Making Assessment Work for Teachers

Classroom Assessment: Continuing the Discussion

“…It is what the teachers actually do in the classroom that is ultimately responsible for “learning” in our schools. According to Heritage (), these materials “should not lead teachers to discrete assessment events, but rather to ways of shedding light on students’ emergent, partial or even fragmentary understanding as they grapple with important ideas and analytic practices within the disciplines.” This is a wonderfully encapsulated account of how I would see a construct map helping a teacher in the classroom, beyond specific items. But exemplary items and instructional descriptions associated with the construct map are also essential in this by giving teachers concrete links to what they might do in their classrooms.…”

Classroom Assessment Principles to Support Learning and Avoid the Harms of Testing

“…Our commentators endorse or at least accede to the idea that sociocultural theory is the more compelling research‐based theory of learning. As noted by Wiliam (), a sociocultural perspective allows for “issues of motivation, interest, and identity to be integrated within a coherent theoretical framework” (p. 42); and this framing sits well with understandings of formative assessment as a process (Heritage, ).…”

“…In this short rejoinder we respond to the commentaries provided by Susan Brookhart (), Margaret Heritage (), Scott Marion (), and Dylan Wiliam (). There were no major disagreements between ourselves and the four respondents, but this may be because they were selected for their expertise regarding classroom learning as well as large‐scale assessment.…”

“…The idea that assessment design should be based on a theory of learning is not new. The important question raised by Heritage () is why, then, nearly 20 years later, has the field still failed to adhere to this principle? One explanation is that No Child Left Behind was enacted in the very same year as Knowing What Students Know (KWSK) .…”

“…If measurement specialists want to take up Wilson's call and focus attention on the development of classroom assessments, it is essential that they be mindful of these past distortions and why they occurred. Heritage () joins us in warning against the imposition of “testing formats’ in classroom contexts with their corresponding distortion of instruction, a narrowing of curriculum, and detrimental effects on student identity development and motivation” (p. 39). Instead of trying to make large‐scale assessment models instructionally relevant, we argue that horizontally coherent curriculum‐instruction‐assessment‐professional‐development systems should be built from the bottom up, by teachers and subject‐matter experts, and, if necessary, should be protected from misaligned large‐scale assessments (see also National Research Council, ).…”