Assessment of Classroom Learning

Reneé B. Meloche is an instructional consultant with the Halton Board
of Education.

This book is intended for use in preservice university courses on
educational measurement and assessment. (There is also companion
software [TRAC—Teacher Records and Comments] designed to meet
teachers’ needs for assessment of classroom learning.) The book is
laden with theory and contains few examples that clearly illustrate the
practical application of theory in the classroom. The emphasis is on
statistics, validity, and reliability—particulars that classroom
teachers rarely have time to consider, let alone analyze. As a
standalone assessment tool, the laboratory exercises at the end of each
chapter are particularly bothersome, since they lack a context for
application and serve only to reinforce traditional assessment methods
(e.g., “For 5 marks, briefly summarize the history of testing from
antiquity to modern times.”).

Although it may be of some use as a course text, this book provides
little practical assistance to the regular classroom teacher.