Synopses & Reviews
If a teacher could read only one professional text this year, it should be Fran Claggett's A Measure of Success.
- North Carolina English Teacher
Teachers are at the heart of any meaningful reform in education, and it is to these teachers that
A Measure of Success is addressed - not with the prospect of providing easy answers to questions about classroom assessment, but with the hope of raising common concerns and exploring possibilities.
Taking the position that assessment is useful only as it is aligned with curriculum, Fran Claggett considers how to frame assignments and how to assess them. Underlying her approach is the need to teach students how to value and assess their own achievement and growth. The use of classroom portfolios to achieve this end is carefully documented.
Throughout the book, Claggett integrates current reading and writing theories that support her approach. The theoretical basis is not assumed; it is clearly set forth in the text. There are chapters on structuring reading; writing; and integrated projects involving graphics, oral presentations, and other creative forms. Strategies for assessment are incorporated into strategies for teaching. The book includes a number of specific materials that can be duplicated for classroom use: self-assessment charts; rubrics for assessing reading, writing, and team projects; open-ended questions about literature that are compatible with a constructivist theory of reading; and prompts combining reading, writing, and teamwork. The impact of large-scale assessment on classroom teaching and methods for achieving departmental change in teaching and assessing are also addressed.
Any teacher, student, administrator, teacher-educator, or policymaker hoping to better understand classroom assessment and how it affects and reflects student learning will find this book a valuable resource.
Review
If a teacher could read only one professional text this year, it should be Fran Claggett's A Measure of Success.North Carolina English Teacher
Synopsis
Taking the position that assessment is useful only as it is aligned with curriculum, Fran Claggett considers how to frame assignments and how to assess them.
Synopsis
Teachers are at the heart of any meaningful reform in education, and it is to these teachers that
A Measure of Success is addressed - not with the prospect of providing easy answers to questions about classroom assessment, but with the hope of raising common concerns and exploring possibilities.
Taking the position that assessment is useful only as it is aligned with curriculum, Fran Claggett considers how to frame assignments and how to assess them. Underlying her approach is the need to teach students how to value and assess their own achievement and growth. The use of classroom portfolios to achieve this end is carefully documented.
Throughout the book, Claggett integrates current reading and writing theories that support her approach. The theoretical basis is not assumed; it is clearly set forth in the text. There are chapters on structuring reading; writing; and integrated projects involving graphics, oral presentations, and other creative forms. Strategies for assessment are incorporated into strategies for teaching. The book includes a number of specific materials that can be duplicated for classroom use: self-assessment charts; rubrics for assessing reading, writing, and team projects; open-ended questions about literature that are compatible with a constructivist theory of reading; and prompts combining reading, writing, and teamwork. The impact of large-scale assessment on classroom teaching and methods for achieving departmental change in teaching and assessing are also addressed.
Any teacher, student, administrator, teacher-educator, or policymaker hoping to better understand classroom assessment and how it affects and reflects student learning will find this book a valuable resource.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 211-212) and index.
About the Author
Fran Claggett taught high school English and humanities for many years. Former department chair and mentor teacher at Alameda High School, Fran was twice named Teacher of the Year in her district and county, where she initiated an achievement and portfolio writing assessment program. Her teaching experience includes college appointments in English, biology, and physical education; she has also been the James Lynch Lecturer in English at the University of California, Berkeley. She has given workshops for teachers across the country, evaluated schools in Guam, and taught in the Bay Area Writing Project Panama and the Virgin Islands summer workshops.
Table of Contents
Taking Our Measure: An Introduction
Measure for Measure: Redefining the Subject
Assigning and Assessing Reading
Assigning and Assessing Writing
Structuring and Assessing Integrated Projects
Classroom Portfolios: From Self-Discovery to Self-Assessment
Measuring Success: A Department Changes from Within
In Large Measure: School, District, and State Assessment
Measuring Up: An Endnote