Making Classroom Assessments Reliable and Valid. Robert J. Marzano
Observations
Student-Generated Assessments
The Complete Measurement Process
Assessment Planning
Differentiated Assessments
Summary
DISCUSSING THE CA PARADIGM FOR RELIABILITY
Discussing the Traditional View of Reliability
Foundations of the Traditional Concept of Reliability
The Concept of Error Score
The Concept of True Score
The Correlation Coefficient and the Reliability Coefficient
The Conceptual Formula for Reliability
The Reliability Determination Using a Single Test
The Achilles Heel of the Reliability Coefficient
Estimating True Scores Using Mathematical Models
The Linear Trend Line
The Curvilinear Trend Line
The Average Trend Line
Model Reconciliation
Model of Best Fit
Using Technology
Discussing the Implications for Formative and Summative Scores
Using Instructional Feedback
Employing the Method of Mounting Evidence
Considering the Issue of Scales
Proficiency Scales as Inherently Ordinal
Proficiency Scales That Are Internally Consistent
The Strong Statistics Theory
Summary
MEASURING GROWTH FOR GROUPS OF STUDENTS
Measuring Growth
Linear Growth Score
The Curvilinear Growth Score
The Difference Score
Reconciling the Three Reliabilities
Using Technology to Help Teachers
Summary
TRANSFORMING THE SYSTEM USING THE NEW CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT PARADIGMS
Transforming Report Cards
Weighted and Unweighted Averages
The Median and the Mode
The Conjunctive Approach
A Supplemental Measurement Topic
The Practice of Allowing Students to Increase Their Scores
Transforming Teacher Evaluations
Summary
Technical Note I.1: Confidence Intervals
Technical Note 3.1: Linear Trend Line
Technical Note 3.2: Curvilinear Trend Line
Technical Note 3.3: Trend Line for the Average
Technical Note 3.4: The Method of Mounting Evidence
Technical Note 4.1: Reliability of Linear Growth Scores
Technical Note 4.2: Reliability of Curvilinear Growth Scores
Technical Note 4.3: Reliability of Difference Scores
About the Author
Robert J. Marzano, PhD, is the cofounder and chief academic officer of Marzano Research in Denver, Colorado. During his fifty years in the field of education, he has worked with educators as a speaker and trainer and has authored more than forty books and three hundred articles on topics such as instruction, assessment, writing and implementing standards, cognition, effective leadership, and school intervention. His books include The New Art and Science of Teaching, Leaders of Learning, The Classroom Strategies Series, A Handbook for High Reliability Schools, Awaken the Learner, and Managing the Inner World of Teaching. His practical translations of the most current research and theory into classroom strategies are known internationally and are widely practiced by both teachers and administrators.
He received a bachelor’s degree from Iona College in New York, a master’s degree from Seattle University, and a doctorate from the University of Washington.
To learn more about Robert J. Marzano’s work, visit marzanoresearch.com.
To book Robert J. Marzano for professional development, contact [email protected].
introduction
The Role of Classroom Assessment
Classroom assessment has been largely ignored in the research and practice of assessment theory. This is not to say that it has been inconsequential to classroom practice. To the contrary, the topic of classroom assessment has become more and more popular in the practitioner literature. For example, the book Classroom Assessment: What Teachers Need to Know is in its eighth edition (Popham, 2017). Many other publishers continue to release books on the topic. This trend notwithstanding, technical literature in the 20th century has rarely mentioned classroom assessment. As James McMillan (2013b) notes:
Throughout most of the 20th century, the research on assessment in education focused on the role of standardized testing …. It was clear that the professional educational measurement community was concerned with the role of standardized testing, both from a large-scale assessment perspective as well as with how teachers used test data for instruction in their own classrooms. (p. 4)
As evidence, McMillan (2013b) notes that an entire issue of the Journal of Educational Measurement that purported to focus on state-of-the-art testing and instruction did not address teacher-made tests. Additionally, the first three editions of Educational Measurement (Lindquist, 1951; Linn, 1993; Thorndike, 1971)—which