Assessment for Equity and Inclusion: Embracing All Our Children

How students are assessed can determine not only the quality, type, and degree of education they receive, but has long-term consequences for their future. Assessment by standardized testing often labels poor and minority children in ways that exclude them from opportunities, while failing to measure their true potential.Assessment for Equity and Inclusionconfronts the debate between standardized testing and alternative assessment methods, locating strategies of assessment by which students are included rather than excluded. This collection initiates a substantive discussion on assessment, presenting multiple possibilities of innovative practice from various theoretical, historical, practical, and critical perspectives. After describing the historical and political framework of assessment and its alternatives, the contributors then move on to describe their own successful strategies. They also address broader conflicts in curriculum and the issues that must be faced in order tofinally realize meaningful and equitable evaluation.