Contents
Acknowledgments
About the Editors
Introduction
J Myron Atkin and Janet E. Coffey
1 The Importance of Everyday Assessment
Paul Black
Assessment for learning is set in the context of conflicts and synergies with the
other purposes of assessments. The core ideas are that it is characterized by the
day-to-day use of evidence to guide students’ learning and that everyday practice
must be grounded in theories of how people learn. Its development can change the
classroom roles of both teachers and students. The ways in which practice varies
when broad aims of science education change are illustrated in relation to
practices in other school subjects.
2 Learning through Assessment: Assessment for Learning
in the Science Classroom
Anne Davies
This chapter presents an extended example from a middle school science
classroom of what assessment that supports learning looks like. In the example, the
teacher models assessment for learning by talking about learning with her
students; showing samples of quality work; setting and using criteria; helping
students self-assess and set goals; providing specific, descriptive feedback; and
helping students to collect evidence of learning and to use that evidence to
communicate with peers and adults.
3 Examining Students’ Work
Cary I. Sneider
Examining student work is an essential aspect of teaching, yet it is easy to miss
opportunities to learn about how students are interpreting—or misinterpreting—
the lessons we present to them. In this chapter the author shares insights
concerning the techniques he has found to be most effective in tuning in to his
students, so that he can adjust his teaching methods and content in order to be a
more effective teacher.
4 Assessment of Inquiry
Richard A. Duschl
This chapter provides an overview of frameworks that teachers can use to conduct
assessments of students’ engagement in scientific inquiry. The author examines two
factors that are central to such assessment. One factor is the design of classroom
learning environments, including curriculum and instruction. The second factor is
the use of strategies for engaging students in thinking about the structure and
communication of scientific information and knowledge. The chapter includes an
up-to-date description of nine National Science Foundation–supported inquiry
science units.
5 Using Questioning to Assess and Foster Student Thinking
Jim Minstrell and Emily van Zee
Questioning can be used to probe for understanding, to initiate inquiry, and to
promote development of understanding. The results from questioning, listening,
and assessment also can be used by teachers to promote their own growth as
professionals. This chapter presents a transcript of a class discussion in which
questioning is used to assess and foster student thinking. After developing this
context for questioning, the authors discuss purposes and kinds of questions, then
revisit the context to demonstrate how the results of assessment through
questioning can be used to guide the adaptation of curriculum and instruction.
6 Involving Students in Assessment
Janet E. Coffey
While much of the responsibility for classroom assessment lies with teachers,
students also play an important role in meaningful assessment activity. Bringing
students into the assessment process is a critical dimension of facilitating student
learning and in helping to provide students with the tools to take responsibility for
their own learning. The author examines the role students can play in assessment
through a closer look at a middle school program where students actively and
explicitly engage in all stages of the assessment process.
7 Reporting Progress to Parents and Others: Beyond Grades
Mark Wilson and Kathleen Scalise
As science education moves increasingly in the direction of teaching to standards,
teachers call for classroom assessment techniques that provide a richer source of
“rigorous and wise diagnostic information.” Student-to-student comparisons and
single grades are no longer enough, and here the authors describe a new type of
criterion-based assessment to track individual learning trajectories. It can be
embedded in the curriculum, easily used in the classroom, customized by grade
level, subject area, and standard set, and controlled by the classroom teacher.
8 Working with Teachers in Assessment-Related Professional Development
Mistilina Sato
Professional development related to everyday classroom interactions can require a
shift in the teacher’s priorities in the classroom from a focus on managing activity
and behavior to a mind-set of managing learning opportunities. This essay looks
closely at a professional development approach that sees the teacher not only as a
professional engaged in learning and implementing new strategies for assessing
students, but also as an individual who is undergoing personal change in beliefs.
9 Reconsidering Large-Scale Assessment to Heighten Its Relevance
to Learning
Lorrie A. Shepard
In contrast to classroom assessments that can provide immediate feedback in the
context of ongoing instruction, large-scale assessments are necessarily broader
survey instruments, administered once-per-year and standardized to ensure
comparability across contexts. Classroom and large-scale assessments must each
be tailored in design to serve their respective purposes, but they can be symbiotic
if they share a common model of what it means to do good work in a discipline and
how that expertise develops over time. Three purposes of large-scale assessment
programs are addressed—exemplification of learning goals, program “diagnosis,”
and certification or “screening” of individual student achievement. Particular
attention is given to the ways that assessments should be redesigned to heighten
their contribution to student learning. In addition, large-scale assessments are
considered as both the site and impetus for professional development.
10 Reflections on Assessment
F. James Rutherford
As a context for thinking about the claims made in this book, some of the
circumstances that have influenced the demand for and character of assessment in
general are noted. The argument is then made that the substantial lack of
coherence in today’s assessment scene is due in large part to policies and
practices that fail to recognize that there is no one best approach to assessment
and that assessment and purpose must be closely coupled.
Index