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Blogs on Assessment

Assessment

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Move past high-stakes testing and expand your understanding about the different types of effective assessment.

What Parents and Educators Want from Assessments

Anne OBrienJuly 30, 2012

Tags Accountability, Comprehensive Assessment, All Grades

Our national obsession with assessment continues. Despite their rhetoric expressing concern about the role that standardized tests play in our education system, politicians persist in valuing these tests almost exclusively when it comes to accountability -- not only for schools, as has been the case since the inception of No Child Left Behind, but for teachers as well, with a national push to include the results of these tests in teacher evaluations.

PBL and Standardized Tests? It Can Work!

Andrew MillerJune 1, 2012

Tags Comprehensive Assessment, Curriculum, Performance Assessment, Project-Based Learning, Standardized Testing, All Grades, English Language Arts, Math

It's never too late to address this subject. Yes, many of us are gearing down from the epic standardized testing season, enjoying the freedom, released from the many pressures that come with the tests. However, these tests will keep happening. Whether a yearly course assessment, a six-week benchmark exam or a state-level competency test, teachers and students are inundated with testing. Because of the way that testing permeates education culture, I often hear some "pushback" from teachers and their implementation of project-based learning. Here are some tips and responses to that tension between PBL and standardized tests.

An Open Letter to Writing Instructors from a Motivated Student

Lauren GriffinMay 23, 2012

Tags Comprehensive Assessment, Literacy, Performance Assessment, Student Work Examples, Teacher Development, High (9-12), English Language Arts

I am a 24-year-old college student who sometimes just wants a grade, but most of the time wants thorough, purposeful and encouraging feedback that helps me strengthen my writing skills. As a Secondary English Education major at East Carolina University, I have been exposed to various methods of teaching literature and writing, and have archived all of my past papers in binders and file cabinets for future reference. My friends think I am in need of an intervention for being over-organized, but I think that being more aware of how my instructors teach and assess students will improve my writing and provide me the opportunity to identify assessment methods that I can make my own in when I start teaching composition.

What Exactly Is "Understanding?" And How Do We Assess It?

Terry HeickMay 10, 2012

Tags Comprehensive Assessment, Formative Assessment, Performance Assessment, Standardized Testing

Assessing understanding might be the most complex task an educator or academic institution is tasked with. Unfortunately, professional development gives a lower level of attention to developing quality assessments, training that is rarely commensurate with this complexity. The challenge of assessment is no less than figuring out what a learner knows, and where he or she needs to go next.

Seven Tips for Building Positive Relationships with English-Language Learners

Larry FerlazzoApril 17, 2012

Tags English-Language Learners, Lesson Plans, Teacher Development, English Language Arts

Positive relationships are the foundation of any successful classroom and particularly one that includes English-Language Learners (ELL). Teachers must learn about their students' experiences and backgrounds in order to connect them to new learning. Teachers also need to know what their students are interested in and what their goals are in order to create lessons which engage them and are relevant to their lives. When teachers get to know their students, they can make better decisions about the curriculum, instructional strategies, classroom management, assessment, pacing, and the list goes on.

Case Study: What Does it Take to Turn Around a School?

Rick WinterApril 12, 2012

Tags Accountability, Charter Schools, Community Partnerships, Comprehensive Assessment, Primary (K-2), Teacher Development, Upper Elementary (3-5)

How does a school go from struggling to success? My goal in this blog is to share success stories and resources to help you make a difference in all the schools with whom you make contact. There is a role for everyone here: principal, superintendent, teacher, parent, school board member, politician, community member and taxpayer.

How Did School Do? A Crowdsourced Study

Shelly Blake-PlockApril 5, 2012

Tags Comprehensive Assessment, Teacher Development, All Grades

"The internet is made for questions," says Sean Wheeler.

It wasn't long ago that language arts teacher Wheeler and his Lakewood City School District biology-teaching colleague Ken Kozar -- along with a class of eager 10th graders -- realized that certain questions weren't being asked online. And one question above all resonated with teacher and student alike: How did school do?

The Joys (and Sorrows) of Being a Parent and an Educator

Hollee FreemanFebruary 29, 2012

Tags Comprehensive Assessment, Diversity, Parental Involvement, Teacher Development, Urban Schools, All Grades, Math

The burden is heavy for educators who are parents -- and, I dare say, even heavier for those of us who consider ourselves progressive educators in this age of heavy standardized testing and tight curriculum calendars that leave little room for exploration of ideas. Traditional, progressive or somewhere between, all of us who are (simply) educators and parents of school-aged students have to think about when, how and for what reason we interact with teachers.

PD for the Holiday Break: 7 Lessons and Blogs

Eric BrunsellDecember 21, 2011

Tags Formative Assessment, Teacher Development, Middle (6-8), High (9-12), Math

During my first year of teaching, I assigned students homework over the holidays. The week before we left for break, I handed out a packet on thermodynamics. It was due three weeks later. Some of my students left the room singing, "You're a mean one, Mr. B."

Three Ways Student Data Can Inform Your Teaching

Rebecca AlberDecember 6, 2011

Tags Comprehensive Assessment, Formative Assessment, Mental Health, Standardized Testing, All Grades

The job of a teacher is to be faithful to authentic student learning. Currently, our profession is fixated on results from one test, from one day, given near the end of the school year. And, yes, that is data that can be useful, however, we teachers spend the entire year collecting all sorts of immediate and valuable information about students that informs and influences how we teach, as well as where and what we review, re-adjust, and re-teach.