"Wiggins' newest book is rigorous and provocative, bringing to bear his understanding of teaching for understanding and its implications for performance-based assessment." (Knowledge Quest)

Grant Wiggins puts at once the current craze for 'assessment' of students on a higher, more commonsensical and moral ground. He brings the sharp eye of a philosopher and the constructive humility of a veteran teacher to the tasks of explaining what we must know about our students' knowing and what this means for practice. This is a constructively unsettling book on our attitudes about learning and about our all-too-familiar and challengeable habits of assessing for it. (Theodore R. Sizer, chairman, Coalition of Essential Schools)

"Through forceful, in-depth argument and diverse examples, Wiggins makes the most convincing case yet that school-based assessment should aim mainly to improve, rather than to audit, student performance. Thanks to his penetrating discussions of feedback, the relationship of formal designs to practice, teaching for understanding, and rubrics, this book should dispel common misconceptions and elevate both the understanding and practice of authentic assessment" (Fred M. Newmann, professor of curriculum and instruction, University of Wisconsin, Madison)

"Wiggins makes the most convincing case yet that school-based assessments should aim mainly to improve, rather than audit student performance. Thanks to his penetrating discussions of feedback, the relationship of formal design to practice, teaching for understanding, and rubrics, this book should dispel common misconceptions and elevate both the understanding and practice of authentic assessment." (Fred M. Newmann, professor of curriculum and instruction, University of Wisconsin, Madison)

"Linking curriculum and assessment is one of the most critical problems facing today's educators. Wiggins has given us an extraordinarily clear set of design principles to guide our practice. I recommAnd this book to curriculum designers, teachers, and administrators concerned with developing coherent curriculum resulting in improved student performance" "Educators engaged in writing and shaping curriculum should consider Wiggins' book a necessity to raise the quality of their efforts. His emphasis on critical design skills and his numerous practical examples makes this an accessible guide. Grant Wiggins is one of the most intelligent voices in the reform community. (Dr. Heidi Hayes Jacobs, educational consultant, editor, and writer)

Book Description
Wiggins makes the most convincing case yet that school-based assessment should aim mainly to improve, rather than to audit, student performance. Thanks to his penetrating discussions of feedback, the relationship of formal designs to practice, teaching for understanding, and rubrics, this book should dispel common misconceptions and elevate both the understanding and practice of authentic assessment

?Fred M. Newmann, professor of curriculum and instruction, University of Wisconsin , Madison

Assessing Student Performance laid out the theoretical foundations of a new assessment system that provides a more authentic picture of student capabilities than standardized testing. In Assessment for Excellence, Grant Wiggins provides guidance on how to design performance-based assessments for use in the classroom. This book covers all aspects of assessment design, including how to craft performance tasks that meet rigorous educational standards, how to score assessments fairly, and how to structure and judge student portfolios. It also looks at how performance assessment can be used to improve curriculum and instruction, grading and reporting?and teacher accountability.

The integral subjects to be covered within each grade
Standards for knowledge that should be acquired by your child at each level
Recommended books to use as texts for every subject
Guidelines for the importance of each topic: which knowledge is essential and which is best for more expansive study based on your child's personal interests
Suggestions for how to sensitively approach less academic subjects, such as sex education and physical fitness

In addition, the author shows teachers how to differentiate, or structure, lessons at every grade level and content area to provide "scaffolds"--as well as high-speed elevators--for

$ The content of lessons, $ The processes used in learning, and $ The products of learning.

Teachers can draw on the book's practical examples as they begin to differentiate instruction in their own classrooms. Strategies include curriculum compacting, "sidebar" investigations, entry points, graphic organizers, contracts, and portfolios. As Tomlinson says, "Differentiation challenges us to draw on our best knowledge of teaching and learning. It suggests that there is room for both equity and excellence in our classrooms.

"Because of the author’s clear and lively style of writing, the reader becomes engaged in a conversation of great importance about education…a conversation that encourages critical thinking."

Praise for the First Edition: "Lynn Erickson helps us improve the quality of integrated education by asking us to keep our eyes on the prize. The prize is conceptual learning--helping children build big, important ideas. Her standards are high, which is why this book should be of great interest to teachers." 

Praise for the First Edition: "Lynn Erickson helps us improve the quality of integrated education by asking us to keep our eyes on the prize. The prize is conceptual learning--helping children build big, important ideas. Her standards are high, which is why this book should be of great interest to teachers." 

The Principal as Curriculum Leader, 2^nd Edition helps you discover how working with teachers and districts can result in more meaningful curriculum for classrooms—and raise the level of learning and teaching in your school.

Allan A. Glatthorn Distinguished research Professor at East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, Allan A. Glatthorn is a former University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education faculty member. He has served for 26 years as a classroom teacher, district supervisor, and high school principal—and is the author of more than 20 professional books on supervision and curriculum development.