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Everything School Leaders Need to Know About Assessment
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Everything School Leaders Need to Know About Assessment



April 2010 | 224 pages | Corwin

"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.


 
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

“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

"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

“The writing style is great! Popham writes in such a way that one feels that he is speaking directly to you. The interspersing of humor—mostly in language and terms used—contributes very positively to the content, and the absence of educational jargon was so refreshing. The reader doesn’t feel overwhelmed.”

Robert A. Frick, Superintendent
Lampeter-Strasburg School District, Lampeter, PA

We are adopting the current version

Dr Teresa Cowan
General Studies Dept, Baker College Of Auburn Hills
February 12, 2016

Was not complete enough for the course but useful in some ways.

Dr Derick Williams
Human Services Dept, University Of Virginia
March 21, 2014

Great overview for educational administrators PK-16

Dr Gayle Mindes
School Of Education, Depaul University - Lincoln Park
April 22, 2013
Key features
The main features of this book are:
  • Authorship- Jim Popham is one of the most recognizable and respected authors in the field of assessent. Jim writes books, articles and blogs regularly and speaks/consults with the best of them. 
  • Need- the market has nothing new and practical for school administrators to use to understand and communicate about assessment properly.
  • Style- Jim's writing is clear and often amusing while being very authoritative. If this is possible, Jim can make assessment a good read.
  • Proven Success- Jim has authored a nuimber of best selling books around assessment practice.    

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