Actionable Assessment by McDowell, Michael; Sackstein, Starr;

Short description:

In this handy playbook, Starr Sackstein and Michael McDowell help you collect formative assessment data in real time and provide step-by-step flowcharts and images to demonstrate how best to proceed once you have the data you need. They also cover ways to shift instruction based on student needs, engagement, and metacognitive opportunities.

Long description:

Effective teaching involves checking and responding in the moment to learning, as you discover which students are getting it and which ones need more support. But how do you make decisions on the fly based on information gleaned during class?

In this handy playbook, Sackstein and McDowell help you collect formative assessment data in real-time, and then they provide step-by-step flowcharts and images to demonstrate how best to proceed once you have the data you need. They offer set plays for secondary students below, at, and above standards. They also provide specific instructional advice for when the challenges occur at the beginning, middle, and end of lessons, or in full group or small group settings. And finally, they cover ways to shift instruction based on student needs, engagement, and metacognitive opportunities.

With this helpful resource, you'll have a plethora of instructional moves that work in different situations, so you can continually adjust to where students are and help them truly grow in their learning.

"This book is ultimately about trust: trust in evidence, trust in teachers, and trust in students’ capacity to grow when instruction responds intelligently to need. McDowell and Sackstein translate decades of research into clear, disciplined instructional moves that respect teacher expertise while sharpening its impact. They bring complex ideas to life through a shared professional language—in-the-moment growth, backward fading, rotating questions, stuck in motion, the obstacle as the opportunity, and the reminder that learning isn’t a straight line—all in service of developing consistency and precision of practice. This is assessment as professional judgment, exercised in real time, positioning educators as adaptive experts who can read the room, respond to evidence, and guide students forward without abandoning rigor or coherence."

 —Professor John Hattie, University of Melbourne, Australia. A global authority on education effectiveness, his extensive research is the world’s largest evidence base on what works best in schools to improve learning.

Table of Contents:

Part 1: Laying the Foundation  1. Understanding the Formative Assessment Process  2. Overview of Clarity and Effective Assessment Design Part 2: Breaking Down the Phases  3. Assessing and Responding to Where Students Are at the Beginning of Learning in a Lesson or Unit  4. Assessing Throughout the Learning in the Moment  5. Assessing Depth of Understanding at the End of a Lesson or Unit  6. Building Assessment into Learning Systems