Tools for Thoughtful Assessment

Tools for Thoughtful Assessment
Author: Abigail L. Boutz
Publisher:
Total Pages: 246
Release: 2012
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9781582842004

75 easy-to-use tools that help teachers at all grade levels respond to the key challenges associated with classroom content.

Math Tools, Grades 3–12

Math Tools, Grades 3–12
Author: Harvey F. Silver
Publisher: Corwin Press
Total Pages: 316
Release: 2012-08-29
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1452284407

Common Core + Differentiated Instruction + Student Engagement = Higher Student Achievement If you′re like most math teachers, this is a problem you wrestle with every day. Harvey Silver and his colleagues have updated their best-selling text to provide a solution. With new Common Core–aligned tools and strategies, this second edition of Math Tools, Grades 3–12 is an all-in-one math classroom management resource that will enable you to teach to the Common Core, differentiate instruction, and keep students engaged—all at the same time. Covering everything from lesson design to math-specific learning styles, the second edition′s 60+ tools will enable you to: Work in smarter, more efficient ways with all of your students, no matter the class size or make up Create standards-based lesson plans, tests, and formative assessments Reach every learner regardless of understanding level or learning style Integrate technology into class time for more engaging math lessons Add in a Common Core matrix, immediately useable reproducibles, and learning-style charts—and you′re fully equipped to make the ambitions of the Common Core Math Standards a reality in your classroom.

Flash Feedback [Grades 6-12]

Flash Feedback [Grades 6-12]
Author: Matthew Johnson
Publisher: Corwin Press
Total Pages: 199
Release: 2020-02-11
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1071803131

Beat burnout with time-saving best practices for feedback For ELA teachers, the danger of burnout is all too real. Inundated with seemingly insurmountable piles of papers to read, respond to, and grade, many teachers often find themselves struggling to balance differentiated, individualized feedback with the one resource they are already overextended on—time. Matthew Johnson offers classroom-tested solutions that not only alleviate the feedback-burnout cycle, but also lead to significant growth for students. These time-saving strategies built on best practices for feedback help to improve relationships, ignite motivation, and increase student ownership of learning. Flash Feedback also takes teachers to the next level of strategic feedback by sharing: How to craft effective, efficient, and more memorable feedback Strategies for scaffolding students through the meta-cognitive work necessary for real revision A plan for how to create a culture of feedback, including lessons for how to train students in meaningful peer response Downloadable online tools for teacher and student use Moving beyond the theory of working smarter, not harder, Flash Feedback works deeper by developing practices for teacher efficiency that also boost effectiveness by increasing students’ self-efficacy, improving the clarity of our messages, and ultimately creating a classroom centered around meaningful feedback.

Teaching for Deeper Learning

Teaching for Deeper Learning
Author: Jay McTighe
Publisher: ASCD
Total Pages: 196
Release: 2020-01-22
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1416628657

Far too often, our students attain only a superficial level of knowledge that fails to prepare them for deeper challenges in school and beyond. In Teaching for Deeper Learning, renowned educators and best-selling authors Jay McTighe and Harvey F. Silver propose a solution: teaching students to make meaning for themselves. Contending that the ability to "earn" understanding will equip students to thrive in school, at work, and in life, the authors highlight seven higher-order thinking skills that facilitate students' acquisition of information for greater retention, retrieval, and transfer. These skills, which cut across content areas and grade levels and are deeply embedded in current academic standards, separate high achievers from their low-performing peers. Drawing on their deep well of research and experience, the authors - Explore what kind of content is worth having students make meaning about. - Provide practical tools and strategies to help teachers target each of the seven thinking skills in the classroom. - Explain how teachers can incorporate the thinking skills and tools into lesson and unit design. - Show how teachers can build students' capacity to use the strategies independently. If our goal is to prepare students to meet the rigorous demands of school, college, and career, then we must foster their ability to respond to such challenges. This comprehensive, practical guide will enable teachers to engage students in the kind of learning that yields enduring understanding and valuable skills that they can use throughout their lives.

