Everything School Leaders Need to Know About Assessment

W. James Popham - University of California, Los Angeles, USA
Everything School Leaders Need to Know About Assessment
April 2010 | 224 pages | Corwin
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ISBN: 9781412979795
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Description

"Finally we have a book written on educational assessment that is easy to understand and keeps the reader engaged and focused on the topic. The author provides practical and useful information for both school administrators and classroom teachers."
—Kenneth Arndt, Superintendent
CUSD #300 Schools, Carpentersville, IL

"Popham asks thought-provoking questions and challenges the reader to follow through with staff."
—Marie Blum, Superintendent
Canaseraga Central School District, Canaseraga, NY

Educational assessment in a nutshell for busy school leaders!

W. James Popham, one of the most well-known and respected experts in educational assessment, discusses the key principles new and seasoned school leaders need to know about educational assessment to do their work effectively.

Readers will come away with crucial understandings that allow them to lead assessment of learning, meet accountability requirements, and communicate knowledgeably about accountability and test results with students, parents, the media, and the public. Using plain language, a witty and engaging writing style, and practical examples, Popham covers:

  • Validity, reliability, and assessment bias
  • The importance of formative assessment
  • Assessing students with disabilities and English language learners
  • Interpreting results of large-scale assessments
  • Instructional sensitivity of accountability tests

Everything School Leaders Need to Know About Assessment is a concise, authoritative guide to a topic that all educational leaders must understand in these critical times.

Contents

Preface

Preface

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments

About the Author

  • 1. Why Do We Test?
  • The Role of Assessment
  • Coping with the Covert
  • Decisions, Decisions, Decisions
  • Unwarranted Perceptions of Precision
  • Crucial Understandings
  • Recommended Reading
  • 2. Validity: Assessment's Cornerstone
  • The Validity of Inferences
  • Collecting Validity Evidence: Three Coins in the Fountain
  • Crucial Understandings
  • Recommended Reading
  • 3. Test Reliability
  • Three Kinds of Consistency
  • Assessment Consistency for Individual Students
  • Reliability and Validity: Strange Bedfellows?
  • Crucial Understandings
  • Recommended Reading
  • 4. Assessment Bias
  • What is Assessment Bias?
  • Why is Assessment Bias So Reprehensible?
  • Reducing Assessment Bias
  • Crucial Understandings
  • Recommended Reading
  • 5. Instructional Sensitivity
  • Different Quests for Different Tests
  • Mistaken Evaluations of Schooling
  • What is Instructional Sensitivity?
  • Determining an Accountability Test’s Instructional Sensitivity
  • What’s a School Leader to Do?
  • Crucial Understandings
  • Recommended Reading
  • 6. Test Construction
  • Purpose as the Measurement Motivator
  • A Three-Component Game Plan
  • Item Development
  • Item Improvement
  • Test Assembly
  • Crucial Understandings
  • Recommended Reading
  • 7. Rubrics: Potentially Potent Evaluative Tools
  • What Makes Up a Rubric?
  • Determining a Rubric’s Quality
  • Crucial Understandings
  • Recommended Reading
  • 8. Formative Assessment: Underused Magic Bullet
  • What is Formative Assessment
  • What Evidence Supports Formative Assessment?
  • How Does Formative Assessment Function?
  • Once Over, Very Lightly
  • Crucial Understandings
  • Recommended Reading
  • 9. Assessing Students' Affect
  • Why Mess Around with Affect?
  • How to Assess Students’ Affect
  • Building an Affective Inventory
  • Crucial Understandings
  • Recommended Reading
  • 10. "Top 20" Crucial Understandings About Educational Assessment
  • Understanding the Understandings
  • Spreading the Word
  • The Top-20 List
  • Recommended Reading

Recommended Reading Roundup

Recommended Reading Roundup

Index

Index

Description

"Finally we have a book written on educational assessment that is easy to understand and keeps the reader engaged and focused on the topic. The author provides practical and useful information for both school administrators and classroom teachers."
—Kenneth Arndt, Superintendent
CUSD #300 Schools, Carpentersville, IL

"Popham asks thought-provoking questions and challenges the reader to follow through with staff."
—Marie Blum, Superintendent
Canaseraga Central School District, Canaseraga, NY

Educational assessment in a nutshell for busy school leaders!

