Classroom Assessment KnowledgeBase

Assessment Terminology: A Glossary of Useful Terms

This link is to a glossary of assessment terminology on the U.S Department of Education website. As noted at this website, "the following is a list of terms that are used to describe current educational assessment practices. This guide is intended not to promote the use of jargon, but to establish a clear and common understanding of what these terms mean."

Assessment for Learning: 10 Principles

From the Assessment Reform Group, "Assessment for Learning: 10 Principles is a leaflet/poster summarizing the essential features of assessment for learning in an accessible form. The Principles are based on research evidence and have been widely discussed with experts and practitioners in assessment during their development."

Connecting Formative Assessment Research to Practice

This link to the Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center website provides a Learning Point Associates brief reviewing formative assessment research. As noted in the brief's introduction, 'This Connecting Research to Practice brief is intended to enhance the knowledge and build the capacity of state, district, and school personnel to implement effective formative assessment practice. To accomplish this goal, the brief defines formative assessment, examines the research, and outlines the components needed to develop a high-quality, research-based formative assessment plan in a state, district, or school.

Defining and Enhancing Formative Assessment

This paper by Dr. James Popham proposes a definition for formative assessment and discusses issues impacting its effectiveness. It was prepared for presentation at the October 10-13, 2006, meeting of the Formative Assessment for Students and Teachers subgroup of the Council of Chief State School Officers' (CCSSO's) State Collaborative on Assessment and Student Standards held in Austin, Texas.

Formative Assessment Cycle

This link to the Data Use for Improving Learning website provides an overview of the formative assessment cycle in graphic form.

Formative Assessment: Improving Learning in Secondary Classrooms

Formative Assessment: Improving Learning in Secondary Classrooms, a policy brief published by the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), reports on a study on the use of formative assessment. Though this brief looks at formative assessment from an international perspective, the information offered is useful to U.S. educators in demonstrating that formative assessment has a global reach.

Is Formative Assessment Losing Its Meaning?

In this August 2005 EdWeek article, Stephen Chappuis of the Assessment Training Institute warns against homogenizing the concept of formative assessment. He points out formative assessment is more than just more frequent testing.

Standards-Based Assessment - Nurturing Learning

Developed by Education Northwest, formerly the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, Toolkit98 is designed to assist classroom teachers to become better assessors of student learning. Chapter 1 addresses Standards-Based Assessment - Nuturing Learning. As an "awareness chapter”it offers an introduction to basic assessment concepts, explores users' current attitudes toward assessment, and assists users to build a vision of what they want assessment to do for them."

The Forgotten Art of Formative Assessment

This article offers an overview of formative assessment including a definition, evidence of its effectiveness, and examples of classroom use.

Using Formative Assessments to Improve the Achievement of All Students

"In this two-part presentation, Robert Anderson, Senior Assessment Specialist at WestEd, will help participants gain a greater understanding of formative assessment, which is currently seen as a key component of district and school program improvement efforts, and as a powerful tool in the efforts to overcome achievement gaps and to ensure educational equity." Each part is 60 minutes in length.