Assessment Strategies for Self-Directed Learning

Are we preparing students for a life of tests or for the tests of life?

Educators agree that the characteristics of self-directed learners are traits that students will need to succeed in school and in life. Accurately assessing the skills and behaviors of self-directed learning is essential in developing life-long, self-initiated learning habits.  

Assessment Strategies for Self-Directed Learning provides successful methods for assessing students′ progress towards becoming self-managing, self-monitoring, and self-modifying learners. Using practical examples drawn from a variety of classrooms and schools, renowned authors Arthur L. Costa and Bena Kallick present educators with strategies for designing diverse ways of gathering, organizing, and reporting evidence of continual learning. 

This hands-on book provides the practical tools that educators need to implement these ideas, including:

• Classroom activities
• Sample rubrics
• Forms, portfolios, questions, and checklists
• Examples of student work

Assessment Strategies for Self-Directed Learning offers a more balanced and complete evaluation method that includes classroom-based assessments that complement state-based assessments. Authors Costa and Kallick illustrate the means to develop and cultivate the intellectual dispositions of self-evaluation and self-correction in all students.

Arthur L.  Costa, Ed.D., is an Emeritus Professor of Education at California State University, Sacramento.  He is Co-Founder of the Institute for Habits of Mind and Co-founder of the Center for Cognitive Coaching. He served as a classroom teacher, a curriculum consultant, and an assistant superintendent for instruction in the Office of the Sacramento County Superintendent of Schools and as the director of educational programs for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. He has made presentations and conducted workshops in all 50 states as well as on six of the seven continents            
Active in many professional organizations, Art served as president of the California Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development and was the National President of Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development,  from 1988 to 1989.  He was the recipient of the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Urban Alliance in 2010.

Bena Kallick, Ph.D  is a private consultant providing services to school districts, state departments of education, professional organizations, and public agencies throughout the United States and abroad.  Kallick received her doctorate in educational evaluation at Union Graduate School. Her areas of focus include group dynamics, creative and critical thinking, and alternative assessment strategies for the classroom. Formerly a Teachers′ Center director, Kallick also created a children′s museum based on problem solving and invention. She was the coordinator of a high school alternative designed for at-risk students.  She is co-founder of Performance Pathways, a company dedicated to providing easy to use software for curriculum mapping and assessment tracking and reporting, an integrated suite. She is presently a strategic advisor for SunGard Public Sector K-12 on behalf of Performance Plus, a transformational new product based on the work of Performance Pathways. She is known for her practical approach to making curriculum mapping and assessment a catalyst for improving teaching and learning.            

Kallick′s teaching appointments have included Yale University School of Organization and Management, University of Massachusetts Center for Creative and Critical Thinking, and Union Graduate School. She was formerly on the Board of the Apple Foundation, the Board of Jobs for the Future and Weston Woods Institute.  She presently serves on the Board of Communities for Learning.            

Her work with Dr. Art Costa has led to the development of the Institute for Habits of Mind (www.instituteforhabitsofmind.com), an international institute that is dedicated to transforming schools into places where thinking and Habits of Mind are taught, practiced, valued and have become infused into the culture of the school and community. The Institute provides services and products to support bringing the Habits of Mind into the culture of schools and the communities they serve.            

She and Art Costa have just completed an online course for EduPlanet21, a company that is dedicated to Professional Development for Educators using the most contemporary tools and thinking to be successful engaging students as 21st century learners.  In addition, she is the Program Director for this company.