Developing Performance-Based Assessments : Grades K-5

"In an era where buzzwords like ′assessment′ and ′accountability′ are used every day in our school systems, a book like this is long overdue. The author clearly explains important terminology while providing easy-to-understand ways to engage in quality assessment in any elementary classroom."
―Jennifer Sinsel, Elementary Gifted Teacher
Bostic Traditional Magnet School, Andover, KS

Use PBAs to design learning experiences that increase student engagement and achievement!

There is nothing more rewarding than the moment when a student "gets it." Helping educators reach that goal, Nancy P. Gallavan demonstrates how performance-based assessments (PBAs) can help create stimulating teaching and learning environments in elementary classrooms.

This easy-to-understand guide explains how to construct assessments that effectively measure learner performance and allow educators to align curriculum and instruction with students′ needs. With PBAs, teachers can engage students in the learning process, connect the learning to students′ individual lives, and monitor learning outcomes. The author provides:

• Detailed and clear examples of performance-based assessments
• Guidelines for creating and using rubrics and assessment templates
• Checklists, frequently asked questions, graphic organizers, and activities to reinforce the content in each chapter
• Numerous appendices, including standards for educational assessment, the four domains of learning, and a host of helpful Web sites, readings, and references

Developing Performance-Based Assessments, Grades K–5 is a valuable asset for facilitating learning experiences with rewarding outcomes.

Nancy P. Gallavan, Ph.D., is Professor of Teacher Education at the University of Central Arkansas where she specializes in classroom assessments and cultural competence in the Department of Teaching and Learning MAT Program, which she helped to start in 2006. The UCA MAT Program was recognized as the Distinguished Program in Teacher Education by the Association of Teacher Educators in 2010. Dr. Gallavan also serves as the UCA Academic Liaison to Institutional Diversity.

Receiving university and college awards for her teaching, scholarship, and service, Dr. Gallavan has expertise in K-12 education, classroom assessments, curriculum development, cultural competence, social studies education, and teacher self-efficacy. With more than 120 peer-reviewed publications in journals, as chapters in books, and as books, Dr. Gallavan authored two versions of Developing Performance-Based Assessments, one for Grades K-5 and one for Grades 6-12 with Corwin Press in 2009. She also authored two versions of Navigating Cultural Competence: A Compass for Teachers, one for Grades K-5 and one for Grades 6-12 with Corwin Press in 2011. With Ellen Kottler, she co-authored Secrets to Success for Beginning Elementary School Teachers with Corwin Press in 2007 and Secrets to Success for Social Studies Teachers with Corwin Press in 2008. Most of these books have been republished in multiple languages.

Her research agenda focuses on classroom assessments and teacher self-efficacy. Her chapter, “If you want your students to change, then you need to change: Mediating the sources and benefits of teacher self-efficacy with teacher candidates,” will be published in the Handbook of Research on Professional Development for Quality Teaching and Learning in 2016. Dr. Gallavan serves as the editor of the Arkansas Association of Teacher Educators Electronic Journal (ArATE EJ) and co-editor of the Association of Teacher Educators (ATE) Annual Yearbook of Research.

An active member of American Educational Research Association (AERA), Association of Teacher Educators (ATE), Kappa Delta Pi (KDP), National Association for Multicultural Education (NAME), and National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), she is involved with the AERA Classroom Assessment Special Interest Group and serves as Chair of the ATE Commission of Online Teaching, Learning, and Schooling. Dr. Gallavan is a Past President and a Distinguished Member of the Association of Teacher Educators (ATE), a Kappa Delta Pi (KDP) Eleanor Roosevelt Legacy Chapter inaugural member, and a member of Phi Delta Phi (education honor society).

Prior to joining the University of Central Arkansas, Dr. Gallavan was an Assistant/Associate Professor with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, specializing in social studies education and cultural competence. She began her career in education as an elementary school and middle level classroom teacher primarily in the Cherry Creek School District in Colorado. She earned her undergraduate degree in Elementary Education with an emphasis in Literacy from Southwest Missouri State University (now Missouri State University); her master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in Gifted and Talented Education from the University of Colorado, Boulder; her school administrator license from the University of Colorado, Denver; and her doctoral degree in Curriculum Leadership with a cognate in Cultural Competence from the University of Denver. At the University of Denver, she received the Phi Delta Kappa Outstanding Dissertation Award.