Balanced Assessment - 9781934009529

Kay Burke has created a practical resource for busy practitioners. Balanced Assessment: From Formative to Summative provides a comprehensive overview of the critical role that assessments, both formative and summative, play in today's classrooms. Burke promotes the use of performance-based tasks that make real-life connections, and she explains how to use rubrics to assess the critical skills and understanding that the tasks target. Performance tasks also allow teachers to differentiate instruction and assessment to meet the needs of all learners, including advanced and beginning students and English language learners.---Lisa Almeida, senior professional development associate, The Leadership and Learning Center, Englewood, Colorado

"Balanced assessment" means integrating both formative and summative assessments seamlessly into instruction. This book makes clear that the distinction between the two types of assessment is not as rigid as many people believe. In fact, the same assessment can be both formative and summative, depending on its timing and purpose. Formative assessments are administered frequently during a learning segment to provide feedback to both teachers and students about concepts and skills that students are having difficulty understanding or mastering. This feedback helps teachers modify and differentiate their instruction to help all students meet the standard. Summative assessments are administered at the end of a learning segment and are the final opportunity for students to demonstrate proficiency. In this highly practical guide, Kay Burke

Defines formative and summative assessments and explains how they complement each other

Describes how teams of teachers work together to plan instruction and create common assessments

Shows how to make the curriculum more engaging through authentic performance tasks and provides numerous examples from different subject areas and grade levels

Explains how checklists and rubrics are used for instruction and assessment

Suggests ways to differentiate instruction

Describes more informal, "quick and easy" assessment strategies