The ABCs of CBM: a Practical Guide to Curriculum-Based Measurement. Michelle Hosp, John Hosp & Kenneth Howell, $35.50

This pragmatic, accessible book presents an empirically supported conceptual framework and hands-on instructions for conducting curriculum-based measurement (CBM) in grades K-8. The authors provide everything needed to evaluate student learning in reading, spelling, writing, and math; graph the resulting data; and use this information to make sound instructional decisions, plan interventions, and monitor progress. The role of CBM within a response-to-intervention model is also explained. Every chapter includes helpful answers to frequently asked questions, and the appendices contain over 20 reproducible administration and scoring guides, forms, and planning checklists. The large-size format and lay-flat binding facilitate photocopying and day-to-day use.

Classroom Assessment & Grading that Work. Robert Marzano, $34.95

If you've ever questioned the logic of reducing a student's entire academic performance to a single test score or a vague letter grade, then here's a book that will revolutionize the way you think about assessment and grading. Drawing from years of in-depth research, Robert J. Marzano provides you with guidelines and steps for designing a comprehensive assessment program that ensures assessments and grades lead to timely, accurate feedback on specific, standards-based learning goals. Discover how classroom assessments — from quizzes and projects to term papers and test — provide your school with the most powerful tool to boost achievement. Learn why point systems and score averaging are ineffective ways to grade students' progress. And get clear advice on how to immediately create better assessments for a single classroom or an entire system.

Dilemmas In Classroom Assessment and What To Do About Them. Robert Wilson, Editor, $34.00

Teachers at all levels face certain dilemmas when they assess their students. They want to encourage them, to help them grow in their learning, but often the policies and practices they are required to follow contradict these wishes. Dilemmas in Classroom Assessment brings together a collaboration of experienced educators, each writing a chapter that relates directly to their experiences and understandings of a specific assessment issue.

Evaluating Students: How Teachers Justify and Defend Their Marks to Parents, Students and Principals. Alex Shirran, $24.95

Marks and letter grades are not simply assigned. In our high-stakes testing era, teachers need to be well-versed in the theory, practice, and politics of marking, and be able to justify and defend their evaluation and teaching practices … This timely book uses compelling case studies and suggests specific strategies for clarifying classroom assessment and advancing the teacher's relationship with students, parents, and administrators. The book explores all the involved aspects, from the basic conditions and criteria for marking to details on calculating grades. This teacher-friendly book also looks into the many issues around the role of standardized tests.

Executive Function in Education: from Theory to Practice. Lynn Meltzer, editor, $30.50

This uniquely integrative book brings together leading researchers and practitioners from education, neuroscience, and psychology. It presents a theoretical framework for understanding executive function difficulties together with a range of effective approaches to assessment and instruction. Scholarly and authoritative yet highly practical, the book provides guidelines for intervening at the level of the individual child, the classroom, and the entire school.

Five Standards for Effective Teaching: How to Succeed with All Learners, Grades K-8. Stephanie Stoll Dalton, $29.99

An ideal model for differentiating teaching for inclusive instruction in any classroom.

FOCUS on the Test: Five Weekly Lessons Designed to Teach Test-Taking Skills. Mary Pat McCartney, $20.95 Grades 3-5

FOCUS on the Test is a five-lesson classroom or small-group program that packages effective test-taking strategies. The book includes posters, activities, and worksheets. Students are given opportunities to reflect on their comprehension of the concept presented and how they will incorporate it into their test-taking procedures.

Informative Assessment: When It’s Not About a Grade. Robin Fogarty & Gene Kerns, $36.95

This research-based book provides a succinct yet substantive discussion about formative assessments and how they impact the teaching/learning cycle.

Just the Right Words is a time-saving resource packed with ideas you can use as models when writing student report cards and assessments. Complete with sentence stems, word lists and report card writing tips, Just the Right Words makes narrative comments easier for educators to write and more meaningful for parents.

Learning vs. Testing: Strategies That Bridge the Gap Between Learning Styles and Test-Taking Success. Pat Wyman, $31.95 (Grades K–8)

Many educators and parents have encountered very bright students who simply don't perform well on traditional school assessments. This book offers practical strategies to help students learn how to learn and process information in ways that more closely match how they are being tested.

Lost at School: Why Our Kids with Behavioral Challenges Are Falling Through the Cracks and How We Can Help Them. Ross Greene, $18.99

From a distinguished clinician, pioneer in working with behaviorally challenging kids, and author of the acclaimed The Explosive Child comes a groundbreaking approach for understanding and helping these kids and transforming school discipline.

