The Road to Tenure offers humorous recollections of the messiness and confusion that fill the days of a pre-tenure academic-from graduate school through the postdoc and into the assistant professor days. The book's three sections roughly map onto the chronology of academic life, beginning with graduate school and the job search experience; followed by teaching, research, and service; and finally the challenges of family and academic identity. The book is not a how-to, nor does it emphasize "lessons learned" on the way to tenure. Instead, the collection earnestly, and with good humor, captures a significant and meaningful slice of the experience of pursuing academia in contemporary colleges and universities. For the doctoral student or newly hired faculty member, these essays will provide some comfort with their implicit suggestion that, while it's certainly hard work, you are not alone.

The current wave of science education reforms emphasizes more equitable opportunities for students as they learn disciplinary core ideas and apply crosscutting concepts by engaging in the practices of scientists. Formative assessment—the assessment teachers and students conduct while learning is in progress—also needs to shift to support this vision. This book combines three-dimensional science learning, sociocultural theories of learning, and science for justice and equity to provide a comprehensive picture of formative assessment for today's K–12 science classroom. Using practical examples and strategies, the author provides guidance for classroom teachers around formative assessment task design that centers students' interests and builds on the resources they bring to school. The text explores the different enactment approaches teachers can use to prioritize and respond to students' ideas as they are learning. It also offers approaches to, and resources for, professional learning that support teachers as they engage in formative assessment for ambitious science instruction. Book Features: Provides a framework for designing and enacting 3D science assessments that support both rigorous and equitable instruction. Advocates for formative assessment that evaluates the practices of scientific inquiry, as opposed to measuring the memorization of science content. Includes assessment tasks, samples from classroom practice, and transcriptions of classroom conversations with students. Offers guidance for providing students with helpful feedback to advance their learning, as well as suggestions for collaborating with colleagues. Shows how formative assessment can be enacted across classrooms to create opportunities to coordinate practice at a larger scale.

The Road to Tenure offers humorous recollections of the messiness and confusion that fill the days of a pre-tenure academic-from graduate school through the postdoc and into the assistant professor days. The book's three sections roughly map onto the chronology of academic life, beginning with graduate school and the job search experience; followed by teaching, research, and service; and finally the challenges of family and academic identity. The book is not a how-to, nor does it emphasize "lessons learned" on the way to tenure. Instead, the collection earnestly, and with good humor, captures a significant and meaningful slice of the experience of pursuing academia in contemporary colleges and universities. For the doctoral student or newly hired faculty member, these essays will provide some comfort with their implicit suggestion that, while it's certainly hard work, you are not alone.

"This book places students center stage in the discussion of how we know what students know. Using formative assessment to understand student learning is a theme grounded in good teaching and good assessment!" -Jo Topps, Regional Directorth K-12 Alliance/WestEd "This book incorporates current research and not only provides an explanation of the necessity of formative assessment, but offers a system for planning lessons and a variety of tools to implement formative assessment in the classroom." -Susan Leeds, Science Department Chair and Gifted Studies Teacher Howard Middle School, Winter Park, FL Use this powerful tool to enhance science teaching and learning! Research has shown that when teachers use formative assessments effectively, they have a clearer understanding of what students know and are better able to design instruction that meets learners' needs. This practical guide shows teachers how to create and implement formative assessments in their middle and high school science classrooms. Grounded in extensive and solid research, this guide covers all science content areas-physics/physical science, life science/biology, earth and space science, and chemistry-as well as five types of formative assessments: big idea questions, concept maps, evidence-to-explanation, predict-observe-explain, and multiple choice. Teachers will find additional support in: Richly detailed, concrete examples of the five types of assessments In-depth guidelines for implementing the assessments Brief case studies with transcript excerpts that demonstrate how teachers have used formative assessments Easy-to-use templates to help analyze lessons in current units and identify places for inserting formative assessments With this easy-to-use, hands-on guide, any teacher can learn how to use formative assessment strategies to improve student achievement in science!

"This book places students center stage in the discussion of how we know what students know. Using formative assessment to understand student learning is a theme grounded in good teaching and good assessment!" -Jo Topps, Regional Directorth K-12 Alliance/WestEd "This book incorporates current research and not only provides an explanation of the necessity of formative assessment, but offers a system for planning lessons and a variety of tools to implement formative assessment in the classroom." -Susan Leeds, Science Department Chair and Gifted Studies Teacher Howard Middle School, Winter Park, FL Use this powerful tool to enhance science teaching and learning! Research has shown that when teachers use formative assessments effectively, they have a clearer understanding of what students know and are better able to design instruction that meets learners' needs. This practical guide shows teachers how to create and implement formative assessments in their middle and high school science classrooms. Grounded in extensive and solid research, this guide covers all science content areas-physics/physical science, life science/biology, earth and space science, and chemistry-as well as five types of formative assessments: big idea questions, concept maps, evidence-to-explanation, predict-observe-explain, and multiple choice. Teachers will find additional support in: Richly detailed, concrete examples of the five types of assessments In-depth guidelines for implementing the assessments Brief case studies with transcript excerpts that demonstrate how teachers have used formative assessments Easy-to-use templates to help analyze lessons in current units and identify places for inserting formative assessments With this easy-to-use, hands-on guide, any teacher can learn how to use formative assessment strategies to improve student achievement in science!

What really helps your students learn science: Labs? Group work? Certain types of problems or test questions? Something you never even thought about? Find out with data that go way beyond what standardized test scores tell you. The Feedback Loop describes a process by which you design formative assessments of what you do and collect a variety of forms of data. Then, the book shows you ways to actually use the information to improve your teaching. Drawing on research-based findings and the experiences of both new and veteran classroom teachers, the guide offers practical ideas for middle and high school teachers, regardless of discipline. The first chapters introduce the Feedback Loop framework; highlight the four elements of goals, tools, data, and inferences; and explore how to close the loop by connecting inferences and goals through feedback. Later chapters show how to use the full loop to inform your instruction. The book supports the Next Generation Science Standards and includes classroom vignettes that ground the ideas in real-life situations. Meant to illuminate without overwhelming you, The Feedback Loop's data-driven approach will support student learning and help strengthen your teaching practice in your very next lesson or unit.