Classroom Assessment & Grading That Work [Paperback]

Robert J. Marzano (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1416604227 | ISBN-13: 978-1416604228 | Publication Date: December 2006 | Edition: 1

In Classroom Assessment and Grading That Work, Robert J. Marzano provides an in-depth exploration of what he calls "one of the most powerful weapons in a teacher's arsenal." An effective standards-based, formative assessment program can help to dramatically enhance student achievement throughout the K-12 system, Marzano says. Drawing from his own and others' extensive research, the author provides comprehensive answers to questions such as these:
*What are the characteristics of an effective assessment program?
* How can educators use national and state standards documents as a basis for creating a comprehensive, topic-based assessment system?
* What types of assessment items and tasks are best suited to measuring student progress in mastering information, mental procedures, and psychomotor procedures?
* Why does the traditional point system used for scoring often lead to incorrect conclusions about a student’s actual knowledge?
* What types of scoring and final grading systems provide the most accurate portrayal of a student’s progress along a continuum of learning?

In addition to providing teachers with all the tools they need to create a better assessment system, Classroom Assessment and Grading That Work makes a compelling case for the potential of such a system to transform the culture of schools and districts, and to propel K–12 education to new levels of effectiveness and efficiency.

Product Details

• Paperback: 189 pages
• Publisher: Association for Supervision & Curriculum Deve; 1 edition (December 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416604227
• ISBN-13: 978-1416604228
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #60,692 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Useless book for real teachers, October 26, 2008

By 

D. Motta (Shanghai, China) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Classroom Assessment & Grading That Work (Paperback)

First of all, Marzano is NOT a K-12 teacher nor has he ever been (going by the About the Author section). He is a meta-researcher, which means he doesn't even do original research. He takes a load of research other groups have done, reanalyzes it, then gives his own take on it all. This book is something administrators will talk about because they too, are not in the classroom. It is not feasible for any working teacher to apply the principles that Marzano suggests. In theory - where Marzano lives - the stuff is great. But in practice, his suggestions border on the moronic. Some of his statements for evidence don't even make sense, and his use of numbers (I teach science and can read between the lines of data) are pathetic at times (good data, but lousy conclusion). Chapter 3 really outlines what he suggests so borrow a copy for 15 minutes, read chapter 3, and find another book. Kudos to you teachers trying to hone your craft though! I suggest "Test Better, Teach Better" by Popham.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Interesting Perspective with an Embedded Advertisement, November 14, 2008

By 

K. Beach "KRB" (Minnesota) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Classroom Assessment & Grading That Work (Paperback)

Not to belabor the point: a portion of this book explains how a specific brand of software facilitates Robert Marzano's premise about standards reporting.

That notwithstanding, the substance of this book is classic Marzano...concise and worthy of consideration. In a nutshell: track learner performance over time and use a power formula to produce averaged "standards grades" that educational community stakeholders may find more accessible than page-after-page of excruciating standards-based reporting.

I have no argument with tracking individual student performance over time. I am less enthusiastic about the use of a power formula to produce a standards grade. Current assessment technology...both summative and formative...is rarely granular enough in discrimination resolution to produce anything more than a low resolution snapshot of a student's performance. When low-resolution assessment snapshots are averaged together...with or without a weighting scheme...and perhaps with an assortment of other kinds of scores (e.g. class participation rating, WOW gold, or whatever)...the resulting performance abstraction (whether called a letter grade or a standards grade) can be misunderstood and misused in spite of its familiarity. For example, please identify the fallacy in the following statement: "My kid must be doing better in Basketweaving 101 than she is doing in Basic Puddlejumping because she got an A- compared to a B+ but she at least gets to keep driving the SUV." Okay, maybe there's more than one fallacy in this statement (laugh).

This is not an indictment of Marzano's work, rather it is a criticism of the current educational milieu in which he and countless others work. Bottom line: a well-written position paper and a useful description of software development the author is associated with.

4.0 out of 5 stars Good assessment resource, January 17, 2011

By 

J. Smith - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Classroom Assessment & Grading That Work (Paperback)

While I sometimes find Marzano's books a little heavy-handed on the research component, I did appreciate and use many portions of this book. In my work as an educational administrator supporting the development and implementation of a standards-based report card, I especially used the sections on Type I-III tasks and their alignment with scoring rubrics.