What is assessment literacy? It's a handful of fundamental understandings about the testing concepts and procedures that influence educational decisions. And it just might be the most cost-effective means of real school improvement. With characteristic humor and aplomb, assessment expert W. James Popham strips away the psychometrician-speak and condenses the complexities of educational testing to six practical and action-oriented understandings about validity, reliability, fairness, score reporting, formative assessment, and affective assessment. This book is for busy educators at the classroom and leadership levels who want Tests that are worth the valuable time they take to administer.Tests that accurately measure what student have learned. Tests that fairly reflect teacher and school effectiveness.Tests that provide the instructionally useful data that will help students learn faster and better. Assessment Literacy for Educators in a Hurry is the fastest route to acquiring the measurement moxie necessary to understand and advocate for better assessment practices and build a case for stopping ineffective and harmful ones. In just a few hours' time, you can pick up the knowledge you need to do a whole lot of good—for your students, yourself, and our schools.
Why aren't more schools seeing significant improvement in students' reading ability when they implement Response to Intervention (RTI) or Multitiered Systems of Support (MTSS) in their literacy programs? These frameworks serve as a way for educators to identify struggling readers and provide the small-group instruction they need to improve their skills. But the success stories are too few in number, and most schools have too little to show for their efforts. What accounts for the difference? What are successful schools doing that sets them apart? Author and education consultant Susan Hall provides answers in the form of 10 success factors for implementing MTSS. Based on her experience in schools across the United States, she explains the «whys» and «hows» ofGrouping by skill deficit and using diagnostic assessments to get helpful data for grouping and regrouping.Implementing an instructional delivery model, including the «walk-to-intervention» model.Using intervention time wisely and being aware of what makes intervention effective.Providing teachers with the materials they need for effective lessons and delivering differentiated professional development for administrators, reading coaches, teachers, and instructional assistants.Monitoring progress regularly and conducting nonevaluative observations of intervention instruction.Practical, comprehensive, and evidence-based, 10 Success Factors for Literacy Intervention provides the guidance educators need to move from disappointing results to solid gains in students' literacy achievement.
"Design is the rendering of intent." What if education leaders approached their work with the perspective of a designer? This new perspective of seeing the world differently is desperately needed in schools and begins with school leadership. Alyssa Gallagher and Kami Thordarson, widely recognized experts on Design Thinking, educational leadership, and innovative strategies, call this new perspective design-inspired leadership—one of the most powerful ways to ignite positive change and address education challenges using the same design and innovation principles that have been so successful in private industry. Design Thinking for School Leaders[/i] explores the changing landscape of leadership and offers practical ways to reframe the role of school leader using Design Thinking, one step at a time. Leaders can shift from «accidental designers» to «design-inspired leaders,» acting with greater intention and achieving greater impact. You'll learn how viewing the world through a more empathetic lens—a critical first step on the path to becoming a design-inspired leader—can raise your awareness of the uniqueness of your teachers and students and prompt you to question the ways in which they experience your school. Gallagher and Thordarson detail five specific roles to help you identify opportunities for positively impacting students, teachers, districts, parents, and the community: Opportunity Seeker. Shifts from problem solving to problem finding. Experience Architect. Designs and curates learning experiences. Rule Breaker. Challenges the way things are «always» done. Producer. Gets things done and creates rapid learning cycles for teams. Storyteller. Captures the hearts and minds of a community. Full of examples of Design Thinking in action in schools across the country, Design Thinking for School Leaders can help you guide your school to the forefront of the new design + education movement, one that will move traditional education into the modern world and drive the future of learning.
In this revised and updated 4th edition, Discipline with Dignity provides in-depth guidance for implementing a proven approach to classroom management that can help students make better choices and teachers be more effective. Emphasizing the importance of mutual respect and self-control, the authors offer specific strategies and techniques for building strong relationships with disruptive students and countering the toxic social circumstances that affect many of them, including dysfunctional families, gangs, and poverty. Educators at all levels can learnThe difference between formal and informal discipline systems and when to use each. The role of values, rules, and consequences. How to address the underlying causes of discipline problems that occur both in and out of school. What teachers can do to defuse or prevent classroom disruptions and disrespectful behavior without removing students from the classroom. Why traditional approaches such as threats, punishments, and rewards are ineffective—and what to do instead. How to use relevance, teacher enthusiasm, choice, and other elements of curriculum and instruction to motivate students. How to reduce both teacher and student stress that can trigger power struggles. With dozens of specific examples of student-teacher interactions, Discipline with Dignity illustrates what you can do—and not do—to make the classroom a place where students learn and teachers maintain control in a nonconfrontational way. The goal is success for all, in schools that thrive.
What does rigor , a word that frequently pops up in conversations about education, really mean? More specifically, what does it mean for literacy instruction, and how does it relate to challenging standards-based assessments? In this informative and practical guide, literacy expert Nancy Boyles uses the framework from Webb's Depth of Knowledge (DOK) to answer these questions, offering experience-based advice along with specific examples of K–8 assessment items. Boyles defines rigor and shows how it relates to literacy at each DOK level and explains the kind of thinking students will be expected to demonstrate. She then tackles the essence of what teachers need to know about how DOK and its associated rigors are measured on standards-based assessments. Specifically, readers learn how each DOK rigor aligns withstandards,text complexity,close reading,student interaction,the reading-writing connection, andformative assessment. Teachers, coaches, and administrators will find clear guidance, easy-to-implement strategies, dozens of useful teaching tools and resources, and encouragement to help students achieve and demonstrate true rigor in reading and writing.
