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The authors argue that the failure of 60 years of total reliance on assessment via standardized tests to help reduce achievement score gaps must compel us to rethink the role of assessment in this endeavor. They advocate rebalancing assessment priorities to bring classroom assessment into the equation. Evidence gathered over decades from around the world reveals strong achievement gains and reduced achievement score gaps when teachers implement student-involved classroom assessment practices in support of student learning in their classrooms. Five standards of sound classroom assessment practice are described that, if put in place, would permit teachers and schools to draw upon a heretofore untapped reservoir of motivation in ways that benefit students, especially low performers.
FROM THEIR VERY earliest school experiences, our students draw life-shaping conclusions about themselves as learners on the basis of the information we provide to them as a result of their teachers' classroom assessments. As that evidence accumulates over time, they decide if they are capable of succeeding or not. They decide whether the learning is worth the commitment it will take to attain it. They decide if they should have confidence in themselves as learners and in their teachers-that is, whether to risk investing in the schooling experience. These decisions are crucial to their academic well-being. Depending on how they decide, their teachers may or may not be able to influence their learning lives.
Because of individual academic difficulties, some students can land on the wrong side of these decisions. If we are to help them-if we are to close achievement gaps-we must help them believe they are capable of succeeding and that success is worth the investment.
The results of a decade of research and development (cited later) help us understand how to use the classroom assessment process and its results to help students become confident learners. Strong achievement gains are within reach for all students, especially those who have experienced little success before. To gain access to these results, we must (a) fundamentally redefine the relationships among assessment, student motivation, and effective schools, and (b) provide teachers with a set of classroom assessment competencies that historically has been denied them. This article describes such a new vision and the conditions that must be in place to attain...