Assessment Series

Testing to Teach

Using Assessment to Shape Instruction

Classroom measures known as formative assessments have a purpose distinct from that of end-of-year state tests. Used during instruction, they aim to provide feedback so that teachers and students can adjust what happens next in classrooms and improve the quality of teaching and learning as it’s going on. “Testing to Teach: Using Assessment to Shape Instruction” takes a close look at a handful of formative-assessment programs to provide a sense of what such measures look like in practice.

Education ‘Just-in-Time’ Tests Change What Classrooms Do Next
Educators increasingly are interested in measures designed to improve, not just monitor, learning and teaching.
Lynn Olson, July 2, 2007
1 min read
Federal Calif. Center Gauges Novice Teachers With Tools, Mentors
A California organization has developed a set of tools focused on what beginning teachers are learning.
Lynn Olson, May 10, 2007
9 min read
Assessment School Subtracts Math Texts to Add E-Lessons, Tests
Educators hope to get a better read on what their students know and what they should target in planning their classroom instruction.
Andrew Trotter, May 8, 2007
9 min read
Data coach Paula Morgado, at upper right, meets with 5th grade teachers at the Edward Everett Elementary School in Boston to help them interpret and use data gleaned from Formative Assessments of Student Thinking in Reading, or FAST-R, which measures critical-reading skills.
Data coach Paula Morgado, at upper right, meets with 5th grade teachers at the Edward Everett Elementary School in Boston to help them interpret and use data gleaned from Formative Assessments of Student Thinking in Reading, or FAST-R, which measures critical-reading skills.
Josh Reynolds for Education Week
Reading & Literacy Homegrown Tests Measure Core Critical-Reading Skills
FAST-R, or Formative Assessments of Student Thinking in Reading, is now used in more than 50 schools in the 57,000-student Boston district.
Lynn Olson, May 1, 2007
8 min read
Reading & Literacy Instant Read on Reading, in Palms of Their Hands
Teachers in a rural New Mexico district use hand-held computers to assess students’ reading progress and target instruction accordingly.
Lynn Olson, May 1, 2007
10 min read