Marvel at the neuroscientific reasons why smart teens make dumb decisions! Behold the mind-controlling power of executive function! Thrill to a vision of a better school for the teenage brain! Whether you're a parent interacting with one adolescent or a teacher interacting with many, you know teens can be hard to parent and even harder to teach. The eye-rolling, the moodiness, the wandering attention, the drama . It's not you, it's them. More specifically, it's their brains. In accessible language and with periodic references to Star Trek , motorcycle daredevils, and near-classic movies of the '80s, developmental molecular biologist John Medina, author of the New York Times best-seller Brain Rules , explores the neurological and evolutionary factors that drive teenage behavior and can affect both achievement and engagement. Then he proposes a research-supported counterattack: a bold redesign of educational practices and learning environments to deliberately develop teens' cognitive capacity to manage their emotions, plan, prioritize, and focus. Attack of the Teenage Brain! is an enlightening and entertaining read that will change the way you think about teen behavior and prompt you to consider how else parents, educators, and policymakers might collaborate to help our challenging, sometimes infuriating, often weird, and genuinely wonderful kids become more successful learners, in school and beyond.
What if teachers could dramatically reduce the amount of time they spend reviewing and correcting student work and actually see better results in terms of student learning? That's the goal of Glen Pearsall, who shares dozens of classroom-tested strategies that lessen teachers' workload while increasing students' class participation and improving their understanding. Readers will learn how toRefine their classroom questioning techniques to continually check students' progress and provide instant feedback;Encourage students to internalize learning goals so they better understand what is expected of them;Use fast, formative assessment strategies to check and correct during class time;Modify traditional summative-testing strategies to monitor student progress in a formative way;Speed up the correction process via student self-proofing, representative sampling, and helpful technology tools; and Engage students in becoming actively involved in assessing their own work. Drawing from his own experience as a teacher and coach, Pearsall offers practical, real-world advice in the form of techniques that are both effective and sustainable in the everyday classroom. The result is smarter assessment—for both teachers and students.
Many educators agree that the 100-point grading model is not always a reliable way to evaluate student learning. But is there another way to more accurately and equitably grade students and provide high-quality information to parents while fostering student learning? If so, why haven't school districts across the country changed their practices? In Changing the Grade , author and educator Jonathan Cornue presents a detailed model for developing a more reliable, standards-based grading system— including 30 steps to guide you through the process . In addition to identifying and addressing the barriers to change—such as concerns about how colleges and employers will interpret an alternative grading model—Cornue offers a concrete structure for changing the grading system, providing guidance on:Thinking in a new way about why grades are given and the purpose of a report card grade;Identifying what needs to be changed and what actions must be taken to facilitate the change;Building a team of stakeholders—including teachers, principals, and guidance counselors—to lead the change process;Developing the new standards-based grading structure;Designing standards-based assignments and assessments that align with a new grading structureAvoiding grade inflation; andGetting buy-in from teachers and other staff members, principals, administrators, the board of education, and the community by demonstrating that the change process is intentional, research-based, student-focused, and permanent. The book also includes helpful samples of standards-based gradebooks, homework assignments, rubrics, and report cards. If you are interested in making a systemic and systematic shift to a high-quality grading structure that is far less subjective than many commonly found in schools, consider Changing the Grade .
With Doing Poorly on Purpose , veteran educator James R. Delisle dispels the negative associations and stereotypes connected to underachievement. By focusing on smart kids who get poor grades—not because they’re unable to do better in school but because they don’t want to—Delisle presents a snapshot of underachievement that may look far different from what you envision it to be. There is no such thing as a “classic underachiever.” Students (and their reasons for underachieving) are influenced by a wide range of factors, including self-image, self-concept, social-emotional relationships, and the amount of dignity teachers afford their students. Helping “smart” students achieve when they don’t want to is not an easy task, but you can reengage and inspire students using Delisle’s insights and practical advice on these topics: Autonomy Access Advocacy Alternatives Aspirations Approachable Educators Smart, underachieving students need the reassurance that they are capable, valuable, and worth listening to despite their low academic performance. If these students—who are otherwise academically capable—don’t feel they are getting respect from those in charge of their learning, then the desire to conform and achieve is minimized. In a word, they want dignity . Don’t we all?
“If we can get adult development right, we can change the world!” Adult development . . . in schools? Yes. In fact, understanding and sharing ideas—and implementing practices—that help adults explore experiences and assumptions is a powerful driver of school change. Eleanor Drago-Severson and Jessica Blum-DeStefano share expertise that has evolved from their many decades of research and work with educators and show you how to Deepen your understanding of adult development and its role in systemic and schoolwide change and educational improvement, Connect theory to practice with developmentally oriented structures and strategies that enhance collaboration, communication, and feedback, Support individual and organizational growth with a differentiated approach to leadership and capacity building, and Build trust, capacity, collegiality, and sustainability with developmental practices that meet adult needs. Whether you work in a school, district, university, educational institution, or other learning organization, you’ll learn how to infuse leadership, collaboration, communication, and capacity building with a deep understanding of individuals’ experiences and capacities—and how they influence our day-to-day work. Leading Change Together explains how you and other adult learners can effect tremendous change in schools and systems.