What is assessment literacy? It's a handful of fundamental understandings about the testing concepts and procedures that influence educational decisions. And it just might be the most cost-effective means of real school improvement. With characteristic humor and aplomb, assessment expert W. James Popham strips away the psychometrician-speak and condenses the complexities of educational testing to six practical and action-oriented understandings about validity, reliability, fairness, score reporting, formative assessment, and affective assessment. This book is for busy educators at the classroom and leadership levels who want: Tests that are worth the valuable time they take to administer; Tests that accurately measure what student have learned; Tests that fairly reflect teacher and school effectiveness; Tests that provide the instructionally useful data that will help students learn faster and better; Assessment Literacy for Educators in a Hurry is the fastest route to acquiring the measurement moxie necessary to understand and advocate for better assessment practices and build a case for stopping ineffective and harmful ones. In just a few hours' time, you can pick up the knowledge you need to do a whole lot of good—for your students, yourself, and our schools.

Assessment literacy: the what, the why, and the how -- Validity: the overt in search of the covert -- Reliability: assessment's righteous rascal -- Fairness in testing: it's about time! -- Score reports: information that supports action -- Formative assessment: ends-means magic -- Measuring affect: getting a fix on behavioral changes -- Wrapping up, reaching out.