This is a highly select list of sources related to assessment. To find more sources, consult the Locate Books page to learn how to search for books.
Understanding by Design by Grant Wiggins; Jay McTigheWhat is understanding and how does it differ from knowledge? How can we determine the big ideas worth understanding? Why is understanding an important teaching goal, and how do we know when students have attained it? How can we create a rigorous and engaging curriculum that focuses on understanding and leads to improved student performance in today's high-stakes, standards-based environment? Authors Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe answer these and many other questions in this second edition of Understanding by Design. Drawing on feedback from thousands of educators around the world who have used the UbD framework since its introduction in 1998, the authors have revised and expanded their original work to guide educators across the K-16 spectrum in the design of curriculum, assessment, and instruction. With an improved UbD Template at its core, the book explains the rationale of backward design and explores in greater depth the meaning of such key ideas as essential questions and transfer tasks. Readers will learn why the familiar coverage- and activity-based approaches to curriculum design fall short, and how a focus on the six facets of understanding can enrich student learning. With an expanded array of practical strategies, tools, and examples from all subject areas, the book demonstrates how the research-based principles of Understanding by Design apply to district frameworks as well as to individual units of curriculum. Combining provocative ideas, thoughtful analysis, and tested approaches, Understanding by Design, Expanded 2nd Edition, offers teacher-designers a clear path to the creation of curriculum that ensures better learning and a more stimulating experience for students and teachers alike.
Call Number: LB2806.15 .W54 2005 & ebook
Publication Date: 2005
Advancing Formative Assessment in Every Classroom by Connie M. Moss; Susan M. BrookhartFormative assessment is one of the best ways to increase student learning and enhance teacher quality. But effective formative assessment is not part of most classrooms, largely because teachers misunderstand what it is and don't have the necessary skills to implement it. In the updated 2nd edition of this practical guide for school leaders, authors Connie M. Moss and Susan M. Brookhart define formative assessment as an active, continual process in which teachers and students work together--every day, every minute--to gather evidence of learning, always keeping in mind three guiding questions: Where am I going? Where am I now? What strategy or strategies can help me get to where I need to go? Chapters focus on the six interrelated elements of formative assessment: (1) shared learning targets and criteria for success, (2) feedback that feeds learning forward, (3) student self-assessment and peer assessment, (4) student goal setting, (5) strategic teacher questioning, and (6) student engagement in asking effective questions. Using specific examples based on their extensive work with teachers, the authors provide - Strategic talking points and conversation starters to address common misconceptions about formative assessment; - Practical classroom strategies to share with teachers that cultivate students as self-regulated, assessment-capable learners; - Ways to model the elements of formative assessment in conversations with teachers about their professional learning; - "What if" scenarios and advice for how to deal with them; and - Questions for reflection to gauge understanding and progress. As Moss and Brookhart emphasize, the goal is not to "do" formative assessment, but to embrace a major cultural change that moves away from teacher-led instruction to a partnership of intentional inquiry between student and teacher, with better teaching and learning as the outcome.
Call Number: ebook
Publication Date: 2019
On Common Ground by Richard DuFour (Editor); Robert Eaker (Editor)On Common Ground brings the ideas and recommendations of many of North America's educational leaders into one resource for educators working to help their students achieve at ever-higher levels. Each chapter contributes to a sound conceptual framework and specific, practical strategies for developing professional learning communities.
Call Number: LB2822.82 .O53 2005
Publication Date: 2010
Digital Portfolios in the Classroom by Matt RenwickAssessment is messy. Day-to-day, in-the-moment assessments not only reveal information that drives future instruction but also offer a comprehensive picture of students' abilities and dispositions toward learning. As teachers, we might know what this looks and feels like, yet it can be hard to put into action--hence the messiness. Say hello to digital student portfolios--dynamic, digital collections of authentic information from different media, in many forms, and with multiple purposes. Using digital portfolios to capture student thinking and progress allows us to better see our students as readers, writers, and learners--and help students see themselves in the same way! Matt Renwick's Digital Portfolios in the Classroom is a guide to help teachers sort through, capture, and make sense of the messiness associated with assessment. By shining a spotlight on three types of student portfolios--performance, process, and progress--and how they can be used to assess student work, Renwick helps educators navigate the maze of digital tools and implement the results to drive instruction.
Failure to Disrupt by Justin ReichA leader in educational technology separates truth from hype, explaining what tech can--and can't--do to transform our classrooms. Proponents of large-scale learning have boldly promised that technology can disrupt traditional approaches to schooling, radically accelerating learning and democratizing education. Much-publicized experiments, often underwritten by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, have been launched at elite universities and in elementary schools in the poorest neighborhoods. Such was the excitement that, in 2012, the New York Times declared the "year of the MOOC." Less than a decade later, that pronouncement seems premature. In Failure to Disrupt: Why Technology Alone Can't Transform Education, Justin Reich delivers a sobering report card on the latest supposedly transformative educational technologies. Reich takes readers on a tour of MOOCs, autograders, computerized "intelligent tutors," and other educational technologies whose problems and paradoxes have bedeviled educators. Learning technologies--even those that are free to access--often provide the greatest benefit to affluent students and do little to combat growing inequality in education. And institutions and investors often favor programs that scale up quickly, but at the expense of true innovation. It turns out that technology cannot by itself disrupt education or provide shortcuts past the hard road of institutional change. Technology does have a crucial role to play in the future of education, Reich concludes. We still need new teaching tools, and classroom experimentation should be encouraged. But successful reform efforts will focus on incremental improvements, not the next killer app.
