Seven Strategies of Assessment for Learning

In this powerful book, author Jan Chappuis presents and examines seven strategies structured around three essential questions—Where am I going? Where am I now? and How can I close the gap?—to give teachers quality, research-based recommendations about assessment practices for improving student achievement. Sequenced to help teachers easily weave formative assessment practices into daily teaching and assessment activities at all levels, the book begins by introducing the strategies and the research base for formative assessment practices. The remaining chapters explain each strategy in detail, provide a research-based rationale for using the strategy, describe how the strategy can be applied in contexts ranging from kindergarten through high school in a range of subject areas, and offer instructions for carrying out core procedures and suggestions for adaptations.

Features new to this edition include the addition of: Research information about the links between assessment and student motivation; A stronger focus on the diagnostic power of assessment items and tasks; Explanation of the characteristics of effective practice assignments; Examples to address current misconceptions about formative assessment practices; Anecdotes from practicing teachers explaining how they use a strategy and its impact on learning; Expanded treatment of the relationship between formative assessment and grading; End-of-chapter activities designed to assist with understanding the content and applying it to any classroom context; Editable documents for use with the chapter activities (on the accompanying DVD); A complete guide to structuring the study of the book for independent study, for collaborative team study, or for study in a university-level course (on the accompanying DVD); and Forty-three video clips of elementary, middle, and high school teachers and students, including both classroom footage of the strategies in action and interviews with teachers, students, administrators, and a parent about the impact of the strategies on student motivation and achievement (on the accompanying DVD, with short explanations of the content of each video embedded in the appropriate chapter).