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CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT
FOR STUDENT LEARNING
DOING IT RIGHT — USING IT WELL
THIRD EDITION

Jan Chappuis | Rick Stiggins

Contents

CHAPTER 1 Understanding Assessment’s Role in Learning 1

Chapter 1 Learning Targets 2
Formative and Summative Assessment 2
The Importance of Formative Assessment: Assessment for Learning 3
Where the Power of Formative Assessment Lies 6
The Centrality of the Student 7
Summative Assessment: Assessment of Learning 9
Five Keys to Quality Classroom Assessment 9
Key 1: Clear Purpose 10
Key 2: Clear Targets 12
Key 3: Sound Design 12
Key 4: Formative Usefulness 13
Key 5: Effective Communication 14
The Chapters Ahead 19
Summary 20
Chapter 1 Activities 20

CHAPTER 2 Establishing Purpose: Assessment for and of Learning 22

Chapter 2 Learning Targets 22
A Balanced Assessment System 23
Balancing Formative and Summative Assessment 24
Considering the Student’s Information Needs 27
Barriers to Optimizing the Balance in the Classroom 27
Assessment for Learning: Diagnostic Assessment 28
Informal Diagnostic Assessment Options 29
Instructional Traction 32
Assessment for Learning: Effective Feedback 34
Effective Feedback Directs Attention to the Intended Learning 35
Effective Feedback Occurs During the Learning 38
Effective Feedback Addresses Partial Understanding 39
Effective Feedback Limits Correctives to the Amount of Information the Student Can Act
On in the Given Time 39
Prerequisite to Effective Feedback 39
Assessment for Learning: Student Self-Assessment and Goal Setting 40
Assessment for Learning: Putting the Pieces Together 40
Seven Strategies of Assessment for Learning 41
The Seven Strategies as a Progression 46

[ vii ]
Contents

Summary 47
Chapter 2 Activities 47

CHAPTER 3 Defining the Intended Learning 49

Chapter 3 Learning Targets 50
Terminology: Levels of Complexity in Learning Targets 51
Categories of Learning Targets 52
Knowledge Targets 53
Reasoning Targets 54
Performance Skill Targets 60
Product Targets 62
Disposition Targets 63
Balance Among Target Types 64
Classifying Targets by Type 65
Classifying Targets as Knowledge 65
Classifying Targets as Reasoning 67
Classifying Targets as Performance Skills 68
Classifying Targets as Products 69
Deconstructing Complex Content Standards 70
The Benefits of Clear Learning Targets 78
Benefits to Teachers 78
Benefits to Students 82
Benefits to Parents 85
We Need Good Curriculum Guides 85
When the Written Curriculum Is Not the Taught Curriculum 86
Assessment for Learning: Making Learning Targets Clear to Students 88
Share the Target as Is 88
Converting Knowledge and Reasoning Learning Targets to Student-Friendly Language 89
Create a Student-Friendly Rubric for Patterns of Reasoning 94
In a Nutshell 94
Summary 97
Chapter 3 Activities 98

CHAPTER 4 Planning the Assessment: Sound Design 99

Chapter 4 Learning Targets 99
Assessment Methods—A Set of Four Options 100
Selected Response 101
Written Response 101
Performance Assessment 102
Personal Communication 103

[ viii ]
 Contents

Questions About Assessment Methods 104

Selecting an Appropriate Assessment Method 105
Assessing Knowledge Targets Accurately 105
Assessing Reasoning Targets Accurately 108
Assessing Mastery of Performance Skills Accurately 110
Assessing Product Targets Accurately 111
Questions About Target-Method Match 112
Sampling Learning Appropriately 115
Sampling Consideration 1: The Assessment Purpose 116
Sampling Consideration 2: The Nature of the Learning Target 116
Sampling Consideration 3: The Assessment Method 116
Sampling Consideration 4: The Students Themselves 116
Assessment Development Cycle 117
Step 1: Determining Users and Uses 118
Step 2: Specifying the Intended Learning Targets 120
Step 3: Selecting the Appropriate Assessment Method(s) 122
Step 4: Determining the Appropriate Sample Size 122
Combining Planning Decisions into an Assessment Blueprint 123
The Assessment Development Stage 126
The Assessment Use and Refinement Stage 128
Using Blueprints as Assessment for Learning 128
Summary 129
Chapter 4 Activities 129