Call Number: LB1028.3 .R4375 2020
Publication Date: 2020
Breakthrough Leadership by Alan M. Blankstein; Marcus J. NewsomeNow is the time for Breakthrough Leadership This book was borne out of urgency. We face the consequences of a raging pandemic, coupled with an unprecedented call to end racial injustice. COVID-19 has exposed longstanding structural inequities, while at the same time offering a rare "breakthrough" opportunity to dismantle inequitable systems that have harmed our most marginalized students for generations. Breakthrough Leadership is rooted in moral courage and calls us to act upon a new discovery, or epiphany about a fundamental truth that challenges previous beliefs. While this book offers examples of schools that were "beating the odds" pre-COVID-19 as well as strategies for changing those odds in the future. Breakthrough Leadership also spotlights professionals now leveraging crises like this to shape local and national priorities toward a more equitable and healthy society for our children in order to: Create and sustain Equitable Learning Communities (ELCs) that are grounded in relational trust Establish comprehensive systems to ensure that all students thrive Implement cutting-edge principles of effective curriculum, instruction, and assessment including culturally responsive teaching, trauma-informed practice, and blended learning Meaningfully engage families and community Leadership from the classroom to the board room is needed to advance an agenda of equitable and successful outcomes for our students. The facts stakes couldn't be starker. Good leadership saves lives both in pandemics, and in our profession. "The critical variable that determines whether or not our schools can respond adequately to the numerous challenges that they and their children face is leadership. . . This book is about the work of such leaders. In big cities, small towns, and rural areas, a small number of principals and superintendents are showing that progress can be made when leaders have the resourcefulness and courage to address equity challenges directly. The educational leaders profiled in this book have a clear sense of how to systematically build the capacity of teachers and schools to meet the needs of the students they serve. I urge other leaders to learn from them so that great schools that serve all children well, will be the norm, rather than the exception." ~Pedro Noguera "With all its devastation, COVID-19 also presents the opportunity of the century to transform the public education system that, to say the least, has become stalled and stagnant in the past 50 years. . . . Breakthrough Leadership makes a significant contribution to our next phase, which must be one of definable and targeted transformation of equity-based learning. ~Michael Fullan
Call Number: LB2805 .B5637 2021
Publication Date: 2020
Breakthrough by Michael Fullan (Editor); Peter Hill (Editor); Carmel Crévola (Editor)"A clear and insightful look at why teaching must be conceived as constant learning about learning. The analysis of past failed reforms and the general conditions needed for success is well-stated and illuminating." --Grant Wiggins Authentic Education Redesign classroom instruction to transform learning for both students and teachers! Breakthrough presents a revolutionary new approach to educational reform, breaking away from the conventional paradigm to help educators create focused instruction, transform the classroom experience, and dramatically raise--and sustain--performance levels for students and teachers alike. This book provides the breakthrough concepts needed for developing precise, validated, data-driven instruction personalized to each and every student. Synthesizing the best of current instructional models, this framework focuses on the components of the Triple P Breakthrough Model: Personalization--meaningful, student-centered classroom interactions; Precision--using formative assessments to monitor individual student progress; and Professional Learning--daily, ongoing learning for all educators.Helping educators create expert instructional systems while breaking through the "prescription trap," the authors introduce unique elements of the Breakthrough model, including: Improvement by design Assessment for learning Critical learning instructional paths Mapping instructional paths Smart use of data to drive instruction Locking in ongoing improvement Breakthrough establishes the tipping point for moving toward personalized, high-quality instruction and learning in the classroom to ensure continuous improvement and ongoing academic success.
Call Number: LB2822.82 .F85 2006
Publication Date: 2006
Learning Analytics in Higher Education by Jaime Lester (Editor); Carrie Klein (Editor); Aditya Johri (Editor); Huzefa Rangwala (Editor)Learning Analytics in Higher Education provides a foundational understanding of how learning analytics is defined, what barriers and opportunities exist, and how it can be used to improve practice, including strategic planning, course development, teaching pedagogy, and student assessment. Well-known contributors provide empirical, theoretical, and practical perspectives on the current use and future potential of learning analytics for student learning and data-driven decision-making, ways to effectively evaluate and research learning analytics, integration of learning analytics into practice, organizational barriers and opportunities for harnessing Big Data to create and support use of these tools, and ethical considerations related to privacy and consent. Designed to give readers a practical and theoretical foundation in learning analytics and how data can support student success in higher education, this book is a valuable resource for scholars and administrators.
Call Number: LB3051 .L395 2019
ISBN: 1138302171
Publication Date: 2018
Transformative Assessment in Action by W. James PophamIn this follow-up to the best-selling Transformative Assessment, W. James Popham takes you inside the classrooms--and inside the heads--of teachers who are using the formative assessment process to improve student learning. Instead of providing yet another collection of data-gathering techniques, Popham focuses on the real challenge of formative assessment: the decisions involved in its planning and implementation. When does it make the most sense to gather assessment data for the purpose of adjusting teaching and learning? What are the various ways in which the formative assessment process can be applied? How much and what kinds of preparation does formative assessment require? How does it fit into existing unit and lesson plans? How does it fit into preparation for high-stakes testing? And how can teachers best ensure that their formative assessment efforts will really make a difference? According to the author, until the formative assessment process is used in every classroom, students will not be taught as well as they could be--as well as they should be. This book, which includes chapter-specific reflection questions perfect for professional learning communities, provides the practical guidance and models you need to turn "formative assessment talk" into "formative assessment action."