Redefining Fair: How to Plan, Assess, and Grade for Exellence in Mixed-Ability Classrooms

by Damian Cooper

Learn how to define proficiency accurately and differentiate to help all students achieve it. With a focus on mixed-ability classes, the author outlines instructional practices that engage, empower, and motivate students. Using stories, strategies, case histories, and sample documents, he explains how to implement equitable instruction, assessment, grading, and reporting practices for diverse 21st century learners.

Genres: Education, Teaching

262 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 2011

Reviews

[Jennifer]

2.5*

To be fair, this book never stood a chance because I don't like non-fiction. That being said, it was really informative and served its purpose. The first half was definitely way better than the second, which got a little dull.

[Matthew Panetta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great ideas about differentiation and inclusivity. Repetitive in the last chapters, could have been a bit shorter.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book at the recommendation of my Principal. The entire leadership staff of my school's area in the district are studying this book as a part of re-thinking and re-vamping how we organize our schools, design tasks, and assess students.

I was really encouraged at the large amount of Canadian materials and examples (and that the author is from Toronto). Too many educational books are too focused on US problems.

This book has an excellent viewpoint and great arguments for how teachers should be responsive to students' mastery or lack of mastery in curriculum content and provides an excellent and clear vision of how to approach Differentiation and Assessment. I especially appreciated his approach on debunking the uses of the bell curve and what standards-based assessment means to raising the level of excellence in schools for ALL students.

This has been an excellent companion to my textbook in my Assessment course for my Masters.