Looking back over a teaching career of 50 years, Popham (emeritus, Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, University of California-Los Angeles) identifies six mistakes that educators continue to make, especially at the policy and regulatory level, that have a negative impact on the way classroom teachers teach. Mainly in the areas of assessment, the mistakes include too many curricular targets, underutilization of classroom assessment, the absence of assessment of students' interests and values, and a preoccupation with instructional processes rather than with the impact of instructional processes. Each chapter describes the nature of a mistake and its negative impact on schooling, gives real-life examples, and offers recommendations for rectifying the mistake at the district, school, and classroom level. A final chapter details how Wyoming's educational leaders designed and installed a statewide assessment system intended to improve instructional quality in the schools. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) Read Less