Responsive assessment

Academic assessment has historically taken many forms, but in current practice usually comes down to traditional standardized testing. This book offers compelling arguments and practical techniques for shifting the focus of assessment away from conventional practices and the policies they sustain. Responsive Assessment examines the nature of learning in schools and the ways academic assessment can be used responsively to support learning and provide children with a sure sense of themselves as learners. Using the voices and stories of people involved in learning and assessment, Mary Henning-Stout shows how the engagement of learners in their own assessment and instructional processes is central to responsive assessment. She reveals the existing practices that can serve as tools for a responsive assessment approach. She offers detailed case examples of how this approach can be applied in reading, writing, and mathematics. And she examines the barriers to responsive assessment and suggests ways of addressing organizational, governmental, and cultural obstacles. Responsive Assessment offers school psychologists and counselors, special educators, curriculum specialists, school administrators, and teachers a way of rethinking academic assessment that can remove the barriers to learning.