Test Better Teach Better

<p>The right kinds of tests correctly applied can help every teacher become a better teacher. But unless you know the nuts and bolts of effective test design and application you may be collecting the wrong data; misinterpreting data; and drawing off-base conclusions about what students know and can do what to teach next and how effective your instruction has been.</p><p>In <em>Test Better Teach Better</em> assessment expert W. James Popham explores the links between assessment and instruction and provides a jargon-free look at classroom and large-scale test construction interpretation and application. Featuring sample items testing tips and recommended resources this crash course in instructionally focused assessment includes</p><p><br />* The four types of instructional decisions that testing will illuminate.<br /><br />* What you really need to know about measurement concepts like validity reliability and bias.<br /><br />* The advantages and disadvantages of various test formats and experience-based rules for creating great items in each.<br /><br />* The benefits of assessing student affect and guidelines for doing it in your own classroom.</p><p>In addition Popham offers practical advice for dealing with today's myriad testing targets and explains how standards-based achievement tests currently don't (but could) provide both accountability evidence <em>and</em> useful instructional information.</p>