Synopses & Reviews
'Now in paperback!
\"The most comprehensive and exhaustive treatise available on the imperative to change the ways we test and assess student performance...it will become a major reference work for supporters of student-centered assessment.\"
--Educational Leadership
\"A \'must\' book for the on-going debate on American school reform.\"
--Theodore R. Sizer, chairman, Coalition of Essential Schools
What is assessment and how does testing differ from it? Why are performance tests, by themselves, not an adequate system of student assessment? How might we better \"test our tests\" beyond current technical standards? And why won\'t increased national testing offer the accountability of schools we so sorely need? In Assessing Student Performance, Grant P. Wiggins explores these questions and clarifies the limits of testing in an assessment system. He analyzes problematic practices in test design and formats that prevent students from explaining their answers. By showing us that assessment is more than testing and intellectual performance is more than right answers, Wiggins leads us to new systems of assessment that more closely examine students\' habits of mind and provide teachers and policy makers with more useful and credible feedback.
'
Synopsis
Now in paperback!
"The most comprehensive and exhaustive treatise available on the imperative to change the ways we test and assess student performance...it will become a major reference work for supporters of student-centered assessment."
--Educational Leadership
"A 'must' book for the on-going debate on American school reform."
--Theodore R. Sizer, chairman, Coalition of Essential Schools
What is assessment and how does testing differ from it? Why are performance tests, by themselves, not an adequate system of student assessment? How might we better "test our tests" beyond current technical standards? And why won't increased national testing offer the accountability of schools we so sorely need? In Assessing Student Performance, Grant P. Wiggins explores these questions and clarifies the limits of testing in an assessment system. He analyzes problematic practices in test design and formats that prevent students from explaining their answers. By showing us that assessment is more than testing and intellectual performance is more than right answers, Wiggins leads us to new systems of assessment that more closely examine students' habits of mind and provide teachers and policy makers with more useful and credible feedback.
Synopsis
"In the current torrent of talk about testing, Grant Wiggins' book constitutes an essential contribution. Rooted in historical knowledge, punctuated by acute philosophical analyses, and mindful of policy issues, Wiggins lays out the rationale for authentic forms of assessment."--Howard Gardner, professor of education and co-director of Project Zero, Harvard University
Synopsis
Wiggins has written the most comprehensive and exhaustive treatise available on the imperative to change the ways we test and assess student performance.:?Educational Leadership
:By showing us that assessment is more that testing and intellectual performance is more than right answers, Wiggins points the way toward new systems of assessment that more closely examine students' habits of mind and provide teachers with more useful and credible feedback.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 293-306) and index.
About the Author
GRANT P. WIGGINS is director of programs for the Center on Learning, Assessment, and School Structure (CLASS), a not-for-profit educational research and consulting organization in Geneseo, New York. He has consulted with numerous schools, districts, and states on assessment and curriculum reform, including Kentucky, California, New York, Vermont, and Maryland.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction: Assessment and the Morality of Testing
2. Assessment Worthy of the Liberal Arts
3. The Morality of Test Security
4. Testing and Tact
5. Incentives and Assessment
6. Feedback
7. Authenticity, Context, and Validity
8. Accountability: Standards, not Standardization