Opinion Blog

Classroom Q&A

With Larry Ferlazzo

In this EdWeek blog, an experiment in knowledge-gathering, Ferlazzo will address readers’ questions on classroom management, ELL instruction, lesson planning, and other issues facing teachers. Send your questions to lferlazzo@epe.org. Read more from this blog.

Education Opinion

Q&A Collections: Student Assessment

By Larry Ferlazzo — August 04, 2017 3 min read
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I’ll begin posting new questions and answers in early September, and during the summer will be sharing thematic posts bringing together responses on similar topics from the past six years. You can see all those collections from the first five years here.

Here are the ones I’ve posted so far:

This Year’s Most Popular Q&A Posts

Classroom Management Advice

Race & Gender Challenges

Implementing The Common Core

Best Ways To Begin The School Year

Best Ways To End The School Year

Student Motivation & Social Emotional Learning

Teaching Social Studies

Project-Based Learning

Using Tech In The Classroom

Parent Engagement In Schools

Teaching English Language Learners

Today’s theme is on Student Assessment. You can see the list following this excerpt from one of them:

* Performance Assessment Can Be an ‘Equity Strategy’

Lee Jenkins, Shane Safir, Andrew Miller, Matt Renwick, and Barbara Blackburn share their ideas on using performance assessment with students.

* Performance Assessments Are ‘Absolutely Worth the Effort’

Joshua Dragoon, N. Chaunte Garrett, Travis Bristol, Kristina Doubet, and Eric Carbaugh contribute their thoughts on using performance assessment in schools.

* Performance Assessments Are ‘Adaptable, Accessible, and Forgiving’

Mike Kaechele, Allison Zmuda, Bena Kallick, Elizabeth Leisy Stosich, and Jennifer Borgioli define performance assessment and how to use it in the classroom.

* Making Grading Practices ‘Specific, Constructive, & Timely’

Myron Dueck, Kristina Doubet, Jessica A. Hockett, Roxanna Elden, Mark Barnes, and Bill Ivey share their suggestions on effective grading practices.

* Assessing Students on ‘What Really Counts’

Today’s post features commentaries from Andrew Miller, Suzie Boss, Meg Riordan, Abbie Sewall, Daniel Schwartz, and Vicky Layne on how to assess students in today’s world.

* Assessments for Today’s Students

Kristina Doubet, Heather Wolpert-Gawron, Thomas Guskey, Thom Markham, and Nancy Sulla contribute their thoughts on assessment in today’s classroom.

* Formative Assessments Are ‘Powerful’

Jennifer Serravallo, Andrew Miller, Daniel R. Venables, Brady E. Venables, and Larry Ainsworth are contributors to this post.

* The ‘Secret Sauce’ of Formative Assessment

This column includes contributions from Libby Woodfin, Tony Frontier, Laura Cabrera, and Alice Mercer.

* ‘The Grading System We Need To Have’

Rick Wormeli, the well-known educator, author, and speaker, provides the primary response this post. In addition, several readers contributed their own thoughts.

* High-Stakes Testing & Student Engagement

Three author/educators, Michael Opitz, Michael Ford, and Bryan Harris, share their guest responses in this post.

* Ways to Include Students in the Formative Assessment Process

Author and educator Amy Benjamin, California teacher Cheryl Suliteanu, and I offer our suggestions.

* Several Kinds of Grading Systems

Professor Thomas R. Guskey, author Susan M. Brookhart, educator Bill Ivey, and I share our thoughts and practices.

* Standardized Test Critiques & Potential Alternatives

Professors David C. Berliner and Yong Zhao offer their thoughts on the topic.

* Helping Long-Term ELL’s & Evaluating ELL Teachers Fairly

Katie Hull Sypnieski, the best teacher I’ve ever seen in the classroom, and staff from the American Federation of Teachers researching teacher evaluation contribute their responses.

* Ways the “Next Generation” of Standardized Tests Should Treat ELL’s

Representatives from the two groups of states preparing the new assessments, the SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium, or SBAC, and The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers Consortium, or PARCC, contribute responses.

I hope you’ve found this summary useful and, again, keep those questions coming!

The opinions expressed in Classroom Q&A With Larry Ferlazzo are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.