Colleagues,

I want to thank our guest, Janet Looney,  for joining us this week to  
discuss formative assessment.  Thanks, also, to those who  
participated in the discussion and asked thoughtful questions,  
especially to Marie Cora, moderator of the National Institute for  
Literacy Assessment list, who has a keen interest in this topic.   
Janet has provided us with a great introduction to formative  
assessment, a topic which may be new for many in the U.S.  Janet,   
and Susan Reid and John Benseman, from New Zealand, have provided us  
with many references and resources to learn more.

Perhaps the discussion of what U.S. educators are doing -- or could  
be doing -- with formative assessment will continue sometime on the  
Assessment discussion list.  We look forward to next year's results  
of the OECD study on formative assessment in adult basic skill  
settings, andhope that Janet and others might join us again then.

For those who were not able to find the New Zealand assessment web  
page suggested by Susan Reid, try

http://educationcounts.edcentre.govt.nz/publications/tertiary/ 
assessment-foundation.html

or, this short form of the web address,

http://tinyurl.com/gv39x

In a few days we will have a discussion on corrections education. We  
will look at research and professional wisdom on family literacy in a  
corrections setting, and the education transition from corrections to  
the community.  We have a panel of outstanding guests joining us from  
September 18-22nd, and I look forward to your joining us.

David J. Rosen
Special Topics Discussion Moderator
djrosen at comcast.net