CHAPTER 5 Designing and Using a Selected Response Assessment 131

Chapter 5 Learning Targets 133
When to Use Selected Response Assessment 133
Questions About Using Selected Response Methodology 134
Planning a Selected Response Assessment: Steps 1 Through 4 135
Step 1: Determine Assessment Purpose 135
Step 2: Identify Learning Targets to Be Assessed 136
Step 3: Select Assessment Method(s) 136
Step 4: Determine Sample Size 137
Combining Planning Decisions into an Assessment Blueprint 137
Step 5: Developing a Selected Response Assessment 143
Identifying Specific Content to Include 144
Choosing Item Formats 147
Writing Items from Propositions 147
Guidelines for Writing Quality Items 150
Assembling the Test 157

[ ix ]
Contents

Step 6: Reviewing and Critiquing the Assessment 159

Determining Testing Time 159
Reviewing the Assessment for Quality 159
Avoiding Other Sources of Bias 160
Steps 7 and 8: Using and Revising the Assessment 162
Step 7: Conduct and Score the Assessment 162
Step 8: Revise as Needed for Future Use 163
Seven Strategies of Assessment for Learning with Selected Response Methodology 163
Where Am I Going? 163
Where Am I Now? 165
How Can I Close the Gap? 172
Summary 177
Chapter 5 Activities 178

CHAPTER 6 Designing and Using a Written Response Assessment 179

Chapter 6 Learning Targets 180
When to Use Written Response Assessment 181
Planning a Written Response Assessment: Steps 1 Through 4 181
Step 1: Determine Assessment Purpose 182
Step 2: Identify Learning Targets to Be Assessed 182
Step 3: Select the Assessment Method(s) 182
Step 4: Determine Sample Size 182
Combining Planning Decisions into an Assessment Blueprint 183
Step 5, Part 1: Developing Exercises 185
Short Answer or Extended Response? 185
Devising Short Answer Exercises 186
Devising Extended Response Exercises 187
Devising Interpretive Exercises 190
Offering Choices 192
Step 5, Part 2: Preparing the Scoring Guides 192
Creating Scoring Lists 192
Creating Scoring Rubrics 194
Step 6: Reviewing and Critiquing the Assessment 208
Steps 7 and 8: Using and Revising the Assessment 208
Revising for Future Use 209
Seven Strategies of Assessment for Learning with Written Response Methodology 209
Where Am I Going? 210
Where Am I Now? 212
How Can I Close the Gap? 215
Summary 217
Chapter 6 Activities 218

[ x ]
 Contents

CHAPTER 7 Designing and Using a Performance Assessment 219

Chapter 7 Learning Targets 221
When to Use Performance Assessment 221
Planning a Performance Assessment: Steps 1–4 222
Step 1: Determine Assessment Purpose 222
Step 2: Identify Learning Targets to Be Assessed 222
Step 3: Select the Assessment Method(s) 222
Step 4: Determine Sample Size 223
Steps 5 and 6: Developing and Critiquing the Task 224
Criterion 1: The Content of the Task 226
Criterion 2: Feasibility and Fairness 229
Criterion 3: Sample Size 230
Creating Tasks to Elicit Good Writing 231
Evaluating the Task for Quality 234
Overview of Rubrics: Purpose, Structure, and Terminology 238
Rubric Structure 239
Rubric Terminology 244
Steps 5 and 6: Developing and Critiquing the Rubric 246
Criterion 1: Content of the Rubric 246
Criterion 2: Structure of the Rubric 247
Criterion 3: Descriptors in the Rubric 248
The Process for Developing Rubrics 250
Creating a Student-Friendly Version of the Rubric 254
Co-Creating Rubrics with Students 254
Questions About Rubrics 255
Evaluating the Rubric for Quality 256
Steps 7 and 8: Using and Revising the Assessment 260
Seven Strategies for Assessment for Learning with Performance Assessment Tasks and
Rubrics 261
Where Am I Going? 262
Where Am I Now? 266
How Can I Close the Gap? 267
Summary 269
Chapter 7 Activities 271

