Product Description

The right kinds of tests, correctly applied, can help every teacher become a better teacher. But unless you know the nuts and bolts of effective test design and application, you may be collecting the wrong data; misinterpreting data; and drawing off-base conclusions about what students know and can do, what to teach next, and how effective your instruction has been.

In Test Better, Teach Better, assessment expert W. James Popham explores the links between assessment and instruction and provides a jargon-free look at classroom and large-scale test construction, interpretation, and application. Featuring sample items, testing tips, and recommended resources, this "crash course" in instructionally focused assessment includes

* The four types of instructional decisions that testing will illuminate.
* What you really need to know about measurement concepts like validity, reliability, and bias.
* The advantages and disadvantages of various test formats and experience-based rules for creating great items in each.
* The benefits of assessing student affect and guidelines for doing it in your own classroom.

In addition, Popham offers practical advice for dealing with today's myriad testing targets and explains how standards-based achievement tests currently don't (but could) provide both accountability evidence and useful instructional information.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #94492 in Books
• Published on: 2003-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 175 pages

Customer Reviews

Enthusiastically recommended reading for classroom educators
Test Better, Teach Better: The Instructional Role Of Assessment is an informative guideline by W. James Popham (Professor Emeritus, UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies) to using test data to improve classroom instructor's ability to educate children and prepare them for the future. From the often-misused value of standardized achievement tests; to applying tests judiciously in order to clarify one's curriculum; to minimizing bias and taking it into account, and more, Test Better, Teach Better is enthusiastically recommended reading for classroom educators dedicated to utilizing every means at their disposal to improve the academic abilities of their students regardless of the subject matter being taught. Also highly recommended is the Association For Supervision And Curriculum Development website at www.ascd.org