Essential Assessment

Essential Assessment
Author: Cassandra Erkens
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2017
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9781943874491

While much research has revealed which assessment practices have the most positive impact on student achievement and instruction, out-of-date, unproductive practices, which students find disengaging and disheartening, still persist. Discover how to use the power of assessment to instill hope, efficacy, and achievement in your students. With this research-based resource, you'll explore six essential tenets of assessment--assessment purpose, communication of assessment results, accurate interpretation, assessment architecture, instructional agility, and student investment--that will help deepen your understanding of assessment to not only meet standards but also enhance students' academic success and self-fulfillment. Benefits Interpret the research-based tenets of assessment that are necessary to maximize all students' learning. Gain advice and strategies for immediately acting on the six essential assessment tenets, including how to communicate assessment results to give feedback that produces constructive responses. Discover why it is vital that assessment practices build students' and teachers' hope, efficacy, and achievement. Consider scenarios that illustrate traditional, outmoded assessment practices and revised scenarios that feature practices that better reflect modern assessment needs. Reflect on questions related to the content of each chapter and study next steps that teaching teams can take. Contents Introduction Chapter 1: Hope, Efficacy, and Achievement Chapter 2: Assessment Purpose Chapter 3: Communication of Assessment Results Chapter 4: Accurate Interpretation Chapter 5: Assessment Architecture Chapter 6: Instructional Agility Chapter 7: Student Investment References Index

Designing Effective Assessments

Designing Effective Assessments
Author: James H. Stronge
Publisher: Solutions
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2017
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9781936763702

Assessment is a critical component of effective teaching and learning. To gain valuable assessment data and make effective use of them, educators must have the right tools in place to create quality assessments. Designed specifically for K-12 educators, this title presents ten key assessment design tools and clearly outlines how to incorporate each tool into daily classroom practices. With quality assessment processes in place, teachers at all grade levels can accurately measure student mastery and shape instruction to increase achievement. Benefits Gain student learning data and help students visualize their own learning progress. Explore the benefits of involving students in the assessment process. Learn how to align grading policies and practices to ensure they are valid and reliable. Examine how standards-based grading and reporting communicate student learning better than traditional assessment practices. Consider how to teach students test-taking skills, which help students perform well and demonstrate their real level of achievement on assessments. Use reproducible handouts to create your own effective assessment and feedback practices. Contents Introduction Chapter 1: Enhancing Validity and Reliability of Assessments Chapter 2: Measuring Students' Attitudes, Dispositions, and Engagement Using Affective Assessment Chapter 3: Assessing Student Criterion-Referenced Learning Using Performance-Based Assessment Chapter 4: Documenting Student Progress through Portfolios Chapter 5: Creating Rubrics for Student Feedback Chapter 6: Building Practical Grading Practices Chapter 7: Building Valid and Reliable Grading Practices Chapter 8: Improving Communication through Standards-Based Grading Chapter 9: Understanding and Using Standardized Assessment Data Chapter 10: Teaching Test-Taking Skills References & Resources Index The free JavaScript formatter will handle dirty JS codes.

The Educator's Field Guide

The Educator's Field Guide
Author: Edward S. Ebert
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 448
Release: 2014-05-06
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1629141097

The Educator’s Field Guide helps teachers get off to a running start. The only book that covers all four key cornerstones of effective teaching—organization, classroom management, instruction, and assessment—this handy reference offers a bridge from college to classroom with a hearty dose of practical guidance for teachers who aspire to greatness. At a time when school leaders are pressed to hire and retain high-quality teachers, this guidebook is indispensable for defining and nurturing the qualities the qualities teachers strive for and students deserve. Helpful tools include: Step-by-step guidance on instructional organization, behavior management, lesson planning, and formative and summative assessment User-friendly taxonomic guides to help readers quickly locate topics The latest information on student diversity, special needs, and lesson differentiation Teacher testimonials and examples Explanations of education standards and initiatives Each key concept is addressed in a resource-style format with activities and reproducible that can be customized. Teachers will also find lesson plan templates, graphs, charts, quizzes, and games—all in one easy-to-use source.

Checking for Understanding

Checking for Understanding
Author: Douglas Fisher
Publisher: ASCD
Total Pages: 170
Release: 2015-12-18
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1416619224

A teacher presents a lesson, and at the end asks students if they understand the material. The students nod and say they get it. Later, the teacher is dismayed when many of the students fail a test on the material. Why aren’t students getting it? And, just as important, why didn’t the teacher recognize the problem? In Checking for Understanding, Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey show how to increase students’ understanding with the help of creative formative assessments. When used regularly, formative assessments enable every teacher to determine what students know and what they still need to learn. Fisher and Frey explore a variety of engaging activities that check for and increase understanding, including interactive writing, portfolios, multimedia presentations, audience response systems, and much more. This new 2nd edition of Checking for Understanding has been updated to reflect the latest thinking in formative assessment and to show how the concepts apply in the context of Fisher and Frey’s work on gradual release of responsibility, guided instruction, formative assessment systems, data analysis, and quality instruction. Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey are the creators of the Framework for Intentional and Targeted (FIT) Teaching™. They are also the authors of numerous ASCD books, including The Formative Assessment Action Plan: Practical Steps to More Successful Teaching and Learning and the best-selling Enhancing RTI: How to Ensure Success with Effective Classroom Instruction and Intervention.