CHAPTER 8 Using Personal Communication as an Assessment Method 272

Chapter 8 Learning Targets 274
When to Assess via Personal Communication 274
Understanding the Quality Control Issues 274
Personal Communication Options 278

[ xi ]
Contents

Assessing via Instructional Questions and Answers 278

Establishing the Purpose 279
Framing the Question 280
Asking the Question 282
Calling on Students to Answer 283
Listening to Responses 284
Responding to Responses 284
Preparing Students 285
Assessing via Class Discussion 286
Developing Class Discussion Topics and Questions 287
Suggestions for Effective Use of Class Discussion 287
Assessing via Conferences and Interviews 291
Developing Questions and Topics for Conferences and Interviews 292
Suggestions for Effective Use of Conferences and Interviews 292
Assessing via Oral Examinations 293
Developing Questions for Oral Examinations 293
Suggestions for Effective Use of Oral Examinations 293
Assessing via Journals and Logs 294
Response Journals 295
Dialogue Journals 295
Personal Learning Journals 296
Learning Logs 296
Possible Sources of Bias that Can Distort Results 296
Reminder of Problems and Solutions 298
Summary 299
Chapter 8 Activities 299

CHAPTER 9 Deriving Accurate, Fair, and Defensible Summary Grades 301

Chapter 9 Learning Targets 303
Terminology 303
Grades 303
Standards 303
Responsibilities and Challenges of Report Card Grading 305
Creating an Accurate, Fair, and Defensible Grading System 307
Establishing the Purpose: Three Grading Guidelines 308
Guideline 1: The Purpose of Grades Is to Communicate 309
Guideline 2: The Purpose of Grades Is to Communicate About Achievement 311
Guideline 3: The Purpose of Grades Is to Communicate
About Achievement at a Point in Time 316
Summary of the Purpose of Grades 318
Communicate How? Recommendations for Performance Standards 318

[ xii ]
 Contents

Using a Percentage Scale 319

Criterion-Referenced Standards 319
Recording Assessment Information 321
Differentiating Information for Formative or Summative Use 321
Deciding Where You Will Keep the Information 328
Standards-Based Recordkeeping Guidelines 330
Using Norm-Referenced Standards to Assign a Grade 339
Summarizing Assessment Information into a Composite Grade 341
Step 1. Verify Accuracy of Data 341
Step 2. Convert Gradebook Entries to a Common Scale 341
Step 3. Weight Information as Needed 343
Step 4. Combine Information Thoughtfully 344
Decide Borderline Cases with Extra Evidence 345
Make Modifications with Care for Special Needs Students 345
Creating a Logic Rule for Deriving a Composite Grade 346
Reporting Scales for Academic Enabling Behaviors 346
Considerations When Reporting the Final Grade 347
Six Steps to Accurate, Fair, and Defensible Report Card Grades 348
“If I Don’t Grade It, They Won’t Do It” 348
Understanding the Problems 349
Addressing the Problems 353
Summary 360
Chapter 9 Activities 361

CHAPTER 10 Students Tracking and Reflecting on Their Own Learning 363

Chapter 10 Learning Targets 364
Prerequisites to Successful Student Record Keeping and Reflection 365
Recording and Reflecting on Information from Assignments and Assessments 365
Writing in Journals 371
Tracking and Reflection on Learning with Portfolios 373
Kinds of Portfolios—Focus on Purpose 374
Growth Portfolios 375
Project Portfolios 376
Achievement Status Portfolios 377
Competence Portfolios 377
Celebration Portfolios 378
Working Folders 378
Portfolio Contents—Focus on Learning Targets 378
Artifact Selection 378
Who Decides What to Include? 379
Work Sample Annotations 380

[ xiii ]
Contents

Student Self-Reflection 382

Goal Setting 382
Options for Sharing Portfolios 382
Keys to Successful Use 385
1. Ensure Accuracy of the Evidence 385
2. Keep Track of the Evidence 386
3. Invest Time Up Front 386
4. Make the Experience Safe 387
Summary 387
Chapter 10 Activities 388