W. James Popham, one of the most well-known and respected experts in educational assessment, discusses the key principles new and seasoned school leaders need to know about educational assessment to do their work effectively.

Readers will come away with crucial understandings that allow them to lead assessment of learning, meet accountability requirements, and communicate knowledgeably about accountability and test results with students, parents, the media, and the public. Using plain language, a witty and engaging writing style, and practical examples, Popham covers:

  • Validity, reliability, and assessment bias
  • The importance of formative assessment
  • Assessing students with disabilities and English language learners
  • Interpreting results of large-scale assessments
  • Instructional sensitivity of accountability tests

Everything School Leaders Need to Know About Assessment is a concise, authoritative guide to a topic that all educational leaders must understand in these critical times.

Contents

Preface

Preface

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments

About the Author

  • 1. Why Do We Test?
  • The Role of Assessment
  • Coping with the Covert
  • Decisions, Decisions, Decisions
  • Unwarranted Perceptions of Precision
  • Crucial Understandings
  • Recommended Reading
  • 2. Validity: Assessment's Cornerstone
  • The Validity of Inferences
  • Collecting Validity Evidence: Three Coins in the Fountain
  • Crucial Understandings
  • Recommended Reading
  • 3. Test Reliability
  • Three Kinds of Consistency
  • Assessment Consistency for Individual Students
  • Reliability and Validity: Strange Bedfellows?
  • Crucial Understandings
  • Recommended Reading
  • 4. Assessment Bias
  • What is Assessment Bias?
  • Why is Assessment Bias So Reprehensible?
  • Reducing Assessment Bias
  • Crucial Understandings
  • Recommended Reading
  • 5. Instructional Sensitivity
  • Different Quests for Different Tests
  • Mistaken Evaluations of Schooling
  • What is Instructional Sensitivity?
  • Determining an Accountability Test’s Instructional Sensitivity
  • What’s a School Leader to Do?
  • Crucial Understandings
  • Recommended Reading
  • 6. Test Construction
  • Purpose as the Measurement Motivator
  • A Three-Component Game Plan
  • Item Development
  • Item Improvement
  • Test Assembly
  • Crucial Understandings
  • Recommended Reading
  • 7. Rubrics: Potentially Potent Evaluative Tools
  • What Makes Up a Rubric?
  • Determining a Rubric’s Quality
  • Crucial Understandings
  • Recommended Reading
  • 8. Formative Assessment: Underused Magic Bullet
  • What is Formative Assessment
  • What Evidence Supports Formative Assessment?
  • How Does Formative Assessment Function?
  • Once Over, Very Lightly
  • Crucial Understandings
  • Recommended Reading
  • 9. Assessing Students' Affect
  • Why Mess Around with Affect?
  • How to Assess Students’ Affect
  • Building an Affective Inventory
  • Crucial Understandings
  • Recommended Reading
  • 10. "Top 20" Crucial Understandings About Educational Assessment
  • Understanding the Understandings
  • Spreading the Word
  • The Top-20 List
  • Recommended Reading

Recommended Reading Roundup

Recommended Reading Roundup

Index

Index

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Everything School Leaders Need to Know About Assessment


April 2010 | 224 pages | Corwin

Format Published Date ISBN Price
Paperback 01/01/2025 9781412979795 $40.95

"Finally we have a book written on educational assessment that is easy to understand and keeps the reader engaged and focused on the topic. The author provides practical and useful information for both school administrators and classroom teachers."
—Kenneth Arndt, Superintendent
CUSD #300 Schools, Carpentersville, IL

"Popham asks thought-provoking questions and challenges the reader to follow through with staff."
—Marie Blum, Superintendent
Canaseraga Central School District, Canaseraga, NY

Educational assessment in a nutshell for busy school leaders!

W. James Popham, one of the most well-known and respected experts in educational assessment, discusses the key principles new and seasoned school leaders need to know about educational assessment to do their work effectively.

