7.3.18 Developing Your Formative Assessment Muscles As we ease into summer, I like to think teachers and educators have a little more time and space to think about their professional learning and some ‘big picture’ classroom ideas. If it’s one... Read more
6.28.18 Seven Crucial Criteria for a Great Growth Assessment – Post Two As we’ve written about many times, measuring growth is only useful if it’s done well. It’s not about just comparing one proficiency score to the next one. It’s about accurately identifying... Read more
6.26.18 Seven Crucial Criteria for a Great Growth Assessment – Post One “I need to know if my students are learning.” Sound familiar? We hear it a lot, and if you’re an educator, you’ve likely not only heard it, but said it as well. But measuring growth is only... Read more
6.19.18 The Battle for Time: Choosing Quality over Quantity During the last week of school, my colleagues and I were chatting in the sweltering heat while monitoring our students on the playground at recess. We were discussing time... We came upon the... Read more
6.15.18 We have a winner: MAP Reading Fluency! We are thrilled to announce that MAP Reading Fluency, our new oral reading fluency assessment for K-3 readers, won the 2018 SIIA CODiE award for Best Student Assessment Solution! MAP Reading Fluency... Read more
6.14.18 Personalized Learning is Student-Directed Learning This article in EdWeek highlights an idea I love – WIN sessions in Henry County, Georgia. WIN, or What I Need, periods provide students choice about, flexibility in, and ownership of their... Read more
6.5.18 How MAP Growth K-2 Meets the Needs of Early Learners Most educators agree that assessments can be powerful tools for students and teachers when they’re purposeful, instructionally aligned, and tied to student outcomes—but there’s still quite a... Read more
5.31.18 Achievement Down Under: How an Australian School is Changing the Conversation with MAP Growth When the staff at MLC Junior School in New South Wales, Australia set out to use MAP Growth to better understand the learning needs of their student population, they had no idea they were... Read more
5.29.18 Formative instructional practice: Using the results and data is what matters In a post about teaching techniques, Maryellen Weimer cautioned readers about loving techniques for the wrong reasons. When I talk about formative assessment or formative instructional practice, I... Read more
5.22.18 How One School is Making the Grade Using Interim Assessment Data Puesta del Sol Elementary in New Mexico’s Rio Rancho school district was graded a D- by the state in 2012. Three years later they received a grade of B+, and they credit this remarkable turnaround... Read more
5.15.18 Answering the Call to Lead I came into education through a temp job. True story. After college, my parents naturally wanted me to get busy with some work. So, I took a temporary job at the Oregon Department of Education. In my... Read more
5.11.18 MAP Reading Fluency named a CODiE Award finalist We are excited to share that our new oral reading fluency assessment, MAP Reading Fluency, has been named a 2018 SIIA CODiE Award finalist in the Best Student Assessment Solution category! The SIIA... Read more