CHAPTER 11 Conferencing with and About Students 389

Chapter 11 Learning Targets 389
Kinds of Conferences 390
The Feedback Conference 392
Keys to a Successful Feedback Conference 392
The Goal-Setting Conference 394
Characteristics of Effective Goals 394
Components of Effective Goals in the Classroom Context 395
Keys to a Successful Goal-Setting Conference 397
Progress and Achievement Status Conferences 399
Focusing on Growth over Time 399
Focusing on Achievement Status 400
Identifying Participants 400
Preparing the Students 400
Preparing the Parents or Other Adults 401
Conducting a Two-Way Conference 401
Conducting a Three-Way Conference 402
Follow-Up 402
The Showcase Conference 403
Preparing the Students 403
Conducting a Showcase Conference 403
Follow-Up 403
The Intervention Conference 403
Summary 404
Chapter 11 Activities 404

Appendix A: Assessing Dispositions 406

Appendix B: Professional Development with the Text 414
References 430
Index 434

[ xiv ]
CHAPTER 1

Understanding Assessment’s
Role in Learning

If we know how to do something with assessment informa-

tion beyond using it to figure grades, we have the capacity to
improve learning.

F
or many of us, assessment is probably not at the top of the list of what we want
to spend time learning. But we would guess that, in the past few years, you may
have been called upon to do one or more of the following things, each of which
may have left you wanting a better understanding of why it is important to do or of
how to do it well.
• Develop common assessments with other teachers in your subject area or grade
level.
• Participate in data analysis work sessions to discuss assessment results and stu-
dent learning needs.
• Work with a team to “deconstruct” complex content standards in order to identify
learning targets for daily instruction and assessment.
• Focus on differentiated instruction as a strategy to help more students master
content standards.
• Post learning targets for all of your lessons.
• Attend an assessment-focused workshop and then make a presentation to the rest
of the faculty on what should change.
• Move to a standards-based grading system that centers on communicating what
students know and can achieve and removes from grades such nonachievement
variables as attendance, effort, and behavior.
All of these actions, along with many other current school improvement initia-
tives involving assessment, are aimed at raising student achievement in an era of
high-pressure accountability testing. Each action requires classroom teachers to have

[ 1 ]
Chapter 1 • Understanding Assessment’s Role in Learning

classroom-level assessment expertise to carry it out effectively. And yet the opportunity
to develop that expertise may not have been available to you through preservice or
inservice offerings. Without a foundation of what we call classroom assessment literacy,
few if any of these initiatives will lead to the improvements we want for our students.
We have written this book to deepen your classroom assessment literacy; that is, the
knowledge and skills needed to do two things: (1) gather accurate information about
student achievement and (2) use the assessment process and its results effectively to
improve achievement (Figure 1.1). Taken together, these two components define the
domain of classroom assessment quality.
In this first chapter, we begin by discussing the research findings that support the
use of assessment information formatively during instruction. Next, we describe a set
of assessment quality guidelines drawn from the field of educational measurement
and from the research on formative assessment practices, which we call the Five Keys
to Classroom Assessment Quality. These guidelines lay out what is required to ensure
accuracy in our assessments and effective use of their results. We conclude with an
overview of subsequent chapters, which provide detailed explanations and examples
for each of the keys to quality.

Chapter 1 Learning Targets

At the end of this chapter, you will know the following:
■■ What it means to be assessment literate ■■ What the five keys to classroom
■■ Key research findings on how forma- assessment quality are and how they
tive assessment practices can increase function together to ensure accu-
student learning racy and effective use of assessment
information

FORMATIVE AND SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT

What is assessment? In the long-standing view, it is an instrument—an assignment, a
quiz, a test, a project—that students complete to show what they have and haven’t
learned. It is administered regularly, and its results are recorded for use in figuring
end-of-term grades. In this view, assessing is separate from teaching—it is an action at
the end of a lesson or unit. Its purpose is to measure learning for reporting purposes.
The use of the assessment information in this scenario is summative, also known as
assessment of learning.

FIGURE 1.1 Definition of Classroom Assessment Literacy

The knowledge and skills needed to

1. Gather accurate information about student achievement.
2. Use the assessment process and its results effectively to improve achievement.

