district implementation plan

Professional Development in Classroom
Assessment Literacy

The Assessment Training Institute (ATI), based in Portland, Oregon, was founded in 1992 by Dr. Rick Stiggins. Since then, it has provided professional development to teachers and school leaders to improve their use of both summative and formative assessment in the classroom in order to support student learning. ATI has helped state departments of education, educational service agencies, educational consortia, and local school districts to understand and implement balanced assessment systems, and has helped develop the assessment literacy needed by teachers and school leaders to improve student learning. More information about ATI is available at

Assessment Accuracy and Effective Use

The ATI professional development model in assessment accuracy and effective use is focused on improving student learning, building students’ confidence as learners via the use of classroom assessment, and helping teachers learn to use assessment as both accurate measurement and as good instruction. The program is guided by the belief that all assessments must be of high quality and produce dependable results, and that involving students in the classroom assessment process allows them to take responsibility for their own progress and success. The ATI model also helps classroom teachers connect the state level assessment to day-to-day classroom assessment practice.

For ATI, effective use of assessment results equates to assessment for learning. This application of formative assessment is based in the classroom, involves students in every aspect of their own assessment, and helps teachers teach and students learn. Assessment for learning rests on the understanding that students, not just adults, are data-based instructional decision-makers. International research shows that applying the principles of assessment for learning day to day in the classroom improves student confidence and academic performance. When consistently carried out within and across classrooms, these principles have been linked to profound gains in student achievement, especially for low achievers (Black & Wiliam, 1998).

So, the ATI program teaches educators to do the following:

  • Develop and use accurate, high-quality assessments in the classroom using the appropriate assessment method
  • Involve students in their own assessment, including keeping track of and communicating their own progress, goal-setting, and self-evaluation
  • Translate content standards into classroom-level learning targets and then into student-friendly versions of standards and targets
  • Integrate assessment into daily instruction
  • Create and recognize quality rubrics and performance tasks
  • Assess more efficiently and economically
  • Communicate effectively and accurately about student achievement, including the use of report card grades
  • Motivate students by making them responsible partners in the assessment process

Please refer to “Indicators of Sound Classroom Assessment Practice” on page 9 of this proposal for an expanded description of what is taught in the ATI program.

A companion program helps school leaders teaches how an assessment system built on balance and quality can positively impact student learning, creating synergy among all levels of assessment: classroom, interim, and large-scale. It is based on the content of ATI’s 2010 publication Assessment Balance and Quality: An Action Guide for School Leaders, 3rd ed., authored by Steve Chappuis, Carol Commodore and Rick Stiggins.

In addition, the ATI professional development program assists teachers in adopting standards based grading practices that are sound in their focus on including only those factors that influence the grade. The ATI resource for this teaching is A Repair Kit for Grading: 15 Fixes for Broken Grades, by Ken O’Connor.

The ATI Client Base

The ATI client base ranges from local education agencies (school districts and ESDs) to larger regional or even statewide professional development programs. ATI has offered such programs for departments of education in Kentucky, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois,Nebraska, Washington, and West Virginia. Clients have also included Amphitheater Unified School District, Arizona; Clark County School District, Nevada; Cleveland Metropolitan School District, Ohio; Houston Independent School District, Texas; Naperville School District, Illinois; Phoenix Union High School District, Arizona; School District of West Palm Beach, Florida; Spokane Public Schools, Washington; Sweetwater Union High School District, California; and numerous local education agencies across the United States and Canada. Additionally, schools and districts across the country purchase ATI materials to begin programs of study without ever contracting for ATI service. A list of references is available at the end of this proposal/description.

Professional Development Services for a District Implementation Plan

ATI offers two professional development implementation plan models that help cadres across the state lead professional development programs in assessment for learning in their region or district:

  1. A series of “train-the-learning-team-facilitator” two-day seminars to build capacity, with follow-up support sessions for those same participants.
  2. An ATI-prepared cadre of presenters that delivers under the agreement of a intellectual property site license ATI workshops directly to school instructional staff.

