Offers guidance in conducting observational assessment, including what to look for, how to look for it, how to document it, and how to use it. Also offers hints from teachers who have experimented with observational assessment. (MKR)

Discusses teachers' perspectives of alternative assessment, including loss of predictability in the classroom, content coverage, familiarizing students with the teacher's expectations, dealing with increased demands on time, and communicating with parents. (AIM)

Describes some ways to assess students' achievement of objectives in the Assessment Standards for School Mathematics. Suggests alternative methods of assessment that are appropriate to answer questions about connections and reasoning. Discussion is divided into two sections: (1) Assessment as Culminating Activity and Evaluation-An Example from…

Portfolios inform teachers and students of progress toward established goals. Offers tips for helping students create their own portfolios and suggests criteria for assessment and self-assessment. (MKR/SW)

Suggests ways to analyze and modify typical classroom tests that are objective, easy to implement, and in accordance with the types of changes and recommendations being discussed to improve assessment. Sections include Criteria for Analyzing Classroom Tests; Modifying Test Items; Needed Steps; Cautions; and Conclusions. Uses actual classroom test…

Describes the incorporation of audio-taped notes about student work, a rubric for scoring aspects of students' problem solving, and student portfolios in a program of classroom assessment. (MKR)

Demonstrates how instruction in writing paragraph proofs can be developed and implemented including organizing, writing proofs in paragraphs, evaluating a proof, sketching a proof, and drawing conclusions. (MKR)

Discusses openness involving assessment, including sharing information, involving professionals, examining and revising criteria, benefits of openness, and sharing responsibility for good mathematics work. (MKR)

Suggests using a structured feedback form to facilitate communication between teacher and students. The form has columns for assignments/tests, scores, ways to improve, strengths, and teacher's comments, plus a response column for the student's comments. (MKR)

Discusses the integration of assessment into instruction using a four-step framework: planning the activity, gathering evidence, interpreting evidence, and using evidence. (MKR)

Presents a fictionalized story based on a case study research project involving a teacher who believes strongly in reform but whose efforts are largely thwarted by her grading system, which focuses on traditional activities. (MKR)

Proposes that the value of open-ended questions to enhance learning rests not only with the format and content of the questions themselves but also with the settings in which teachers pose such questions and the procedures used to evaluate students' responses to them. (MKR)

Describes a project using computer and video technology to help students understand the criteria that were used to evaluate their statistics projects. (MKR)

Promotes the use of journals, laboratory reports, and portfolios in mathematics class to improve communication between teacher and student, to monitor student progress, to make instructional decisions, and to evaluate student achievement. (MKR)

Proposes strategies for teachers to use when they first use portfolios to assess mathematics learning in the classroom. Includes discussion of a collection with a purpose, student involvement in the process, criteria for evaluation, benefits and opportunities, and a sample focused-holistic-scoring rubric. (MKR)