This article presents reflections and guidance concerning assessment literacy in teacher education. Previous inadequacies in teacher training in educational assessment highlight the need for teachers to be assessment literate. Assessment literacy consists of an individual's understanding of the fundamental assessment concepts and procedures deemed…

Any reauthorized version of the No Child Left Behind Act is almost certain to call for monitoring students' academic progress. However, the current method for such monitoring is educationally harmful. The author offers five recommendations for building a more defensible means to monitor student progress.

Formative assessment is a planned process that uses assessments to inform changes in instruction or learning. Because of its focus on instruction and learning, formative assessment is based in the classroom, although school-level structures, such as learning communities, can support the process. In this article, the author presents seven…

The "instructional sensitivity" of a test represents the degree to which students' performances on that test accurately reflect the quality of the instruction that was provided specifically to promote students' mastery of whatever is being assessed. In other words, an instructionally "sensitive" test would be capable of distinguishing between…

In recent years, increasing numbers of professional development programs have dealt with assessment literacy for teachers and/or administrators. Is assessment literacy merely a fashionable focus for today's professional developers or, in contrast, should it be regarded as a significant area of professional development interest for many years to…

What people mean when they use the phrase "content standard" varies all over the lot. In some states, content standards are little more than category labels describing collections of curricular aims in particular content areas. If a state's content standards are too numerous, then teachers do not know where to aim their instructional efforts. This…

Recognizing the potential of accountability tests to alter classroom instruction, an overview is provided of the federal government's past influence on educational assessments. The past 50 years has witnessed the function of federally engendered educational assessments shift from monitoring the use of federal funds for programs prescribed for…

The structure of No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), whether the NCLB tests are appropriate or not and the adequate yearly progress (AYP) of public school students are discussed. Accountability systems implemented with inappropriate achievement tests are harming students more than helping them.

A non-cushioned adequate yearly progress (AYP) sledgehammer will start pounding many schools from the beginning of 2005. The AYP-failed schools that receive Title 1 No Child Behind Policy (NCLB) funds will be placed on a sanction-laden improvement track than can improve a school all the way into nonexistence.

Assessment for learning involves the frequent, continual use of both formal and informal classroom assessments. It can be as simple as requiring students to respond to a lesson-embedded, one-item quiz as a way of gauging student understanding of what is being taught. Ideally, this innovative approach to classroom assessment is based on a careful…

The importance of educational accountability and assessment literacy is recognized as a long-term challenge to the educational system. The complexities in becoming an assessment literate and provide an opportunity to the educators to display their effective learning is discussed.

This article presents a rejoinder to the commentaries on the authors' article titled, "Instructionally Supportive Accountability Tests in Science: A Viable Assessment Option?" The commentaries offer a series of well warranted cautions regarding the adoption of any form of large-scale accountability testing. However, the authors contend…

Argues that the most widely used measures of a teacher's instructional skill -- ratings, classroom observations, pupil performance on standardized tests -- have proved inadequate and suggests that a teaching performance test would be an effective teacher assessment technique. (JF)

Many U.S. educators now wonder whether they're teachers or targets. This mentality stems from the specter of their school being sanctioned for failing the state accountability tests mandated under No Child Left Behind (NCLB). According to this author, most of those tests are like blunt-edged swords: They function badly in two directions. While…

Results of tests of students' skills and knowledge conducted by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and the state accountability tests required by the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) program should not be compared. The two tests are based on different standards and have different measurement functions and judging the results of one…