Bringing Math Students Into the Formative Assessment Equation: Tools and Strategies for the Middle Grades - Paperback

by Susan Creighton (Author), Cheryl Rose Tobey (Author), Eric E. Karnowski (Author)

Make formative assessment work for you--and your math students!

Finally, formative assessment that adds up! Bringing Math Students Into the Formative Assessment Equation is the ultimate resource for helping teachers implement formative assessment in the middle school mathematics classroom.

And it's much more than that. With this research-based, teacher-tested guide, you won't just learn effective teaching strategies--you'll turn your students into self-regulated learners. They'll monitor and assess their own progress--and communicate to you about it! Features include:

• A clear and manageable six-aspect instructional model
• Detailed strategies for helping students own their successes
• Real-life examples from middle school mathematics teachers
• Useful resources and a companion website to help you implement formative assessment in your classroom

Formative assessment isn't just for teachers anymore. With the help of this essential resource, you'll work together with your students toward a common goal of math success.

"This book is outstanding. I would recommend it to any math educator. The depth of research integrated into practice is extensive and, as a result, it is the most practical book I have come across related to formative assessment and mathematics The self-regulation aspects, as well as the ownership and involvement emphasized in the book, went beyond the traditional cognitive strategies endorsed in most books."

Marc Simmons, Principal

Ilwaco Middle School, Ocean Beach School District, Long Beach, WA

"The ideas in this book are brought to life with examples of teachers and students in the classroom. The teacher voices, comments, and quotes lend credibility and are a big component of the book's strengths as well as the visuals and graphics."

Rita Tellez, Math Coordinator

Ysleta Independent School District, El Paso, TX

Author Biography

In her 20 years at EDC, Susan Janssen Creighton has focused on curriculum and professional development as well as teacher professional development in mathematics. She is currently working to help students to play a more active role in monitoring and directing their own mathematics learning and to become more engaged and independent learners. Creighton is a contributor to Formative Assessment in the Mathematics Classroom: Engaging Teachers and Students (FACETS), funded by the National Science Foundation, supporting middle school math teachers' work to implement formative assessment practices in the classroom. She works with the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to facilitate an EDC-designed course on understanding and using the Standards for Mathematical Practices in the middle grades, based on the Common Core State Standards; as well as to develop tools to support district work to make mathematics instruction accessible to all students, including students with disabilities. She is coauthor of the paper "Developing a Comprehensive Approach to Local Assessment" for the New York State Department of Education; the MathScape curriculum; the Impact Mathematics curriculum; "Translating Number Words Into the Language of Mathematics"; and Structured Exploration: New Perspectives on Mathematics Professional Development. Before joining EDC, Creighton was a middle-school and high-school teacher in Portland and Saco, Maine, and in Brookline, Massachusetts. She received a BA in mathematics and MEd in secondary education from the University of New Hampshire.

Cheryl Tobey is an expert on diagnostic and formative assessment practices and the development of materials and professional development for math educators. Tobey is a Mathematics Specialist for two projects funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF)--Formative Assessment in the Mathematics Classroom: Engaging Teachers and Students (FACETS); and Differentiated Professional Development: Building Mathematics Knowledge for Teaching Struggling Students (DPD)--as well as the Eliciting Mathematical Misconceptions (EM2) study funded by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). Since 2009, Tobey has been the Implementation Director for Pathways to Math Achievement, a multiyear Regional Educational Laboratory Northeast and islands (REL-NEI) study funded by IES, coordinating with the online algebra course provider and REL-NEI researchers to design and carry out the monitoring plan. Tobey is the coauthor of several books, including Uncovering Student Thinking Series, Mathematics Curriculum Topic Study: Bridging the Gap Between Standards and Practice; and Mathematics Formative Assessment: 75 Practical Strategies for Linking Assessment, Instruction, and Learning. Before joining EDC, Tobey was Senior Program Director for Mathematics at the nonprofit Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance (MMSA) where she directed the mathematics section, of NSF-funded Curriculum Topic Study, and two Title IIA State Mathematics and Science Partnership projects. Tobey was Co-Principal Investigator for MMSA's Local Systemic Change Initiative, Broadening Educational Access to Mathematics in Maine. Before joining MMSA in 2001, Tobey was a high school and middle school mathematics educator for 10 years. She received a BS in secondary mathematics education from the University of Maine at Farmington and an MEd from City University in Seattle

Eric Karnowski creates professional development curriculum for mathematics teachers and develops and facilitates online courses and activities for middle school teachers to learn about and implement formative assessment practices.He directed EDC′s Think Math! K-5 curriculum. He was a writer and editor for Ways to Think about Mathematics, a writer for Problems with a Point (producing over half of the award-winning website′s problem sets), a contributor to PBS′s TeacherLine online professional development courses, and a writer for Mathscape. Before joining EDC in 2000, he was an editor of mathematics textbooks for Janson Publications, Everyday Learning, and Glencoe/McGraw-Hill. He has also been a high school teacher. Karnowski received a BS in mathematics, with honors, and an MS in mathematics from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Emily Fagan brings twenty years of experience to the development of middle grades mathematics curriculum and professional development materials and to supporting teachers and schools in improving math teaching and learning. She develops online and face-to-face courses and workshops for teachers and students and is an experienced facilitator and teacher. Fagan is a contributor to EDC's Formative Assessment in the Mathematics Classroom: Engaging Teachers and Students (FACETS) Project, which is studying how participants in a two-year professional development project implement formative assessment in their teaching practice. She is a developer for EDC's Differentiated Professional Development Project, which is creating a hybrid professional development experience to build teachers' math content knowledge for teaching and diagnostic and other strategies to support struggling learners. Fagan was the Director of EDC's MathScape Curriculum Center, working with schools in Massachusetts, Maine, Colorado, and West Virginia to create curriculum implementation and professional development plans. She directed the revision of MathScape: Seeing and Thinking Mathematically middle-grades curriculum, and worked closely on the 2007 edition of the textbook series. Fagan was a collaborator with the NSF-funded Show-Me Center at the University of Missouri and a developer of the Mathematics Improvement Toolkit in collaboration with the National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform. She has contributed to two books--Perspectives on the Design and Development of School Mathematics Curricula and A Decade of Middle School Mathematics Curriculum Implementation: Lessons Learned from the Show-Me Project--and developed modules in the PBS Teacherline series and units of online courses for students in the National Repository for Online Courses. Before joining EDC, Fagan taught mathematics in Brookline and Salem, Mass., and in Philadelphia. As a teacher, Fagan was chosen for the Massachusetts Faculty of the Coalition of Essential Schools and served as a mentor teacher. Fagan received an AB from Harvard University.