Put to the Test: Tools and Techniques for Classroom Assessment

There's no one way to assess student learning. And as the cries for accountability continue to increase, it's absolutely essential that we be acquainted with all the different assessment tools available to us. Put to the Test puts these tools at your disposal.

Put to the Test is an all-in-one resource for detailed explanations of the full range of assessment techniques that effectively monitor learning. It provides not only step-by-step procedures for a standards-based approach to classroom assessment, but also lots of different strategies for aligning curriculum, instruction, and assessment. You'll discover everything you need to know about the development and use of:

• performance tasks
• scoring guides
• interviews
• observations
• selected-response test items
• portfolios.

Best of all, examples from across the curriculum and across the grades demonstrate how each form of assessment can be easily implemented.

Preservice and inservice teachers, principals, and staff developers will welcome the book's practicality. School administrators will find it an excellent resource to guide and support teachers who are looking for effective assessment systems.

Susan Agruso is Assistant Superintendent for Instructional Accountability at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in Charlotte, North Carolina. Formerly, she served as Director of Assessment at the South Carolina Department of Education.

Robert Johnson is Assistant Professor of Applied Measurement at the University of South Carolina in Columbia and Codirector of the Center for Excellence in the Assessment of Student Learning.

Therese Kuhs is Chair of the Department of Instruction and Teacher Education at the University of South Carolina in Columbia and Codirector of the South Carolina Center for Excellence in Assessment of Student Learning.

Diane Monrad is Research Associate Professor in the College of Education at the University of South Carolina in Columbia and Director of the South Carolina Educational Policy Center.