AU Professor Co-Authors Teachers' Guide to Assessment

AURORA, Ill.---Jerald "Jay" Thomas of Aurora, assistant professor of education at Aurora University, has co-authored a textbook on educational assessment.

"Foundations of Meaningful Educational Assessment," a 544-page softcover volume, was published by McGraw-Hill. Co-authors with Thomas are Diann Musial, presidential professor of education at Northern Illinois University, and Gayla Nieminen, director of Assessment Unlimited, a DeKalb-based educational assessment firm.

Thomas said the $65 college-level text is designed to provide a readable"how-to" approach to assessment and measurement within a classroom context.

The volume presents assessment as a multi-dimensional, active process focused on student learning and instructional improvement, and as a process that requires deliberate attention to student motivation and learning theories.

The text focuses on assessment principles and concepts as they apply to teachers and learners within the contemporary classroom context. It enables teachers to select, develop, and refine formal and informal assessments that relate to standards-based education and to the diverse
student needs.

"Foundations of Meaningful Educational Assessment" views assessment as the art and science of placing students in a context that brings out their understanding and enables their teacher to capture and communicate students' understanding.

The book was scheduled to be available through McGraw-Hill and online booksellers such as barnesandnoble.com this month.

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