Relying on research from the neurosciences, Dr. Greene offers a new conceptual framework for understanding the difficulties of kids with behavioral challenges and explains why traditional discipline isn't effective at addressing these difficulties. Emphasizing the revolutionarily simple and positive notion that kids do well if they can, he persuasively argues that kids with behavioral challenges are not attention-seeking, manipulative, limit-testing, coercive, or unmotivated, but that they lack the skills to behave adaptively. And when adults recognize the true factors underlying difficult behavior and teach kids the skills in increments they can handle, the results are astounding: the kids overcome their obstacles; the frustration of teachers, parents, and classmates diminishes; and the well-being and learning of all students are enhanced.

In Lost at School, Dr. Greene describes how his road-tested, evidence-based approach — called Collaborative Problem Solving — can help challenging kids at school.

Making Classroom Assessment Work, 3rd Edition. Anne Davies, $27.95

This book combines powerful ideas with practical strategies to implement quality classroom assessment. Use assessment for learning to guide instruction, provide feedback, collect evidence of learning, present evidence of success, and produce accurate standards-based report cards. The framework provides a guide for teachers — from involving students, parents, and community members in the assessment process to evaluating and reporting progress.

Redefining Fair: How to Plan, Assess and Grade for Excellence in Mixed-Ability Classrooms. Damian Cooper, $32.95

In REDEFINING FAIR, the author confronts the resistance and obstacles schools experience when implementing differentiation and shows how to overcome them. Learn how to define proficiency accurately and differentiate to help all students achieve it. With a focus on mixed-ability classes, the author outlines instructional practices that engage, empower, and motivate students. Using stories, strategies, case histories, and sample documents, he explains how to implement equitable instruction, assessment, grading, and reporting practices for diverse 21st century learners.

Self Assessment and Goal Setting, 2nd Edition. Kathleen Gregory, Caren Cameron & Anne Davies, $19.95

This handy guide focuses on practical ways for teachers to involve students in their own assessment and setting goals for learning.

Setting and Using Criteria, 2nd Edition. Kathleen Gregory, Caren Cameron & Anne Davies, $19.95

This handy guide offers tried and true ways for teachers to involve students in their own assessment. Using a four-step process for co-constructing criteria, the book shows teachers how to use these criteria for assessing learning without using grades or other evaluative feedback.

So What Do They Really Know? Assessment That Informs Teaching and Learning, Grades 6-12. Cris Tovani, $27.95

Explore the complex issue of monitoring, assessing, and grading students' thinking and performance with fairness and fidelity. This practical book describes assessment systems and structure and shows teachers how to use assessments to monitor student growth and provide targeted feedback that enables students to master content goals. It also shares ways to bring students into the assessment cycle so they can monitor their own learning, maximizing motivation and engagement.

Studying, Test Taking, and Getting Good Grades: Reproducible Activities for Kids Grades 5-9. Susanna Palomares & Dianne Schilling, $29.50

This entirely reproducible student activity book is designed to build a base of understanding and skill development in the broad spectrum of learning, studying, and test-taking; provide opportunities for students to apply this knowledge to their own lives; and to provide opportunities to practice and discuss new information and skills so students are better prepared to apply these techniques and skills in all subject areas.

A Teacher’s Guide to Classroom Assessment: Understanding and Using Assessment to Improve Student Learning. Susan Butler & Nancy McMunn, $38.99

A Teacher’s Guide to Classroom Assessment is a comprehensive guide that shows step-by-step how to effectively integrate assessment into the classroom. Written for both new and seasoned teachers, this important book offers a practical aid for developing assessment skills and strategies, building assessment literacy, and ultimately improving student learning.

Transformative Assessment. W. James Popham, $28.95

W. James Popham clarifies what formative assessment really is, why it’s right for your school or classroom, and how to use this approach to improve teaching, learning, classroom climate, teacher professional development, and school performance. Whether you’re already using formative assessments, just considering them, or wondering why the ones you’re using aren’t working, this foundational guide gives you a clear pathway and steps to using formative assessments the right way.

What Does it Mean to be Well Educated? And More Essays on Standards, Grading and Other Follies. Alfie Kohn, $23.95

In this new collection of 18 articles, Kohn explores some of the most important topics in education. He argues that we systematically ignore the real goals of schooling while lavishing attention on misguided models of learning and motivation.