an opportunity to the educators to display their effective learning is discussed.

"Classroom Assessment in Action" clarifies the multi-faceted roles of measurement and assessment and their applications in a classroom setting. Comprehensive in scope, Shermis and Di Vesta explain basic measurement concepts and show students how to interpret the results of standardized tests. From these basic concepts, the authors then…

This booklet is designed to provide guidelines for testing in reading and suggestions for using the test results in ways which will most benefit the student. Ten canons are presented which are intended to serve as guidelines for program-related assessment within a framework of instructional decision making. They are concerned primarily with the…

A rationale for school-based evaluation, criteria for a sensible evaluation and assessment system, and a systematic process for implementing an evaluation and assessment system are presented. School-based evaluation can be used as a management tool and a means of improving aspects of teaching. Sensible evaluation must be aligned with school goals,…

Standardized testing plays an increasingly important role in the lives of today's students and educators. The U.S. No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) requires assessment in math and literacy in grades 3-8 and 10 and, as of 2007-08, in science once in grades 3-5, 6-9, and 10-12. Based on National Center for Education Statistics enrollment projections,…

Discusses which kinds of data educators should respect and which they should reject. Asserts that most state accountability tests fail to produce the kinds of data that will improve teaching and learning. Teachers can get the data they need from their own instructionally useful classroom assessments. (WFA)