Classroom Assessment KnowledgeBase

This KnowledgeBase archive includes content and external links that were accurate and relevant as of September 30, 2019.

The Classroom Assessment KnowledgeBase is an online resource for state departments of education to use as part of their professional development efforts with districts and schools. Organized around five elements, it brings together concepts, how-to guidance, tools, and resources about classroom assessment.

Task 1: Determine When to Use the Assessment

Guideline: Formative assessments enable teachers to assess how well students understand the concepts being taught. In addition to being used in pre- and post-lesson situations, formative assessments are most useful when used informally as teachers adjust instruction in response to how well students are grasping the lesson concepts.

References

Benefits of Formative Assessment

This National Council of Teachers of Mathematics research brief offers guidance on when to use formative assessment in the classroom.

Curriculum-Based Evaluations

Authored by Dr. Tracey Hall, this Center for Applied Special Technology article provides an overview of curriuclum-based evaluations and their classroom application.

Five "Key Strategies" for Effective Formative Assessment

This National Council of Teachers of Mathematics research brief offers five key strategies for effective formative assessment. It gives teachers insights on when and how to use formative assessment.

Formative Assessment: Helping Students Grow

This article from The Council Chronicle, published by the National Council of Teachers of English, emphasizes the feedback loop between the teacher and student and gives examples of formative assessments being used in the classroom.

Research Institute on Progress Monitoring

This link is to the Research Institute on Progress Monitoring. As noted at its website, "The Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) has funded the Research Institute on Progress Monitoring to develop a system of progress monitoring to evaluate effects of individualized instruction on access to and progress within the general education curriculum. The Institute is housed at the Institute on Community Integration and the Department of Educational Psychology, Special Education in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota. Iowa State University for Science and Technology is a lead collaborator in this research."

Selecting and Administering Assessments

Developed with funding from The Meadows Foundation and the Texas Education Agency, Effective Instruction for Middle School Students with Reading Difficulties: The Reading Teacher's Sourcebook offers middle school reading teachers an overview of research-based instructional approaches for teaching struggling readers. Chapter Two: Selecting and Administering Assessments reviews how different assessment tools can be used in the classroom.

The National Center on Student Progress Monitoring

This link is to the National Center on Progress Monitoring funded by the OESP (Office of Special Education Programs) under the Ideas That Work umbrella. The National Center on Student Progress Monitoring is dedicated to the implementation of scientifically based progress monitoring for grades K-5 .

The contents of this website were developed under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education and are intended for general reference purposes only. However, those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education or the Center, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government. Some resources on this site require Adobe Acrobat Reader. This website archive includes content and external links that were accurate and relevant as of September 30, 2019.