Natural Classroom Assessment: Designing Seamless Instruction and Assessment

Now there is a fresh perspective on assessment that starts from your strengths in the classroom and results in improved instruction and learning. Even the beginner teacher can learn how to use assessment to help students focus on strengths and overcome weaknesses.

Natural Classroom Assessment was written to illustrate how assessing classroom learning can be a natural extension of the teaching process. Learn how to analyze results in your classroom using your own particular teaching style and learn how to evaluate the assessments of others.

Some of the key topics covered:

• Determining goals, targets, and objectives
• Designing assessments that evolve from instruction
• Choosing authentic assessments and projects
• Using multiple choice, essays, and reports
• Preparing students for assessment
• Scoring and communicating results
• Planning parent-teacher conferences
• Assessing students with special needs

This is a comprehensive but accessible guide to increase effectiveness in the classroom. An essential resource for both experienced and novice teachers who want to gain confidence about the assessment process.

Jeffrey Smith is Professor and formerly Dean of the College of Education at the University of Otago in New Zealand.  He earned his bachelor’s degree from Princeton and his PhD from the University of Chicago. He taught at Rutgers University in New Jersey for 29 years where he was Chair of the Educational Psychology Department.  He moved to New Zealand in 2005 and has been there ever since.  While teaching at Rutgers, Jeff served as a consultant to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where he was the Head of their Office of Research and Evaluation.  He has written over 100 research articles and 10 books on assessment and the psychology of aesthetics, including being co-editor of The Cambridge Handbook on Instructional Feedback.