A Case Study of Assessment in a Grade 10 English Course

Abstract Materials designed and used by secondary English teachers to assess student learning and instructional effectiveness were examined. Participants taught Grade 10 English at a midwest suburban high school and worked together to develop the materials used in their classrooms. Unit tests, semester examinations, and writing and speech assignments were analyzed to determine the proportion that involved open-ended written (or oral) responses versus multiple-choice items, the extent to which they incorporated direct as opposed to indirect means of assessment, and the cognitive levels involved. Materials also were examined to determine what conceptions or models of teaching and learning they reflected. The teachers used constructivist assessment methods sparingly, possibly because they perceived them as making it more difficult to maintain student attention, cooperation, and classroom control than with traditional approaches.

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