Online science items…What parents want from assessment…Connected educators

Looking for interactive science items to engage your students? Check out these NAEP-released items which are both interactive computer and hands-on tasks. (Grades 4, 8 and 12, of course)

Check out this infographic about assessment gleaned from the a research study done by Grunwald Associates for NWEA. It’s about what parents and educators want from assessment – both formative and summative.

A new project from the U.S. Department of Education focusing on online communities in education – Connected Educators. The project seeks to foster innovation by helping online communities reach more education professionals, deepen the level of participation among educators already involved, and increase collaboration among education communities. All of this is to be accomplished by working with existing online communities, collecting and sharing good practices and researching key online community issues.

It’s spring so it must be test-taking season…

It is important to remember that being a good reader comes before being a good test taker and here is what the Book Whisperer has to say on that subject…

Like some of the work NWEA has done with the Bureau of Indian Education – Learning coaches are a recommendation from the Wallace Foundation… 

…and in Danbury CT — Connecticut Education Commissioner Stefan Pryor urged state residents to call for education reform this past Thursday.  A shift from teacher-training lectures to coaching in the classroom and small group instruction would help educators improve their craft, he said. This “small group instruction” fits the Teacher Learning Community model well.

If you use MAP and want to understand more about the growth data, register for this free, NWEA webinar on April 18^th. Dr. John Cronin, Director of the Kingsbury Center at NWEA, will explain the distinctions between projected growth and aspirational growth targets, and how to effectively use growth metrics to better understand your student learning outcomes.

The Colorado Growth Model and students at West Denver Prep – not just measuring achievement

Dylan Wiliam explains how formative assessment can improve teacher effectiveness and student learning in a new webinar, “Practical Techniques for Implementing Formative Assessment.” You can access this second in a series of three free webinars on formative assessment here.

Check out this case study and the use of MAP – Reversing Low Math Performance: A “Paradigm Shift” – Wayzata High School