In this course, students engage with theories and practices of assessment and instruction in the key content areas of reading, mathematics, and science. This course is taught in two half-semester modules�one focused on reading and one on mathematics/science�and occurs in the fourth and final year of the elementary major. The course addresses issues of assessment, teaching, and learning that build from and extend knowledge and practice from the assessment course and the methods courses in the three focal content areas. Modules will examine the purposes and practices of assessment in reading, mathematics and science education in elementary education. Particular attention will be given to theoretical foundations in assessment, applications of theory in classroom practice, and the design and use of assessment techniques and tools to support teaching for student understanding. While some attention will be given to large-scale assessment, this will be necessarily limited and addressed only as it pertains to the influence of these assessments on the design and use of classroom assessment. A key goal of the course is to support advanced understandings that can be practiced, analyzed, and refined during student teaching in the final year of the major.
