Assessment Education - by Beth Tarasawa & Amelia Gotwals & Cara Jackson (Paperback)

About the Book

This book presents a powerful call to action for an assessment system that advances equity and offers educators practical applications that promote sound instructional decision making.

Book Synopsis

This book presents a powerful call to action for an assessment system that advances equity and offers educators practical applications that promote sound instructional decision making.

Review Quotes

Cara Jackson, Beth Tarasawa, and Amelia Gotwals have created an accessible resource that educators will find very useful when thinking/planning/implementing student assessments - which is something we teachers are obviously doing a lot of the time!

The authors present a clear picture of how of assessment can support all students' learning. With examples of educators' effective use of different types of assessment, they illustrate how professional collaboration maximizes their value to improving student outcomes.

The book interweaves practitioner and research perspectives across a number of foundational assessment concepts, presenting a clear perspective on the importance of formative assessment and the role of meaningful teacher and leader collaboration to support growth in assessment literacy. In addition this book provides a clear reminder of the importance of communication with families to help them understand the assessment processes used to support student learning.

About the Author

Beth Tarasawa is the Vice President of Research at NWEA, where she collaborates with universities, foundations, and school districts to produce rigorous and accessible educational policy research. Her scholarship focuses on issues related to educational equity, particularly those concerning social class, race, and linguistic diversity.

Amelia Wenk Gotwals is an Associate Professor in the Department of Teacher Education at Michigan State University, where she supports the professional development of preservice and inservice teachers. Her current scholarship focuses on the use of discourse as a formative assessment strategy and ways to promote productive disciplinary discourse in classrooms.

Cara Jackson is an Associate Partner at Bellwether Education Partners, where she collaborates with schools, networks, and nonprofits to plan and conduct evaluations of education programs. Cara is particularly interested in using research and evaluation to support improvement efforts in schools and districts.