Referencing a principle from author G.K. Chesterton (to not reform a policy unless you know its original purpose), Wiliam argues that before we make changes to long-established grading practices, we must know the reasons those practices are favored by many teachers, and what benefits the practice may have. He explores why three grading…

With teacher and leader workloads and burnout at an all-time high, it's time for de-implementation: de-prioritizing and deleting the less effective, higher-cost initiatives we implement in schools. De-implementation allows us to focus on practices that have more supporting evidence and a higher probability of positive impact on students, and at…

This September 2010 article is a reprint of the original October 1998 article. Few reform initiatives focus on what goes on in the "black box" of the classroom, on what really happens in the interaction between teachers and students. This article is about the inside of the black box. The authors focus on one aspect of teaching: formative…

In this paper, it is argued that the failure of educational research to impact on practice stems from a failure to understand the nature of expertise in teaching, and that traditional models of knowledge transfer can only be effective for those at a relatively limited level of competence. Instead, it is suggested that teachers need to be involved,…

In this paper, the authors first give a brief account of their work with teachers to develop formative assessment practices, including a brief outline of the quantitative results and the impact of formative assessment project. They give a full account of the changes in classroom practice that the project schools developed, together with some…

This series of papers was originally presented as a symposium at the annual meetings of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and the National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME) held between April 9, 2007, and April 13, 2007, in Chicago, IL. The authors represent school districts and departments of education across the…