Classroom Assessment

Book excerpt: Building on the success of the popular first edition, the author tackles the latest issues and practices in the field of classroom assessment. The No Child Left Behind Act has transformed the role of educational assessment, requiring annual assessments as part of a federal system of educational accountability. National accreditation organizations such NCATE have mandated standards-based performance and emphasized specific assessment benchmarks in meeting these standards. The inclusion movement to accommodate special-needs students in the regular education classroom also has impacted classroom assessment practices. Teacher assessment, classroom environment, test anxiety, the Race to the Top grants, and many more timely topics receive comprehensive yet accessible treatment. Banks provides thorough and well-documented discussions of performance assessment, essay and multiple-choice assessments, formative assessment, and reliability/validity issues as well as invaluable classroom assessment tools that include portfolios, rubrics, journals, and models such as Anderson and Krathwohls revision of Blooms Taxonomy. Gender and diversity issues, including learning differences and socioeconomic influences on student achievement, are given in-depth coverage. Outstanding features include case studies, point/counterpoint debates on controversial assessment topics and practices, teacher application exercises, thought-provoking self-assessment exercises, and end-of-chapter activities that include review questions and opportunities for directed learning.