Collaborative Common Assessments: Teamwork. Instruction. Results. (Practical Steps for Teacher Teams to Examine Assessment Data) - Softcover

Cassandra Erkens

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1936763001 ISBN 13: 9781936763009

Publisher: Solution Tree, 2016

Synopsis

This book assists teaching teams in developing data protocols to examine assessment data in the service of student learning.Reignite the passion and energy assessment practices bring as tools to guide teaching and learning. Strengthen instructional agility in professional learning communities with collaborative common assessments that collect vital information and consider all levels of the organization. Explore the practical steps teacher teams must take to establish clear, comprehensive assessment systems, and discover how to continually improve results.

Benefits:

• Read case studies of schools that have effectively implemented collaborative common assessment systems.
• Learn the phases in the collaborative common assessment process and the benefits of engaging in this process.
• Evaluate criteria vital to prioritizing standards.
• Consider crucial questions to guide data conversations.
• Access tools for prioritizing standards and designing assessments.

Contents:
Foreword by Richard DuFour
Introduction: Doing Assessment Right . . . All the Time
Chapter 1: Doing Extraordinary Things
Chapter 2: Embedding Collaborative Common Assessments in a Balanced Assessment System
Chapter 3: Working Together for a Common Purpose
Chapter 4: Preparing the Foundation for Collaborative Common Assessments
Chapter 5: Designing Collaborative Common Assessments
Chapter 6: Delivering New Approaches to Assessment
Chapter 7: Examining Data to Improve Learning
Chapter 8: Responding With Instructional Agility

About this title

About the Author

Cassandra Erkens is a presenter, facilitator, coach, trainer of trainers, keynote speaker, author, and above all, a teacher. She presents nationally and internationally on a wide variety of educational topics, including assessment, instruction, leadership, school improvement, and collaboration. She also provides facilitation services for meetings and retreats. Cassandra strives to customize her sessions to target the exact needs of the clientele with whom she is working.

As an educator and recognized leader, Cassandra has served as a senior high school English teacher, a director of staff development at the district level, a regional school improvement facilitator at the state level, a director of staff and organization development in the private sector, and an adjunct faculty member at Hamline University. She is the author of seven books and a contributing author to four anthologies. She has also authored and coauthored a wide array of published trainings and has designed and delivered the training-of-trainers programs for two major education-based companies.

Review

"Cassandra Erkens clearly lays out misconceptions and pitfalls teams are likely to encounter. She makes a strong argument for the importance of PLC-embedded collaborative common assessment development and offers effective protocols that help teams understand and act on their data."

--Jan Chappuis, Author, Educational Researcher, and Consultant, JanChappuis.com, Portland, Oregon

"Collaborative Common Assessments is set to become the definitive guide for educators who are serious about utilizing common assessments to support learning rather than simply monitoring it. Grounded in research, thorough in explanation, and supported by powerful examples and stories from the field, this book will guide PLCs to use common assessments to impact both learners and teachers in positive, meaningful, results-driven ways."

-- Tom Schimmer, Author and Consultant, Tom Schimmer Consulting, Vancouver, Canada

"Assessment is the process of gathering evidence of student achievement to inform instructional decision making. Cassie helps us understand that the quality and helpfulness of the decision turns on the quality of the evidence on which it is based. When the decision context calls for comparable evidence across classrooms, she shows us why common assessments are the key to success. In such instances, I urge that you follow her instructions."

--Rick Stiggins, Author and Consultant, Assessment Training Institute, Portland, Oregon

"Collaborative Common Assessments brings compelling clarity, meaning, and power to the work of common assessments--not as another high-stakes assessment event, but as a focused practice that helps all students learn. Through a well-designed, researched-based framework, this book is an excellent guide for educators in their pursuit of authentic collaboration that helps bring hope and inspiration to students. The practical strategies and tools provide invaluable explanations and ideas that lead to significant collaboration with deep impact on students and teachers alike."

--Nicole Dimich Vagle, Author and Consultant, Lighthouse Learning Community, Minneapolis, Minnesota

"Erkens provides educators with a comprehensive resource to effectively implement and utilize data from common formative assessments so they can benefit students--those that matter the most. This amazing, extensive, and well-researched resource is a must for schools to implement high-quality assessment and data at the school level."

--Kimberly Zeidler-Watters, Director of the Partnership Institute for Math and Science Education Reform (PIMSER), University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky

Edition details

• Publisher: Solution Tree
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1936763001
• ISBN 13: 9781936763009
• Binding: Perfect Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 192