A Fresh Look at Formative Assessment in Mathematics Teaching

Formative assessment is a powerful pedagogical tool whose purpose is to inform learning as it takes place, with the goal of moving learning forward on the basis of matching instruction to the edge of a student’s current understanding. A Fresh Look at Formative Assessment in Mathematics Teaching takes this frequently overlooked and often misunderstood methodology from a generic set of techniques to a potent, efficient, and effective course of action by explicating its role in effective mathematics teaching and learning, describing what it looks like in practice, and demonstrating how teachers can be supported in developing the knowledge and skills needed for its successful implementation.

The book is specifically intended for educators who wish to improve mathematics teaching and learning. In particular, it is designed to provide mathematics teacher educators and professional development specialists with examples of where and how formative assessment can be integrated into a variety of professional learning efforts to support its effective use as a critical component of daily instructional decision-making. The chapters within A Fresh Look at Formative Assessment in Mathematics Teaching illustrate how formative assessment is deeply connected to many other instructional frameworks, tools, and approaches with which mathematics teachers and teacher educators are familiar, such as cognitively guided instructions (CGI) and the mathematical tasks framework, among others.