Differentiation is a necessary response to the changing demography of schools, to our deepening understanding of how students learn, and to the changing demands of society and the world at large. But the greatest obstacles to differentiation are outdated beliefs about “fairness”. As long as fairness is equated with sameness, teachers, students and parents will perceive variations in teaching and assessment as being unfair.
Assessments play a large part in the learning of students and our understanding as teachers. And while summative assessments are important, the true understanding of learning comes from the formative kind.
Formative assessment is a powerful tool for improving teaching and increasing student learning. edWeb.net community, Implementing Common Core Standards in Math, is holding a four-part Formative Assessment Webinar Series that will explore strategies for strengthening the role of formative assessment in mathematics instruction.
Productive struggle has helped to close the achievement gap with Clarke County School District being named the state’s top “Title I Distinguished District” for its impact on closing the gap. Over half of Clarke County Schools had higher scores this year from last year.
Researchers from Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) explored Make Assessment Matter: Students and Educators Want Tests That Support Learning, public opinion research on K-12 assessment highlighting the perceptions of students, classroom teachers and district administrators.
It’s the number one priority for our classrooms as we get back to school. How do we plan our lessons, and integrate resources, to support deeper vocabulary investigation and greater collaboration and conversation?
What do we want students to know, understand, and be able to do? How will we know what students have learned, understood and are able to do? This 5-step process presented by Dr. Eileen Depka, works to close the gap between expectation and performance by employing different instructional approaches and materials, based on what we have learned about our students
Diagnostic assessment is one of the most misunderstood and yet one of the most powerful tools in the arena of educational assessment, especially now with so much focus on differentiated and personalized instruction.
In the edWeb.net Blended Learning community’s latest webinar, Dr. Francis (Skip) Fennell and Dr. Tim Hudson discussed important topics in mathematics education. They shared insights about current trends and issues in mathematics education related to curriculum, assessment, and instruction that are applicable in all states and schools.
Non-traditional forms of assessment, such as peer-to-peer learning, can produce useful information for the teacher. Another idea is to include an assessment component in warm-up, group, and closure activities during class. Teachers can make students more responsible for their own learning through technology-enhanced self-assessments.