Full Description
"Finally we have a book written on educational assessment that is easy to understand and keeps the reader engaged and focused on the topic. The author provides practical and useful information for both school administrators and classroom teachers."
—Kenneth Arndt, Superintendent
CUSD #300 Schools, Carpentersville, IL
"Popham asks thought-provoking questions and challenges the reader to follow through with staff."
—Marie Blum, Superintendent
Canaseraga Central School District, Canaseraga, NY
Educational assessment in a nutshell for busy school leaders!
W. James Popham, one of the most well-known and respected experts in educational assessment, discusses the key principles new and seasoned school leaders need to know about educational assessment to do their work effectively.
Readers will come away with crucial understandings that allow them to lead assessment of learning, meet accountability requirements, and communicate knowledgeably about accountability and test results with students, parents, the media, and the public. Using plain language, a witty and engaging writing style, and practical examples, Popham covers:
Validity, reliability, and assessment bias
The importance of formative assessment
Assessing students with disabilities and English language learners
Interpreting results of large-scale assessments
Instructional sensitivity of accountability tests
Everything School Leaders Need to Know About Assessment is a concise, authoritative guide to a topic that all educational leaders must understand in these critical times.
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
About the Author
1. Why Do We Test?
The Role of Assessment
Coping with the Covert
Decisions, Decisions, Decisions
Unwarranted Perceptions of Precision
Crucial Understandings
Recommended Reading
2. Validity: Assessment's Cornerstone
The Validity of Inferences
Collecting Validity Evidence: Three Coins in the Fountain
Crucial Understandings
Recommended Reading
3. Test Reliability
Three Kinds of Consistency
Assessment Consistency for Individual Students
Reliability and Validity: Strange Bedfellows?
Crucial Understandings
Recommended Reading
4. Assessment Bias
What is Assessment Bias?
Why is Assessment Bias So Reprehensible?
Reducing Assessment Bias
Crucial Understandings
Recommended Reading
5. Instructional Sensitivity
Different Quests for Different Tests
Mistaken Evaluations of Schooling
What is Instructional Sensitivity?
Determining an Accountability Test's Instructional Sensitivity
What's a School Leader to Do?
Crucial Understandings
Recommended Reading
6. Test Construction
Purpose as the Measurement Motivator
A Three-Component Game Plan
Item Development
Item Improvement
Test Assembly
Crucial Understandings
Recommended Reading
7. Rubrics: Potentially Potent Evaluative Tools
What Makes Up a Rubric?
Determining a Rubric's Quality
Crucial Understandings
Recommended Reading
8. Formative Assessment: Underused Magic Bullet
What is Formative Assessment
What Evidence Supports Formative Assessment?
How Does Formative Assessment Function?
Once Over, Very Lightly
Crucial Understandings
Recommended Reading
9. Assessing Students' Affect
Why Mess Around with Affect?
How to Assess Students' Affect
Building an Affective Inventory
Crucial Understandings
Recommended Reading
10. "Top 20" Crucial Understandings About Educational Assessment
Understanding the Understandings
Spreading the Word
The Top-20 List
Recommended Reading
Recommended Reading Roundup
Index
