Designing and Assessing Educational Objectives

Book excerpt: "Marzano concisely and effectively shows how his three domains of learning and the New Taxonomy can be operationalized for teachers and administrators. This book integrates objectives, instructional approaches, and assessment options so that these critical aspects of teaching are aligned to promote student learning." —James McMillan, Professor and Chair, Foundations of Education Virginia Commonwealth University A hands-on guide for applying the New Taxonomy to develop meaningful and targeted educational objectives and assessments. Translating mandated standards into concrete objectives and then creating appropriate tasks to assess student learning of those objectives can be a challenge for educators. This practical resource provides a step-by-step process that shows readers how to make designing educational objectives and creating appropriate assessment tasks a part of their day-to-day practice. Written as a stand-alone volume, Designing and Assessing Educational Objectives reviews the framework and basic principles of Marzano′s New Taxonomy and illustrates how educators can utilize Marzano′s model to assess student performance on a broad scale or for a specific unit of instruction or grading period. The book explores objectives and tasks for each of the six levels of mental processing—retrieval, comprehension, analysis, knowledge utilization, metacognition, and self-system thinking—and features: Benchmark statements that provide a starting point for the process Step-by-step models, helpful diagrams, and useful charts Numerous detailed examples from multiple subject areas and grade levels Application of the taxonomy′s three domains of knowledge: information, mental procedures, and psychomotor procedures Comprehensive and profound, this resource is essential for teachers, school and district administrators, curriculum directors, and assessment specialists seeking to apply standards to curriculum and instruction for measurable results.