Assessment

Test for the Good of the Learner – Adaptively with Immediate Feedback

by | Aug 11, 2020 | Assessment, Big Data/Analytics, Innovation, online learning, parent engagement

How about adaptive tests that are shorter because they zero in on skills and knowledge levels of each learner?

How about giving these tests 3 times a year instead of long tests at the end of the year?

How about having immediate results so that teachers, students, and families know what gaps need filling, skills need practice, gains need celebrating?

Two states are currently working on replacing end of year summative tests (like Smarter Balanced) with these MAP online adaptive tests given three times a year and providing guidance immediately to teachers instead of sending information to the next year’s teacher on last year’s student.

Read about it here:
https://www.edsurge.com/news/2019-10-21-should-state-assessments-be-split-up-testmaker-nwea-thinks-so

Pandemic Resources from 50Can

by | Jun 29, 2020 | Assessment, Pandemic, Special Education

  • John Hopkins School of Education Dean Christopher Morphew and Bloomberg School of Public Health Vice Dean Josh Sharfstein are out with a new reportstating that there is an urgent need to reopen schools in the fall.
  • RAND released a new toolkit for schools and teachers to assess the degree to which students are taking ownership of distance learning and to determine the best steps forward to support them.
  • Excel in Ed launched a resource guide for special education, featuring parent-recommended policy ideas around distance learning to be considered by state and district leaders.
  • Education Week interviewed experts and leading educators to compile a portrait of what schools will look like when they reopen.
  • The Data Quality Campaign has a new poll of parents and teachers out, with a stark headline: they want far more data and better support to help students during Covid-19.
  • NCTQ is out with a new publication, The Four Pillars to Reading Success, featuring policy recommendations for advocates and elected officials.
  • Google announced a new initiative, Teach From Home, with a vast collection of resources to aid remote teaching and learning.

What Do Formative and Summative Assessments Measure? Do We Need So Many Tests? Can We Now More Effectively Ensure Learning?

by | Jun 22, 2020 | Assessment, Big Data/Analytics

Assessments are valuable if they guide, incite, accelerate, or reward learning. For many students, assessments do not deliver any of those positive benefits. In fact, for many, tests bring anxiety, derail creative teacher instructional plans to bring student performance up through test prep, and cause them to feel discouraged or even ashamed.

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Authentic Assessment

by | Jun 5, 2020 | Assessment, Blended Learning, Learners/Students, Learning Issues, LMS, parent engagement

The emergence of PBL (Project-Based Learning) has accelerated interest in “authentic assessment”– the evaluation of student work by rubric. This practice makes it possible for students to spend their time learning and for teachers to spend instructional time in support of student learning and progress rather than interrupting learning for testing or test prep.

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Hawai‘i Department of Education Student Privacy Policies and Processes

by | Jun 4, 2020 | Assessment, Big Data/Analytics, District Information Management, parent engagement

The DOE website includes this information on Student Privacy. At the bottom is a link to the full page with more language resources.

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a federal law that gives parents certain protections with regard to their children’s education records, such as report cards, transcripts, disciplinary records, contact and family information, and class schedules. As a parent, you have the right to review your child’s education records and to request changes under limited circumstances.

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PowerSchool Announces New Analytics Tool to Help Schools Address the Growing Student Learning Gap – PowerSchool

by | May 28, 2020 | Assessment, Big Data/Analytics, Blended Learning, District Information Management, Education Budgets, LMS

Teachers will benefit from personalized learning tools to help save them time and improve education outcomes for every student.

— Read on www.powerschool.com/news/powerschool-announces-new-analytics-tool-to-help-schools-address-the-growing-student-learning-gap/