The New Art and Science of Classroom Assessment. Robert J. Marzano

can leverage to enhance content coverage in a classroom that focuses on standards. To understand how this works, assume that a teacher was working with the following ten measurement topics in fourth-grade science.

      1. Energy

      2. Motion

      3. Light and vision

      4. Waves

      5. Geographic features

      6. Earth changes

      7. Natural hazards

      8. Natural resources

      9. Plant needs

      10. Animal needs

      As we have discussed, national, provincial, state, and local standards documents would surely contain many other topics like Earth’s history, human impacts on resource use, and scientific contributions throughout history. Even though the measurement topics do not specifically include these topics, the teacher might integrate the content into instruction formally or informally. Formally means that the teacher actually plans for direct instruction in the supplemental content. Informally means that the teacher does not plan for direct instruction in the content but addresses it if it comes up naturally during class. For example, while discussing the topic of different methods of energy production, which is part of the measurement topic energy, the teacher might remember that the supplemental topic of human impact on resource use also applies to the example he or she is providing. This approach inserts additional content into the instructional process but doesn’t necessarily assess that content.

      Relying on incidental learning mitigates the common misconception that if a teacher doesn’t test on it, then students don’t learn it. While it is true that students stand a better chance of remembering content they’ve taken tests on, it is also true that brief exposure to content gives them a good chance of remembering it. Some educators refer to this as fast mapping (Carey, 1978).

       Creating a Supplemental Measurement Topic