Clarity in the Classroom: Using Formative Assessment for Building Learning-Focused Relationships

The author, Michael Absolum, shows how building learning-focused relationships between teacher and student helps make ?assessment for learning? principles work effectively. He does this by breaking down the bigger ideas of assessment into smaller parts that make it easy for educators to understand. Throughout the book, Absolum shares his ideas about the: ? Nature of student learning; ? Nature of the student/teacher relationship; ? Skills that teachers need to support students; and ? Skills that students need to learn. Originally written for a New Zealand readership, Clarity in the Classroom has been adapted for North American educators. This book is an essential resource for every teacher and administrator looking to support and enhance the learning opportunities for all students. The adaptions to the North American edition were done by James Gray, a vice-principal in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Meagan Mutchmor, a K?8 mathematics consultant for the Winnipeg School Division.

Michael Absolum is a principal consultant at Evaluation Associates Ltd in Auckland, New Zealand, where he directs a successful professional development program for schools and teachers. The program focuses on shaping and developing teachers? ability to help students improve their levels of achievement, as well as encouraging positive change in the learning culture of their schools. Before becoming interested in improving student achievement levels, particularly of underperforming students, he spent many years as a teacher, an educational psychologist, and a reviewer with the Education Review Office.