Formative Assessment: Making It Happen in the Classroom, June/2010

"Formative assessment has changed the culture of my classroom. This book provides a straightforward approach to uncovering what my students know, what they still need to learn, and how to use assessment as a tool for learning instead of evaluating."
—Shawn Morgan, Math Instructional Support Teacher
Syracuse City School District, NY

"Heritage clearly defines the process of formative assessment and uses real classroom applications to turn theory into practice. The reflection questions at the end of each chapter make this book an easy resource to implement in collaboration with colleagues, as well as a tool for self-assessment."
—Amanda Whitehead, Principal
Fouke Middle School, AR

A practical, in-depth guide to implementing formative assessment in your classroom!

Formative assessment allows teachers to identify and close gaps in student understanding and move learning forward. Now this research-based book helps educators develop the knowledge and skills necessary to successfully implement formative assessment in the classroom.

Margaret Heritage walks readers through every step of the process and offers specific examples to illustrate the implementation of formative assessment across a range of subject areas and grade levels. This book explains how to:

1. Clearly articulate learning progressions, learning goals, and success criteria
2. Select strategies for assessment and provide quality feedback
3. Engage students in self-assessment and self-management
4. Create a classroom environment that values feedback as part of the learning process

With guidance for school administrators who want to promote schoolwide implementation, Formative Assessment helps educators effectively target their teaching and improve learning for all students!

About The Author:
Margaret Heritage is Assistant Director for Professional Development at the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards and Student Testing (CRESST) at UCLA, and leads the data use program of the Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center.

Prior to joining CRESST, she had many years of teaching and leadership experience in schools in the United Kingdom and the United States, including a period as a County Inspector of Education in the United Kingdom, and as principal at the UCLA laboratory school. She has also taught graduate classes in Education at the Department of Education at the University of Warwick, England, the University of California, Los Angeles, and at Stanford University.

Her current work focuses on data use for school improvement, learning progressions, formative assessment, and teachers’ use of formative assessment evidence.

Margaret Heritage is the co-author (with Alison Bailey) of Formative Assessment for Literacy, Grades K-6: Building Reading and Academic Language Skills Across the Curriculum, published by Corwin Press.