Assessing Students' Levels of Understanding Multiplication through Problem Writing.

Teaching Children Mathematics / December 2007/January 2008 Assessing student learning is a very important part of teaching. As teachers, we are continually searching for assessments that give us valid information about what our students are learning. Occasionally, the assessments we use can surprise us with the results they yield. Jillian, a third-grade teacher, had such an experience when she asked her students to solve the following problem: