Assessing Student Outcomes: Performance Assessment Using the Dimensions of Learning Model [Paperback]

Robert J. Marzano (Author), Jay McTighe (Author), Debra Pickering (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0871202255 | ISBN-13: 978-0871202253 | Publication Date: December 1, 1993

The authors provide a brief introduction to the Dimensions of Learning instructional model and then explain how it relates to lifelong learning standards and the content standards developed for mathematics, science, and other subjects. They include numerous examples of performance tasks that help students meet the standards by requiring them to actively construct knowledge for themselves.

Teachers will especially appreciate the book's many rubrics, which are four-point scales that teachers can use not only to assess student performance on various tasks related to the five dimensions of learning, but also to provide descriptive feedback that can help students improve their performance. The book is printed in an 8" x 10" format so readers can easily photocopy the rubrics and blank assessment forms in Part Two of the book.

Product Details

• Paperback: 138 pages
• Publisher: Association for Supervision & Curriculum Dev. (December 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0871202255
• ISBN-13: 978-0871202253
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #330,621 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

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27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Developing Thoughtful Assessment, February 20, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Assessing Student Outcomes: Performance Assessment Using the Dimensions of Learning Model (Paperback)

In this book, Marzano begins to refine an assessment model that ten years later has become widely embraced in the profession. Because he is basing it on his Dimensions of Learning model, it is unbelievably complex--that is, unbelievable to the classroom educator he hopes will use it to painstakingly analyze the multiple components of learning articulated by the model.

As an exercise in developing the concept of performance assessment and challenging the prevailing use of concrete tasks to infer learning, it was groundbreaking. Published by ASCD, the ranking organ for teacher practitioner literature, it joined the canon. However, in the meantime there have been three editions to texts by Richard Stiggins (Student-involved classroom assessment) and Vicky Spandel (Creating writers through Six-Trait Writing assessment and instruction)as well as many volumes and articles praising the use of rubrics to articulate specific learning targets.

Ultimately they are focused on process skills rather than 'factoid' content mastery, and so are developmental: they acknowledge the progress from exploring and emerging to developing on to fluent or experienced expression. The indicators for each level of progress are used to probe, clarify, elaborate, redirect, and support student thought.

Thus, Marzano's mission to use assessment as a vehicle for instruction is served. The philosophical commitment to 'lifelong learning' is underscored by the emphasis on continuous improvement and gradual change. These are timeless issues.

However, the writing predates No Child Left Behind, and while it was timely for response to the wave of reforms cresting a decade ago, it is now lacking in the context of classroom teachers inundated by accountability mandates to spend most instructional time on 'drill and kill' preparation for standardized tests.