[ 2 ]
 Chapter 1 • Understanding Assessment’s Role in Learning

Assessment, in fact, is simply the act of gathering information. We speak of the instru-
ment used as the assessment, but it isn’t always an instrument. A question posed, an
observation made—both can serve as assessments, or actions for the purpose of gath-
ering information. And we can do more with assessment information than use it to
figure grades. An overwhelming preponderance of research supports a robust role for
assessment during learning, woven throughout teaching, to guide instructional next
steps for both the teacher and the student. This is known as formative use of assessment
information, or assessment for learning.

The Importance of Formative Assessment:

Assessment for Learning
During the past two decades, much has been written about formative assessment—its
impact on achievement, what it is and isn’t, how to create “formative assessments,”
how to use formative assessment information and teaching strategies in the classroom.
In short, formative assessment has garnered the lion’s share of assessment attention
and established a pretty good name for itself. Over the past ten years, most, if not all,
schools and districts we are familiar with have undertaken initiatives having to do
with formative assessment.
Yet the reality is that most assessments in school remain summative—most
“count” toward the grade. And, even though they only occur periodically, large-scale
accountability assessments continue to dominate considerations of what is most impor-
tant. However, no research has yet surfaced documenting positive impact on student
achievement as a result of large-scale assessment. Neither has summative assessment
demonstrated the power to increase learning. Only formative assessment has.
To understand formative assessment’s power, we must first understand what it is
and isn’t. Labeling an assessment “formative” doesn’t make it so. We define formative
assessment as a collection of formal and informal processes teachers and students use to
gather and share evidence for the purpose of guiding next steps in learning (Figure 1.2).
Although it is commonly understood that formative assessment can cause gains
in student achievement, we have to dig deeper into its many variations to know what
gains to expect and which practices are likely to lead to them. For this information,
we look to the research. The most well-known body of evidence was assembled and
summarized in 1998 by two British researchers, Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam. They
conducted a comprehensive review of studies on formative assessment practices that
collectively encompassed kindergarteners to college students; represented a range of
subject areas, including reading, writing, social studies, mathematics, and science; and

FIGURE 1.2 Definition of Formative Assessment: Assessment for Learning

A collection of formal and informal processes teachers and students use to gather
and share evidence for the purpose of guiding next steps in learning.

[ 3 ]
Chapter 1 • Understanding Assessment’s Role in Learning

were carried out in numerous countries throughout the world, including the United
States (Black & Wiliam, 1998a).
The gains they found were among the largest reported for any educational inter-
vention. Typical effect sizes were between 0.4 and 0.7. In some studies they reviewed,
certain practices increased the achievement of low-performing students to the point of
approaching that of high-achieving students (c.f. White & Fredericksen, 1998). To put
the standard deviation numbers into perspective, a 0.4 to 0.7 achievement gain would
produce a 50 to 70 percent increase in the rate of student learning (Wiliam, 2017, p. 38).
These are whopping gains—we don’t accomplish them with a good night’s sleep the
night before the test, snacks on the day of the test, or a pep rally. As one might guess,
these formative assessment practices were not a matter of ingenious test preparation.
These are the reported gains that have launched a thousand “formative assess-
ment” products. But the size of the achievement gains is only part of the story. The
most important, and less well-known, part is what occurred to cause the gains. Per-
haps surprisingly, Black and Wiliam’s original research review did not treat “formative
assessment” as a discrete entity or as a clearly defined treatment. As Lorrie Shepard
describes it, it was “ . . . a narrative review of quite disparate literatures, including
studies of goal orientations, (from motivation research), student self-assessment, task
quality, classroom discourse and questioning, types of feedback, mastery learning, and
so forth” (Shepard, in Noyce & Hickey, 2011, p. vii). However, from among these varied
studies, certain practices emerged as consistently providing substantive learning gains.
In summarizing them, Black and Wiliam (1998b) make the following observations:
• “Opportunities for students to express their understanding should be designed
into any piece of teaching, for this will initiate the interaction through which for-
mative assessment aids learning” (p. 143).
• “The dialogue between pupils and teachers should be thoughtful, reflective,
focused to evoke and explore understanding, and conducted so that all pupils
have an opportunity to think and to express their ideas” (p. 144).
• “Feedback to any pupil should be about the particular qualities of his or her work,
with advice on what he or she can do to improve, and should avoid comparisons
to other pupils” (p. 143).
• “If formative assessment is to be productive, pupils should be trained in self-
assessment so that they can understand the main purposes of their learning and
thereby grasp what they need to do to achieve” (p. 143).
Therefore, they suggest, the following practices are necessary to achieve the gains
promised by formative assessment:
1. Diagnostic assessment: The use of classroom discussions, classroom tasks, and
homework to determine the current state of student learning or understanding,
with action taken to improve learning and correct misunderstandings
2. Feedback: The provision of descriptive feedback during the learning, with guidance
on how to improve