Readers will come away with crucial understandings that allow them to lead assessment of learning, meet accountability requirements, and communicate knowledgeably about accountability and test results with students, parents, the media, and the public. Using plain language, a witty and engaging writing style, and practical examples, Popham covers:

  • Validity, reliability, and assessment bias
  • The importance of formative assessment
  • Assessing students with disabilities and English language learners
  • Interpreting results of large-scale assessments
  • Instructional sensitivity of accountability tests

Everything School Leaders Need to Know About Assessment is a concise, authoritative guide to a topic that all educational leaders must understand in these critical times.


Table Of Contents:

  • Preface
  • Acknowledgments
  • About the Author
  • 1. Why Do We Test?
  • The Role of Assessment
  • Coping with the Covert
  • Decisions, Decisions, Decisions
  • Unwarranted Perceptions of Precision
  • Crucial Understandings
  • Recommended Reading
  • 2. Validity: Assessment's Cornerstone
  • The Validity of Inferences
  • Collecting Validity Evidence: Three Coins in the Fountain
  • Crucial Understandings
  • Recommended Reading
  • 3. Test Reliability
  • Three Kinds of Consistency
  • Assessment Consistency for Individual Students
  • Reliability and Validity: Strange Bedfellows?
  • Crucial Understandings
  • Recommended Reading
  • 4. Assessment Bias
  • What is Assessment Bias?
  • Why is Assessment Bias So Reprehensible?
  • Reducing Assessment Bias
  • Crucial Understandings
  • Recommended Reading
  • 5. Instructional Sensitivity
  • Different Quests for Different Tests
  • Mistaken Evaluations of Schooling
  • What is Instructional Sensitivity?
  • Determining an Accountability Test’s Instructional Sensitivity
  • What’s a School Leader to Do?
  • Crucial Understandings
  • Recommended Reading
  • 6. Test Construction
  • Purpose as the Measurement Motivator
  • A Three-Component Game Plan
  • Item Development
  • Item Improvement
  • Test Assembly
  • Crucial Understandings
  • Recommended Reading
  • 7. Rubrics: Potentially Potent Evaluative Tools
  • What Makes Up a Rubric?
  • Determining a Rubric’s Quality
  • Crucial Understandings
  • Recommended Reading
  • 8. Formative Assessment: Underused Magic Bullet
  • What is Formative Assessment
  • What Evidence Supports Formative Assessment?
  • How Does Formative Assessment Function?
  • Once Over, Very Lightly
  • Crucial Understandings
  • Recommended Reading
  • 9. Assessing Students' Affect
  • Why Mess Around with Affect?
  • How to Assess Students’ Affect
  • Building an Affective Inventory
  • Crucial Understandings
  • Recommended Reading
  • 10. "Top 20" Crucial Understandings About Educational Assessment
  • Understanding the Understandings
  • Spreading the Word
  • The Top-20 List
  • Recommended Reading
  • Recommended Reading Roundup
  • Index

Recent Product Reviews:

Was not complete enough for the course but useful in some ways.
Dr Derick Williams, Human Services Dept, University Of Virginia
Great overview for educational administrators PK-16
Dr Gayle Mindes, School Of Education, Depaul University - Lincoln Park
"Given the current climate of accountability in our nation, superintendents’ toolboxes should include a solid understanding of the many forms of assessment. This book offers a practical discussion and explanation of educational assessment concepts and procedures that affect a school or district’s outcomes. Of great help to the busy administrator is Popham’s set of crucial understandings in each chapter that detail the essential ideas. The chapter titled 'Top 20 Crucial Understandings about Educational Assessment' reviews all the critical content and serves as a refresher on topics of importance."
The School Administrator, April 2011, American Association of School Administrators
“Finally we have a book written on educational assessment that is easy to understand and keeps the reader engaged and focused on the topic. The author provides practical and useful information for both school administrators and classroom teachers. This book demystifies educational assessment to help educators better meet the needs of students by understanding how assessment relates to good classroom instruction.”
Kenneth Arndt, Superintendent, CUSD #300 Schools, Carpentersville, IL
“The book is definitely needed and makes a distinct contribution to the field, especially for school leaders. The author asks thought-provoking questions and challenges the reader to follow through with staff.”
Marie Blum, Superintendent, Canaseraga Central School District, Canaseraga, NY

Recommendations