Assessment as Learning: Using Classroom Assessment to Maximize Student Learning

Your key to understanding how formative assessment improves learning!

High-stakes tests and end-of-year assessments dominate educational planning and curriculum. Yet, formative assessments are proven to have the most impact on day-to-day learning.

Teachers who understand how to use assessment to spark learning unlock a powerful educational tool, and Assessment as Learning can show you how. Using clear explanations and poignant cases, this book illustrates how formative assessment can be used to understand student beliefs, inform classroom instruction, and encourage student reflection. Fully revised, this second edition features

• Discussion of the complex nature of learning
• Ways to use formative assessment in a variety of contexts
• Real-life examples and case studies of assessment in action
• Sample rubrics and lesson plans for easy implementation
• Ideas for Follow-up at the end of each chapter 
• Insights into common classroom dilemmas along with viable solutions

Unraveling the mystery of formative assessment, this resource reveals how this teaching technique optimizes learning.

"Lorna Earl is an international thought leader when it comes to linking quality assessment to teaching, learning and student success."
―Rick Stiggins, Author and Consultant

"Earl begins at the beginning, focusing on assessing what students believe is true and using assessment information to help students develop and extend learning from those initial beliefs. Readers should do likewise, asking themselves what they believe is true about assessment and then extending their learning with this book."
―Susan M. Brookhart, Consultant
Brookhart Enterprises

Lorna M. Earl is a director of Aporia Consulting Ltd. and a retired associate professor from the Department of Theory and Policy Studies at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto. She was the first director of assessment for the Ontario Education Quality and Accountability Office, and she as been a researcher and research director in school districts for over 20 years.

Throughout her career, Earl has concentrated her efforts on policy and program evaluations as a vehicle to enhance learning for pupils and for organizations. She has done extensive work in the areas of literacy and the middle years, but has concentrated her efforts on issues related to evaluation of large-scale reform and assessment (large-scale and classroom) in many venues around the world. She has worked extensively in schools and school boards, and has been involved in consultation, research, and staff development with teachers′ organizations, ministries of education, school districts, and charitable foundations. Earl holds a doctorate in epidemiology and biostatistics, as well as degrees in education and psychology.