About the Author

Dr. Becky McTague is an associate professor of language and literacy at Roosevelt University. She has over 30 years of experience, ranging from elementary schools to the university level. She holds a bachelor's degree in elementary education from Southern Illinois University, a master's degree in reading from Northeastern Illinois University, and an Ed.D. from National-Louis University. Her teaching experiences include trainer for Reading Recovery; primary teacher in Illinois, Oklahoma, and England; and reading specialist/coach for several public school districts. She has written several articles and chapters that have been published in professional journals. Over the past 10 years, she has directed many local grants as well as worked on federal grants focused on school improvement. Her current research interests include teacher development, struggling readers, best practices in literacy for all students, school change especially in urban settings, and supporting English Language Learners.

Reviews

...puts formative assessment at its center, where it always has been for skilled teachers. The authors acknowledge the political reality of high-stakes testing while still pushing for the crucial role of formative assessment. They see formative assessment as preparing students as readers and writers. Prepared readers and writers, it follows, are prepared to demonstrate this in a variety of ways, standardized tests among them. . . .This is a readable text that is clearly drawn from the practice of real teachers in real schools. While external standards are not going away anytime soon, the authors of this text show that formative assessment can put the emphasis back on classroom learning day to day and moment to moment.-- "Illinois Reading Council Journal"

Great thoughts on how to balance assessment with learning! . . .[The authors] put the K-8 student first and show with their checklists and principles how to effectively be a formative assessor and how to make findings count toward future learning. Great tips, examples, forms included. Recommended.-- "Teacher Librarian, Resources for Teacher Librarians"

Infuse research-based best practices of formative assessment through the lens of Common Core. This book provides formative assessment techniques for read-alouds, guiding language into reading, language and literacy centers, and independent reading and writing.-- "Learning Magazine"

Many thanks to authors Policastro, McTague, and Mazeski for sharing their excellent collection of formative assessment tools along with clear examples of their use in today's classrooms. Formative Assessment in the New Balanced Literacy Classroom is a timely gift to teachers and administrators striving to develop formative assessment practices that support the learning of teachers as well as students. Teachers will be glad to have this book as an accessible guide to formative assessment in action.-- "Mary Massie, Senior Literacy Specialist"

Policastro, McTague, and Mazeski bring the collective expertise of university professors and veteran teachers to bear in this thoroughly researched and well-documented book. . . .The authors have written a very understandable, manageable book that is predictable in its organization and specific in its message. It is a text that I would've liked to have when I was first starting to implement a balanced literacy classroom, as it truly does give step-by-step guidance to using formative assessment to inform instruction. This book would be an effective tool for elementary teachers since it has been my experience that middle school teachers do not usually include all balanced literacy classroom elements discussed in the book. However, I feel it would also be a worthwhile read for middle school teachers who want to learn more about formative assessment and how they would be able to implement it in what they do to guide their instruction.-- "Middle Web"

Policastro, McTague, and Mazeski build on their work on the new balanced literacy model by highlighting how formative assessments can be integrated in four key classroom components that are often overlooked as rich sources of data: the read-aloud, guiding language into reading, language and literacy centers, and independent reading and writing. They provide useful tools to guide individual teachers to more effectively use formative assessment--especially in new ways--in their classrooms. The authors' techniques allow for the formative collection of data, a means to provide formative feedback to the student, and ways to encourage formative self-monitoring by the student. If as everyone says "assessment drives instruction," then the two should operate in tandem. That is seen in the best forms of formative assessment--especially those tools and techniques that allow us to capture rich information from daily classroom routines. In Formative Assessment in the New Balanced Literacy Classroom, Policastro, McTague, and Mazeski provide a path toward a more purposeful way of operating in today's classrooms.-- "Michael P. Ford, Professor of Reading Education, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh"