Synopses & Reviews
With a new focus on 21st century skills, Classroom Assessment: Principles and Practice for Effective Standards-Based Instruction, 6/e shows teachers how to create high-quality assessments of every kind. Taking a non-technical approach, it looks at the role of assessment in teaching and how it can influence teaching decisions. Exploring formative, summative, performance-based and non-cognitive assessment, it pinpoints how to establish credible learning targets and select assessments that fairly measure those goals. Suggestions for effective practice accompany each assessment technique. Examples, case studies, and teacher interviews illustrate assessment techniques in action.
From Reviews of the Book
“The text goes into more depth about targets/standards, formative assessment and special education assessment than my current text. . . . I think the chapters about writing actual test items are exceptional. The examples, the content, and the explanations are all clear and practical.”
--Kristen Bjork, University of Nevada - Las Vegas
“In selection of this text when I was initially choosing, I liked the in-depth coverage of performance assessments and rubrics, I also liked the level of the language . . . this book was informative but an easy read.”
--Patricia A. Lutz, Kutztown University
Review
“The text goes into more depth about targets/standards, formative assessment and special education assessment than my current text. . . . I think the chapters about writing actual test items are exceptional. The examples, the content, and the explanations are all clear and practical.”
--Kristen Bjork, University of Nevada - Las Vegas
“In selection of this text when I was initially choosing, I liked the in-depth coverage of performance assessments and rubrics, I also liked the level of the language . . . this book was informative but an easy read.”
--Patricia A. Lutz, Kutztown University
About the Author
James H. McMillan is professor and chair of foundations of education at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, where he teaches educational research and assessment courses and directs the Research and Evaluation Track of the PhD in education program. He is also director of the Metropolitan Educational Research Consortium, a partnership of Virginia Commonwealth University and seven Richmond-area school divisions that conducts and disseminates action and applied research. His current research interests include classroom and large-scale assessment. He has recently published the third edition of Classroom Assessment: Principles and Practice for Effective Standards-Based Instruction and edited Formative Classroom Assessment: Theory into Practice. He has authored three educational research methods textbooks and published numerous articles in journals, including the American Educational Research Journal, the Journal of Educational Psychology, Contemporary Educational Psychology, and Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice.
Table of Contents
1. The Role of Assessment in Teaching
2. Standards and Cognitive Learning Targets
3. High-Quality Classroom Assessment
4. Formative Assessment I: Gathering Evidence and Interpreting Evidence of Student Learning
5. Formative Assessment II: Feedback and Instructional Adjustments
6. Planning and Implementing Summative Assessments
7. Selected-Response Assessment: Multiple Choice, Binary Choice, and Matching Items
8. Constructed-Response Assessment: Completion, Short-Answer, and Essay Items
9. Constructed-Response Assessment: Performance Assessment
10. Portfolios and E-portfolios
11. Assessing "Non-Cognitive" Dispositions and Skills
12. Assessing Special Needs and ELL Students
13. Grading and Reporting Student Performance
14. Using Standardized and Standards-Based Tests
APPENDIX: FUNDAMENTAL DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS AND SCALED SCORES
ANSWERS TO SELF-INSTRUCTIONAL REVIEW EXERCISES