Essential Assessment

The topic of assessment has long dominated conversations about F–12 education. While research has revealed which assessment practices have the most positive impact on student achievement and instruction, out-of-date, unproductive assessment practices still persist. In Essential Assessment: Six Tenets for Bringing Hope, Efficacy, and Achievement to the Classroom, Cassandra Erkens, Tom Schimmer and Nicole Dimich Vagle explore six essential tenets of assessment that can deepen teachers’ understanding of assessment to meet standards and generate a culture of learning.

1. Assessment Purpose
2. Communication of assessment results
3. Accurate interpretation
4. Assessment architecture
5. Instruction agility
6. Student investment

Readers will

• explore why it is vital that assessment practices build students’ and teachers’ hope, efficacy and achievement
• discover the six research-based tenets of assessment and learn strategies for immediately acting on them
• consider scenarios that illustrate traditional, outmoded assessment practices and revised scenarios that feature practices that better reflect modern assessment needs
• pause and ponder questions related to the content of each chapter and study next steps for teaching teams.