There’s a war of sorts going on within the normally staid assessment industry, and it’s a war over the definition of a type of assessment that many educators understand in only the sketchiest fashion.

A new book, Formative Assessment for Literacy: Grades K-6, provides some help for regular elementary or reading teachers who have ELLs in their classrooms. The book, published by Corwin Press, isn’t ...

To start, a question: What’s the difference between formative assessment and summative assessment? It’s not enough to say merely that formative assessment is a measure of student achievement ...

1.1 Feedback should always be focused on helping students to develop their skills, knowledge and understanding, both subject-specific and transferable, and to identify areas for improvement.

Tests are king in many school systems and other educational environments: they are seen as an efficient way to assess what knowledge students have retained, and how well they do on a level playing ...

“Formative assessment is an essential part of teaching because it helps guide instruction. Checking for understanding of important concepts helps the teacher decide to move on or to continue ...

The National Science Education Standards point out that “assessments provide an operational definition of standards, in that they define in measurable terms what teachers should teach and students ...

Ed. note: Today’s students have too many tests to take—but today’s teachers still need insight into their classes’ knowledge and skills. Adding new tests every time students need to prove mastery ...