<>To The Reader1 Why Do Teachers Need to Know about Assessment Federal Laws Rule Assessment versus Testing Why Should Teachers Know about Assessment? Yesteryear's Answers Why Should Teachers Know about Assessment? Today's Answers * Decision Time: Pressure from "Higher Ups" What Do Classroom Teachers Really Need to Know about Assessment? * But What Does This Have to Do with Teaching? * Parent Talk A Three-Chapter Preview Chapter Summary Self-Check Pondertime Self-Check Key Additional Stuff Nonprint Stuff Cyber Stuff 2 Reliability of Assessment Stability Reliability * Decision Time: Quibbling over Quizzes Alternate-Form Reliability Internal Consistency Reliability Three Coins in the Reliability Fountain * Parent Talk The Standard Error of Measurement * But What Does This Have to Do with Teaching? What Do Classroom Teachers Really Need to Know about Reliability? Chapter Summary Self Check Pondertime Self-Check Key Endnotes Additional Stuff Cyber Stuff 3 Validity A Quest for Defensible Inferences * Decision Time: Group-Influenced Grading Validity Evidence Content-Related Evidence of Validity Criterion-Related Evidence of Validity * Parent Talk Construct-Related Evidence of Validity Sanctioned and Unsanctioned Forms of Validity Evidence The Relationship between Reliability and Validity What Do Classroom Teachers Really Need to Know about Validity? * But What Does This Have to Do with Teaching? Chapter Summary Self Check Pondertime Self-Check Key Additional Stuff Nonprint Stuff Cyber Stuff 4 Absence-of-Bias The Nature of Assessment Bias * Decision Time: Choose Your Language, Children! Disparate Impact and Assessment Bias Judgmental Approaches Empirical Approaches Bias Detection in the Classroom * Parent Talk Assessing Students with Disabilities and English Language Learners What Do Classroom Teachers Really Need to Know about Absence-of-Bias? * But What Does This Have to Do with Teaching? Chapter Summary Self-Check Pondertime Self-Check Key Additional Stuff Cyber Stuff 5 Deciding What to Assess and How to Assess It What to Assess * Decision Time: On Demand Assessment How to Assess It * Parent Talk * But What Does This Have to Do with Teaching? What Do Classroom Teachers Really Need to Know about What to Assess and How to Assess It? Chapter Summary Self-Check Pondertime Self-Check Key Additional Stuff Nonprint Stuff Cyber Stuff 6 Selected-Response Tests Ten (Divided by Two) Item-Writing Commandments Binary-Choice Items Multiple Binary-Choice Items Multiple-Choice Items * Decision Time: Multiple-Guess Test Items? Matching Items * Parent Talk What Do Classroom Teachers Really Need to Know about Selected-Response Tests? * But What Does This Have to Do with Teaching? Chapter Summary Self-Check Pondertime Self-Check Key Additional Stuff Nonprint Stuff Cyber Stuff 7 Constructed-Response Tests Short-Answer Items Essay Items: Development * Decision Time: Forests or Trees? Essay Items: Scoring Students' Responses * Parent Talk * But What Does This Have to Do with Teaching? What Do Classroom Teachers Really Need to Know about Constructed-Response Tests? Chapter Summary Self-Check Pondertime Self-Check Key Additional Stuff Nonprint Stuff Cyber Stuff 8 Performance Assessment What Is a Performance Test? Identifying Suitable Tasks for Performance Assessment * Decision Time: Grow, Plants, Grow! Identifying Scoring Criteria An Illustrative Performance-Test Task Rubrics: The Wretched and the Rapturous Ratings and Observations Sources of Error in Scoring Student Performances * But What Does This Have to Do with Teaching? What Do Classroom Teachers Really Need to Know about Performance Assessment? * Parent Talk Chapter Summary Self-Check Pondertime Self-Check Key Additional Stuff Cyber Stuff 9 Portfolio Assessment Classroom Portfolio Assessment versus Large-Scale Portfolio Assessment * Decision Time: Does Self-Evaluation Equal Self-Grading? Key Ingredients in Classroom Portfolio Assessment The Pros and Cons of Portfolio Assessment * But What Does This Have to Do with Teaching? What Do Classroom Teachers Really Need to Know about Portfolio Assessment? * Parent Talk Chapter Summary Self-Check Pondertime Self-Check Key Additional Stuff Nonprint Stuff Cyber Stuff 10 Affective Assessment Why Assess Affect? * Decision Time: Where Went Wonder? The Other Side of the Argument Which Affective Variables Should Be Assessed? How Should Affect Be Assessed in Classrooms? Self-Report Assessment * Parent Talk What Kind of Inferences Are at Stake in Affective Assessment? * But What Does This Have to Do with Teaching? What Do Classroom Teachers Really Need to Know about Affective Assessment? Chapter Summary Self-Check Pondertime Self-Check Key Additional Stuff Nonprint Stuff 11 Improving Teacher-Developed Assessments Judgmentally Based Improvement Procedures Empirically Based Improvement Procedures * Parent Talk * Decision Time: To Catch a Culprit: Teacher or Test Item Analysis for Criterion-Referenced Measurement * But What Does This Have to Do with Teaching? What Do Classroom Teachers Really Need to Know about Improving Their Assessments? Chapter Summary Self-Check Pondertime Self-Check Key Additional Stuff Nonprint Stuff 12 Instructionally Oriented Assessment Instructional Decisions and Assessment Results Planning Instruction to Achieve Assessment-Exemplified Curricular Aims * Decision Time: At What Cost Score-Boosting? * Parent Talk What Do Classroom Teachers Really Need to Know about Instructionally Oriented Assessment? * But What Does This Have to Do with Teaching? Chapter Summary Self-Check Pondertime Self-Check Key Additional Stuff Nonprint Stuff Cyber Stuff 13 Making Sense Out of Standardized Test Scores Standardized Tests * Decision Time: Which Test to Believe Group-Focused Test Interpretation Individual Student Test Interpretation * But What Does This Have to Do with Teaching? * Parent Talk The SAT and ACT: Three-Letter, High-Import Exams What Do Classroom Teachers Really Need to Know about Interpreting Standardized Test Scores? Chapter Summary Self-Check Pondertime Self-Check Key Additional Stuff Nonprint Stuff Cyber Stuff 14 Appropriate and Inappropriate Test-Preparation Practices High-Stakes Assessment Arrives Assessment Results as Inference Illuminators * Decision Time: Was It Really Wrong? Two Evaluative Guidelines Five Test-Preparation Practices Applying the Two Guidelines * Parent Talk What about "Teaching to the Test"? * But What Does This Have to Do with Teaching? What Do Classroom Teachers Really Need to Know about Test-Preparation Practices? Chapter Summary Self-Check Pondertime Self-Check Key Additional Stuff Nonprint Stuff Cyber Stuff 15 Evaluating Teaching and Grading Students Distinction Drawing Evaluation of Teaching and the Use of Assessment Data An Alternative Data-Gathering Design What's In a Name? What's a Teacher to Do? Assessment-Based Grading * Decision Time: Should Level-of-Effort Be Rewarded? * Parent Talk * But What Does This Have to Do with Teaching? What Do Classroom Teachers Really Need to Know about Assessment-Based Evaluation of Teaching and Grading of Students? Chapter Summary Self-Check Pondertime Self-Check Key Additional Stuff Nonprint Stuff Cyber Stuff Glossary Index