[ 4 ]
 Chapter 1 • Understanding Assessment’s Role in Learning

3. Student self and peer assessment: Students accurately analyzing their own work to
determine strengths and areas for further work; peers offering each other accurate
feedback
Obviously, none of these can be purchased as “formative” items or tests. They
are all practices, not instruments. There is no magic test or tool—we cannot buy our
way to achievement-through-assessment nirvana. Fortunately, the practices can all be
learned. Even more fortunately, they are not new. Good teaching has included these
components all along. However, in our accountability-saturated environment, we may
have left more than children behind—we may have also left a few good teaching and
assessment practices behind.
Let us compare these high-impact practices to what is often understood to be
“formative assessment.” When we ask workshop participants to list the formative
assessment practices they are familiar with, the lists typically include the following:
• Common assessments
• Interim assessments
• Clickers
• Whiteboards
• Traffic lighting (red, yellow, or green to show level of understanding)
• Thumbs up, thumbs down
• Exit slips
And sometimes the lists include feedback and student self-assessment activi-
ties. In the most common responses, the intent is generally diagnostic: the purpose
for their use is to provide teachers with information about what students have
and haven’t yet learned. In our experience, this understanding of formative assess-
ment as a diagnostic activity dominates American classrooms today. There are two
problems with this. The first is that it is an incomplete picture of the collection
of practices that yielded the achievement gains. The second is that it reflects an
incomplete understanding of the mechanisms that underlie formative assessment’s
effectiveness.
To probe a little more deeply, let’s examine the three categories of high-impact
formative assessment practices in light of three questions: “Who is examining the
assessment information?” “Who is interpreting it?” and “Who is acting upon it?”
In the first group of practices—gathering diagnostic assessment information—
the teacher examines the information, whether it is from a question, a discussion, an
assignment, a quiz, or whatever. Then the teacher interprets the information: What
does this mean students understand? Don’t understand? Last, the teacher determines
what next steps to take to address the learning challenges noted and carries them out.
In the 1960s, Madeleine Hunter called this “monitor and adjust.” It has been a part of
good teaching since Socrates and probably before: teaching with your eyes open has
always been a good idea. The teacher examines, the teacher interprets, and the teacher
acts. However, if the teacher stops short of acting on the information, due perhaps to

[ 5 ]
Chapter 1 • Understanding Assessment’s Role in Learning

time constraints or an unhelpful picture of student learning needs, there will be no

increased learning. No action, no gain.
In the second group—feedback practices—the teacher examines the information
and interprets it. Then the teacher conveys the interpretation to the student: What does
this mean they are good at? Where do they need to focus their efforts? What next steps
should they take? The student has to correctly interpret the teacher’s feedback and then
act on it. So, in this case, the teacher examines, the teacher interprets, and the teacher
acts to share the information. However, if the student doesn’t also examine the infor-
mation, understand the teacher’s interpretation, and act on the feedback, there will be
no achievement gain as a result. It isn’t the giving of feedback that causes the gains; it’s
the acting on feedback on the part of the student that does. No action, no gain.
In the third group—student self-assessment and peer feedback activities—it is
the students who are examining the information, interpreting it, and acting on it. If all
three actions (examining, interpreting, and acting) are not undertaken by the student,
there is considerably less likelihood of increased learning. No action, no gain.
When formative assessment practices are working well, teachers and students
adjust their actions based on guidance from the assessment information. The extent to
which the information is accurate, accurately interpreted, communicated in an action-
able form, and acted upon determines the magnitude of its effect on learning. Without
this understanding, we are at risk of creating a test bank, adopting a program or an
item bank, and believing we are “doing” formative assessment.

