Actionable Assessment

"This book is ultimately about trust: trust in evidence, trust in teachers, and trust in students’ capacity to grow when instruction responds intelligently to need. McDowell and Sackstein translate decades of research into clear, disciplined instructional moves that respect teacher expertise while sharpening its impact. They bring complex ideas to life through a shared professional language—in-the-moment growth, backward fading, rotating questions, stuck in motion, the obstacle as the opportunity, and the reminder that learning isn’t a straight line—all in service of developing consistency and precision of practice. This is assessment as professional judgment, exercised in real time, positioning educators as adaptive experts who can read the room, respond to evidence, and guide students forward without abandoning rigor or coherence."

—Professor John Hattie, University of Melbourne, Australia. A global authority on education effectiveness, his extensive research is the world’s largest evidence base on what works best in schools to improve learning.