Essential Assessment (Paperback)

While much research has revealed which assessment practices have the most positive impact on student achievement and instruction, out-of-date, unproductive practices, which students find disengaging and disheartening, still persist. Discover how to use the power of assessment to instill hope, efficacy, and achievement in your students. With this research-based resource, you'll explore six essential tenets of assessment--assessment purpose, communication of assessment results, accurate interpretation, assessment architecture, instructional agility, and student investment--that will help deepen your understanding of assessment to not only meet standards but also enhance students' academic success and self-fulfillment.

Benefits:

• Interpret the research-based tenets of assessment that are necessary to maximize all students' learning.
• Gain advice and strategies for immediately acting on the six essential assessment tenets, including how to communicate assessment results to give feedback that produces constructive responses.
• Discover why it is vital that assessment practices build students' and teachers' hope, efficacy, and achievement.
• Consider scenarios that illustrate traditional, outmoded assessment practices and revised scenarios that feature practices that better reflect modern assessment needs.
• Reflect on questions related to the content of each chapter and study next steps that teaching teams can take.

Contents:
Introduction
Chapter 1: Hope, Efficacy, and Achievement
Chapter 2: Assessment Purpose
Chapter 3: Communication of Assessment Results
Chapter 4: Accurate Interpretation
Chapter 5: Assessment Architecture
Chapter 6: Instructional Agility
Chapter 7: Student Investment
References
Index

Cassandra Erkens is a presenter, facilitator, coach, trainer of trainers, keynote speaker, author, and above all, a teacher. She presents nationally and internationally on assessment, instruction, school improvement, and professional learning communities.

Cassandra is an adjunct faculty member at a few local universities, where she takes teachers through graduate education courses. She has authored and coauthored a wide array of published trainings, and she has designed and delivered the training of trainers programs for two major education-based companies.

As an educator and recognized leader, Cassandra has served as a senior high school English teacher, a director of staff development at the district level, a regional school improvement facilitator, and a director of staff and organization development in the private sector.

Tom Schimmer is an author and a speaker with expertise in assessment, grading, leadership, and behavioral support. An educator for more than 20 years, Tom is a former district-level leader, school administrator, and teacher. As a district-level leader, he was a member of the senior management team responsible for overseeing the efforts to support and build the instructional capacities of teachers and administrators.

Tom is a sought-after speaker who presents internationally for schools and districts.

He earned a teaching degree from Boise State University and a master's degree in curriculum and instruction from the University of British Columbia.

Nicole Dimich Vagle has a passion for education and lifelong learning, which has led her to extensively explore, facilitate, and implement innovative practices in school improvement. She works with elementary and secondary educators in presentations, trainings, and consultations that address today's most critical issues, all in the spirit of facilitating improved support of student learning.

Nicole was a high school reform specialist, where she worked closely with school and district staff to support the implementation of small learning communities. This work included coaching individual and teams of teachers in assessment, literacy, and high expectations for all students. Nicole also helped facilitate and implement a data templates project in collaboration with the University of Minnesota. As training coordinator, she helped elementary and secondary educators design templates to track and analyze data.

A former middle and high school English teacher, Nicole was also a program evaluator and trainer at the Princeton Center for Leadership Training in New Jersey. She produced a training DVD that illustrates a protocol for examining the effectiveness of assessments and student learning. A featured presenter at conferences throughout North America, Nicole empowers educators to build capacity for and implement formative assessment practices, common assessment design and analysis, data-driven decisions, student work protocols, and motivational strategies.

Nicole earned a master of arts in human development from Saint Mary's University and a bachelor of arts in English and psychology from Concordia College. She is pursuing a doctorate.