Classroom Assessment

Features

Students Take Center Stage in Classroom Assessment
Carol Smith and Cynthia Myers
Students hold the key to what they know and are able to do. But too often, they are the last people teachers consult when designing assessments.

Testing by Design
Denise Heffernan Stearns
In Southern Maine, teachers are learning that assessment should guide instruction, and not the other way around. Like good detectives, they search for evidence that students have learned what was intended.

Angling for Alternative Assessments
In their practical guide to accountability and assessment in schools, Joe Nathan and Nicola Johnson share research-based approaches that public schools are using to demonstrate results.

Learning by Heart
Leila Meyerratken
Foreign language teacher Leila Meyerratken stamps out uncivil behavior in her classes by showing students how to care.

Magic Moments in the Middle
Ruth Heumann
All children deserve teachers whose words and actions signal faith in their ability to succeed. Ruth Heuman has found that such magic moments can turn adolescents' lives around.

The Help Line
In this regular feature, we give educators the opportunity to sound off about the classroom conundrums that rise to the surface in a typical day at school.

Departments

The Electronic Thread
Caroline McCullen
We don't need more school shootings to remind us that we must teach students to resolve their disputes peacefully. Caroline McCullen discusses ways schools can curtail bullying through technology.

One Teacher to Another
Rick Wormeli
Rick Wormeli believes that helping children understand what they read might be the single most important skill a teacher can impart — at any grade and in any subject.

The Mark of Leadership
Edna Varner
School leaders should do more than just encourage teachers and students to make reading a priority, Edna Varner says. They must model that commitment by becoming vocal and visable leaders of readers.

Spotlight on Reading
Carol Erickson, Ed.D., and Amy Strefling, Ed.D.
Read all about it! Teachers turn reading into a school-wide campaign for higher student achievement.