Contents Series Foreword?James A. Banks?ix Preface?xv Acknowledgments?xix 1.??Theoretical Perspectives on Assessment in Diverse Classrooms?1 Diversity in Schools?2 What Is Assessment??3 Validity Theory and Fair Assessment?3 The State of Classroom Assessment Practices?9 Improving the Validity of Classroom Assessment for Diverse Learners?15 Culturally Responsive Pedagogy and the Validity of Classroom Assessment?16 Communities of Practice and the Validity of Classroom Assessment Practices?18 Where Do We Go From Here??19 2.??Bias and Sensitivity Issues in Classroom Assessment?21 What Is Bias in Assessment??22 Impact of Teacher Attitudes and Beliefs on Formal and Informal Assessment of Students?24 Bias in Students, Scores on Tests and Other Assignments?29 Strategies for Minimizing Cultural, Racial, Gender, and Language Bias in Large-Scale Tests?31 Potential for Bias in Computer-Administered Tests?44 Potential for Bias in Published Classroom Assessments?45 Minimizing Bias in Classroom Assessments?45 The Role of Community in Reducing Bias in Assessment?50 Conclusion?51 3.??Culturally Relevant and Socially Responsive Assessment?52 Culturally Relevant Pedagogy?54 Culturally Responsive Pedagogy?57 Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy?61 Summary of Culturally Relevant, Responsive, and Sustaining Pedagogy?63 Culturally and Socially Responsive Assessment?64 Developing Culturally and Socially Responsive Assessment Tools?70 Culturally and Socially Responsive Assessment: Last Thoughts?81 4.??Student Engagement and Assessment?84 Student Engagement: A Review of Research?84 Factors That Improve Engagement of Students?86 Strategies for Increasing Student Engagement During Assessment Events?94 The Challenges of Making Assessment Engaging for All Students?101 5.??A Situative Perspective on Assessment in Diverse Classrooms?103 A Situative Perspective?104 Implications of a Situative Perspective on Classroom Assessment Practices?108 Communities of Practice and Culturally Responsive Assessment?112 Summary?117 6.??Developing Assessments for Diverse Classrooms?120 Development of Culturally and Socially Responsive Assessment Tools?120 Unpacking Standards for Relevant and Responsive Assessment?124 Models for Culturally and Socially Responsible Reading Assessment?125 Culturally and Socially Relevant Assessment in Social Studies?140 Culturally and Socially Relevant Assessment in the Sciences?145 The Challenge for Culturally and Socially Relevant and Responsive Mathematics Assessment?151 Books by Authors With Diverse Cultural and Social Identities to Support Reading and Social Studies Assessment?167 Concluding Remarks?169 7.??Resources and Tools?171 Part 1: Working in Communities of Practice to Examine Published and Teacher-Developed Classroom Assessments?171 Part 2: Resources for Teacher Learning Through Books About Assessment, Culturally Responsive Pedagogy, and Multicultural Education?176 Appendix A: Avoiding Bias in Grading Practices?185 Appendix B: Developing Culturally Relevant Performance Tasks?189 Appendix C: Bias and Sensitivity Reviews?196 Appendix D: Language Complexity Reviews?208 Appendix E: Questions for Accessibility Reviews?219 Appendix F: Academic Verbs Commonly Used in Testing?221 Notes?223 References?229 Index?255 About the Authors?267
This book addresses a problem that affects the work of all educators: how traditional methods of assessment undermine the capacity of schools to serve students with diverse cultural and social backgrounds and identities. Anchored in a commonsense notion of validity, this book explains how current K-12 assessment practices are grounded in the language, experiences, and values of the dominant White culture. It presents a timely review of research on bias in classroom and large-scale assessments, as well as research on how students' level of engagement influences their performances. The author recommends practices that can improve the validity of students' assessment performances by minimizing sources of bias, using culturally responsive assessment tools, and adopting strategies likely to increase students' engagement with assessment tasks. This practical resource provides subject-specific approaches for improving the cultural and social relevance of assessment tools and offers guidance for evaluating existing assessment instruments for bias, language complexity, and accessibility issues. Book Features: Research-based recommendations for improving assessment fairness, validity, and cultural/social relevance. Practices that have been shown to improve the effectiveness of classroom assessments in supporting student learning. Concrete examples of how to create culturally relevant assessment tasks that target valued learning goals in language arts, mathematics, social studies, and science classrooms. Appendixes that provide tools educators can use to improve grading practices.
Catherine S. Taylor and Susan Bobbitt Nolen are both professors emeriti in the College of Education at the University of Washington.