Assessment is one of the most discussed topics in mathematics education today. Issues drawing particular attention include the proper role of formative assessment, the need to show accountability through large-scale assessment, and the use of assessment to measure student learning of the content and practices in evolving new standards. The 2015 issue of Annual Perspectives in Mathematics Education (APME) approaches assessment from a wide variety of perspectives. Its 21 chapters, written by leading mathematics educators and researchers, are grouped into four sections: * Assessment in Action* Design of Assessment Tools and Strategies* Professional Learning to Enhance Classroom Assessment* Assessment as Reasoning from EvidenceThe chapters in this volume include descriptions of research projects, classroom examples, research observations, and proven strategies that teachers can readily use. A concluding chapter by Dylan Wiliam surveys the many ideas and issues that the authors address and places them in today's complex assessment landscape. Through the wide-ranging research that this year's issue of APME presents, it is intended to support educators at all levels as they develop and use assessment to improve the teaching and learning of mathematics for all students.

Part 1. Assessment in action -- Introduction / Ann Arden and Melissa Boston -- 1. Integrating powerful practices: formative assessment and cognitively demanding mathematics tasks / Edward A. Silver and Margaret S. Smith -- 2. Developing fact fluency: turn off timers, turn up formative assessments / Jennifer M. Bay-Williams and Gina Kling -- 3. Using learning progressions to design instructional trajectories / Min-Joung Kim and Richard Lehrer -- 4. How changes in instruction support changes in assessment: the case of an inclusive STEM-focused school / David Slavit and Tamara Holmlund Nelson -- 5. Classroom-based formative assessments: guiding teaching and learning / Francis (Skip) Fennell, Beth Kobett, and Jonathan A. Wray -- Part II. Design of Assessment Tools and Strategies -- Introduction / Denisse R. Thompson -- 6. Using task-based interviews to assess early understanding of number / Jenny Young-Loveridge and Brenda Bicknell -- 7. Are standards for mathematical practice overlooked in geometry textbooks' chapter tests? / Ruthmae Sears, Ilyas Karadeniz, Kenneth Butler, and Dix Pettey -- 8. Using an observational rubric to facilitate change in undergraduate classroom norms / Melody Jeane Elrod and Jeremy F. Strayer -- 9. Communal development and evolution of a course rubric for proof writing / Sarah K. Bleiler, Yi-Yin (Winnie) Ko, Sean P. Lee, and Justin D. Boyle -- 10. Secondary teachers' mathematical habits of mind: a paper-and-pencil assessment / Sarah Sword, Ryota Matsuura, Miriam Gates, Jane Kang, Al Cuoco, and Glenn Stevens -- Part III. Professional learning to enhance classroom assessment -- Introduction / Sandra Crespo and Nicole Rigelman -- 11. Developing teachers' ability to be critical consumers of assessments / Patricia D. Hunsader, Denisse R. Thompson, and Barbara Zorin -- 12. Practicing questioning in a professional learning community: a hub of classroom assessment / Ji-Eun Lee, Heather Turner, Colleen Ansara, Jessica Zablocki, Cory Hincks, and Valerie Hanley -- 13. Proficiency-based and problem-based instruction: mutually supporting moves or contradictions? / Nicole Rigelman -- 14. Authentic student work samples support formative assessment in middle school / Kathleen Dempsey, Andrea D. Beesley, Tedra Fazendeiro Clark, and Anne Tweed -- 15. Formative assessment strategies in the secondary mathematics classroom / Richelle Marynowski -- Part IV. Assessment as reasoning from evidence -- Introduction / Edward Silver -- 16. What NAEP tells us about the relationship between classroom assessment practices and student achievement in mathematics / Crystal Y. Walcott, Rick Hudson, Doris Mohr, and N. Kathryn Essex -- 17. Guidelines for analyzing assessment data to inform instruction / Jenny Grant Rankin -- 18. Learning, teaching, and assessing the standards for mathematical practice / Jimmy Scherrer -- 19. Conducting classroom assessment based in cognition: the case of proportional reasoning / Michele B. Carney, Gwyneth R. Hughes, Jonathan L. Brendefur, Angela R. Crawford, and Tatia Totorica -- 20. Embedding formative assessment in curriculum design: a research-based approach / Maryl Gearhart, Geoffrey B. Saxe, Darrell Earnest, Lina Chopra Haldar, Anna McGee, and Yasmin Sitabkhan -- 21. Applying CCSSM's definition of understanding to assess students' mathematical learning / Lillie R. Albert and Rina Kim -- Concluding remarks. Assessment: a powerful focus for the improvement of mathematics instruction / Dylan Wiliam.