Where the Power of Formative Assessment Lies

New Zealand researcher John Hattie spent more than fifteen years analyzing research on
138 different factors that have been put forth as contributing to increased student achieve-
ment. He examined more than 800 meta-analyses (collections of studies focused on a
single factor), which taken together comprised more than 50,000 studies involving more
than 240 million students. Hattie drew conclusions about the relative impact of each factor
studied and wrote Visible Learning (2009) to offer an explanatory story of key influences
on student learning. He frames the central message running throughout his text as this:

The act of teaching reaches its epitome of success after the lesson has been
structured, after the content has been delivered, and after the classroom has
been organized. The art of teaching, and its major success, relate to “what
happens next”—the manner in which the teacher reacts to how the student
interprets, accommodates, rejects and/or reinvents the content and skills,
how the student relates and applies the content to other tasks, and how
the student reacts in light of success and failure apropos the content and
methods that the teacher has taught. (pp. 1–2)

Hattie explains that feedback from the student to the teacher is central to taking
actions that increase learning. It is our formative assessment practices that give us

[ 6 ]
 Chapter 1 • Understanding Assessment’s Role in Learning

this feedback. Dylan Wiliam calls assessment the bridge between teaching and learning,
which allows us to engineer effective learning environments for students (2017, p. 55).
He describes it this way:

Assessment occupies such a central position in good teaching because we

cannot predict what students will learn, no matter how we design our
teaching . . . Assessment is the central process in instruction—students do
not learn what we teach. If they did, we would not need to keep grade-
books. We could, instead, simply record what we have taught. (pp. 52–54)

And in a chapter called “Feedback and Instructional Correctives” from a

published handbook of research on classroom assessment, Wiliam makes the follow-
ing observation:

If learning is a predictable process, which most of the time proceeds as

planned, then instructional correctives should be needed rarely; most of the
time, students will learn what they have been taught, but occasionally they
will not. In this view, feedback and instructional correctives are pathologi-
cal aspects of instruction, needed only when things go wrong . . . However,
if learning is an unpredictable process, then feedback and instructional
correctives are central to learning; without them, little effective instruction
can take place. (Wiliam, 2013, p. 197)

The intent of diagnostic assessment is to pay attention to what students’ questions,

conversations, and work show us they are and aren’t learning and to do something
about it before we hold them accountable for having learned it. Although our pacing
guides may have been designed to reflect the model of teaching shown in Diagram
A of Figure 1.3, the reality of how learning moves forward looks more like Diagram
B. For teaching to engender increases in learning, we need to adopt a model like that
shown in Diagram C: when students interact with our teaching, we notice learning
needs and then take action. The action may be further or different instruction, it may
be to offer feedback, or it may be that students are ready to self-assess and set goals
for their own learning (Diagram D).

The Centrality of the Student

So far, we have focused on using assessment to meet the information needs of the
teacher, but the student is an equally important decision maker whose information needs
must be met during the learning as well. In our experience, student needs get lost in
the formative assessment picture because it centers so heavily on teacher’s needs. We
link the phrase assessment for learning to formative assessment to make sure we include
practices that meet students’ information needs during learning and that develop their
internal sense of academic self-efficacy.

[ 7 ]
Chapter 1 • Understanding Assessment’s Role in Learning

FIGURE 1.3 Models of Assessment’s Relationship to Teaching

Diagram A Diagram B

PLAN PLAN

INSTRUCT INSTRUCT

?
ASSIGN ASSIGN
?
? ?
GRADE ?

