Inside the Black Box is Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam's short booklet on improving classroom assessment through formative assessment (assessment for learning). It is brief enough to read in one sitting, and the seller's description pitches it at busy teachers wanting ideas and advice grounded in research.
What do we think?
A book exploring the challenges and opportunities of assessment in the classroom, providing useful practical guidance and informative case studies to support teachers and leaders.
Who it is for
Teachers and leaders who want the short original argument for assessment for learning before reading longer guides, and leaders revisiting a feedback or assessment policy who want the source text the later literature builds on. It is a 1998 text: it predates current national curriculum assessment arrangements and Ofsted's November 2025 framework, so read it for principles, not for current accountability detail.
About the book
- Authors: Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam.
- First published: 1998, London (King's College London), per Dylan Wiliam's own publications list. Later booklets under the Working inside the black box title followed.
Source: Dylan Wiliam's publications list, checked 13 October 2026. No current publisher page could be fetched, so no edition or ISBN is given.