Diagram C

Initial instruction

Student action

Teacher (and student)

analysis of learning need

Student self- or Teacher-

teacher-guided guided
plan instruction
Grade

Diagram D
Diagnose Take action

Further instruction Offer feedback

Have students self-assess

and set goals for next steps

[ 8 ]
 Chapter 1 • Understanding Assessment’s Role in Learning

Educational researchers emphasize the centrality of student as decision maker

when they describe how students benefit from formative assessment:
• “Formative assessment, therefore, is essentially feedback (Ramaprasad, 1983) to
the teachers and to the pupil about present understanding and skill development
in order to determine the way forward” (Harlen & James, 1997, p. 369).
• “The indispensable conditions for improvement are that the student comes to hold
a concept of quality roughly similar to that held by the teacher, is able to monitor
continuously the quality of what is being produced during the act of production
itself, and has a repertoire of alternative moves or strategies from which to draw
at any given point” (Sadler, 1989 p. 121, emphasis in original).
• “Implicit in the nature of formative assessment is the development of the metacog-
nitive awareness needed by students to plan, monitor, and assess their learning and
their work (Clark, 2012; Jones, 2007). Metacognition refers to one’s knowledge of
cognition as well as the processes of monitoring, controlling, and regulating one’s
own cognition (Pintrich, 2002). Research from a variety of theoretical perspectives
has demonstrated that metacognition is associated with better learning and achieve-
ment (Azevedo, 2005; Hacker, Donloskey, & Graesser, 1998)” (Andrade, 2013, p. 24).

Summative Assessment: Assessment of Learning

We define summative assessment as the use of information to make an overall judgment about
level of achievement or program effectiveness. Summative assessment isn’t bad or wrong,
but it harms learning when it happens too soon in the teaching-learning process. In
light of a 1988 study, researcher Terry Crooks noted that “[t]oo much emphasis has
been placed on the grading function of evaluation and too little on its role in assisting
students to learn.” Dylan Wiliam summarized Crooks’s findings on the effects of too
much summative assessment as follows:
• Reduction in intrinsic motivation
• Increase in test anxiety
• Increased ability attributions for success and failure, which undermines effort
• Lowered self-efficacy in weaker students
• Reduction in effective feedback
• Poorer social relationships among students (Wiliam, 2013, p. 205)
These are all steps in the opposite direction we hope to go with our students.
Employing formative assessment practices during learning and summative assessment
practices after learning has taken place significantly increases success for all students.

FIVE KEYS TO QUALITY CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT

We have begun this overview chapter with a discussion of formative and summa-
tive assessment practices, not to demonize one and glorify the other but to reinforce
the many uses that assessment can serve in the classroom. And, as important as

[ 9 ]
Chapter 1 • Understanding Assessment’s Role in Learning

understanding those uses is, they fit into a bigger picture of assessment quality that
begins first with accuracy. Formative and summative assessment practices each rely
on a foundation of accurate information: no accuracy, no gain. If the information from
an assessment is inaccurate—if it offers a distorted picture of what students have
and have not learned—any decision we make has the potential to harm learning.
So, knowing how to evaluate our assessments themselves for quality is as important
as knowing how to use assessment information effectively, either formatively or
summatively.
We call our “big picture” the Five Keys to Classroom Assessment Quality. Their con-
tent is drawn from the measurement field and adapted to the needs of the classroom.
The first three keys define the conditions needed for accuracy, and the last two keys
define the conditions for effective use.

Key 1: Clear Purpose. Assessments are designed to serve the specific information needs
of intended user(s).
Key 2: Clear Targets. Assessments are based on clearly articulated and appropriate
achievement targets.
Key 3: Sound Design. Assessments accurately measure student achievement.
Key 4: Formative Usefulness. Assessments yield results that are used formatively to
further learning.
Key 5: Effective Communication. Assessments yield results that are used to commu-
nicate about student learning accurately.

Figure 1.4 shows a graphic representation of the five keys to quality.

Key 1: Clear Purpose

We assess, in part, to gather information about student learning that will inform
instructional decisions. Teachers and students make decisions every day that drive
learning—they need regular information about what each student has and has not
yet learned. We make some decisions frequently, such as when we decide what comes
next in student learning within lessons or when we diagnose problems. Typically,
these decisions, made day to day in the classroom based on evidence gathered from
classroom activities and assessments, are intended to support student learning—to
help students learn more. As we have seen, these are known collectively as formative
assessment practices: formal and informal processes teachers and students use to gather
evidence for the purpose of improving learning.
We make other decisions periodically, such as when we assign report card grades
or identify students for special services. In this case, we rely on classroom assessment
evidence accumulated over time to determine how much learning has occurred. Other
instructional decisions are made less frequently, such as when school districts assess to

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