Under model #1, the core of these sessions is the two-day seminar entitled Leading Professional Development (LPD) in Classroom Assessment for Learning, which can be held in various locations around the state and will address how to plan and implement district-wide professional development in classroom assessment literacy. Participants will obtain the guidelines, strategies, and materials needed to initiate and facilitate effective professional development in classroom assessment. A similar LPD for learning team facilitators can also be held using the book Seven Strategies of Assessment for Learning.
Who Should Attend

The Leading Professional Development in Classroom Assessmentfor Learning (LPD) two-day seminar is designed for individuals who are fairly knowledgeable about assessment, and who have ongoing responsibilities for professional development at the district, regional, or state level. The seminar includes a pre-session assignment and webcast to familiarize participants with the basic concepts of assessment quality as outlined in ATI materials.
Seminar Goals

The seminar goals are as follows:

  • Explain the two central concepts underlying high-quality assessment: accuracy and effective use.
  • Deepen understanding of assessment for learning practices, as well as the keys to assessment quality.
  • Prepare a presentation to introduce others to these concepts.
  • Familiarize the content and format of ATI learning materials.
  • Learn how to set up and conduct continued professional development through collaborative learning teams.

Seminar Description

The goal of the presentation will be to offer enough information or to engage participants in the demonstrations to understand how the principles of quality classroom assessment will benefit their students. The goal will not be to teach participants everything they need to know about assessment — not only is this aspiration impossible, it would be overwhelming; the presentation you will develop is introductory. It will be designed to inspire participants to learn more about quality assessment practices and understand how to accomplish that through deeper study in collaborative learning teams.

The professional development model described in this proposal is applicable to all content areas and all grade levels. In that sense, it is content-neutral. All teachers at all grade levels and all subjects can learn to be better assessors in the classroom, and each learns how to do so in the context of their own state standards, their own district/grade-level curriculum, and their own age-appropriate assessment practices.

What Participants Receive

Workshop participants will receive the book Classroom Assessment for Student Learning: Doing It Right — Using It Well 2e, and the accompanying CD and DVD with additional resources and hands-on practice designed for learning teams.

  • The DVD Developing Balanced Assessment Systems includes Dr. Rick Stiggins’ keynote presentation. In this presentation, he examines a new way of thinking about assessments and describes classroom assessment practices that will improve learning and help students to succeed.
  • A collection of activities that we have used over several years introduces educators to the central concepts of high-quality classroom assessment. Each activity is explained — how much time it takes, what materials you will need, and directions for the activity. We will be modeling a number of these activities.
  • The CD includes all of the handouts from this seminar, along with all the materials — handout pages and PowerPoint slides — you would need to conduct each of the introductory activities.

A sample agenda for the two-day LPD session using Classroom Assessment for Student Learning follows:

SAMPLE AGENDA – DAY 1

8:30–3:30

Time / Activity
8:30–8:40
8:40–8:50
8:50–9:00
9:00–10:00 / Welcomes, introductions
Goals, components of professional development model, materials
Setting the context and goals for introductory presentations
Review of central concepts of classroom assessment quality
Activity: “Plus/Minus”
Review impact research / Rick
Judy
Judy
Rick
10:00–10:15 / Break (15 minutes)
10:15–10:50
10:50–12:00 / Key 1: Clear Purpose and Key 5: Student Involvement (Chapter 2)
Activity: “What Does Assessment for Learning Look Like?” (30 min.)
Team: "How might you introduce the seven strategies?" (5 min.)
Key 2: Clear Targets (Chapter 3)
Activities: “What’s the Target?” and “Classifying Learning Targets” (40 min.)
Activity: “Student-Friendly Language” (15 min.)
Baseball 1: "What did these activities help with?" (5 min.)
Team: "What activities from this morning might you use?” (10 min.) / Judy
12:00 / Lunch ( 60 minutes)*
1:00–1:15
1:15–2:15 / Door prizes and The Best of Saturday Night Live:Seinfeld video clip
Key 2: Clear Targets and Key 5: Student Involvement (with selected-response tests) (Chapter 5)
Activity: “Analyze Assessments for Clear Targets” (20 min.)
Activity: “You Be George” (20 min.)
Baseball 2: “Without clear targets…” (10 min.)
Team: “Might you use these in an initial presentation? How?” (10 min.) / Judy
2:15–2:30 / Break (15 minutes)
2:30–3:00
3:00–3:25 / Key 3: Sound Design (Chapter 4)
Explanation of four components of Key 3 and overview of assessment methods
Activity: “Target-Method Match”
Baseball 3: “Where might you use this information?”
Team planning time
Identify key ideas and main points
What activities might you use? / Rick

*Participant responsibility

SAMPLE AGENDA – DAY 2

8:30–3:30

Time / Activity
8:30–9:00 / Agenda for the day
Key 5: Student Involvement
Activity: “Emily” — connect to seven strategies / Rick
9:00–10:10 / Key 4: Effective Communication (Chapters 2, 7, and 9)
Research on effective feedback (15 min.)
Descriptive/evaluative (10 min.)
Bat Tent (10 min.)
Balinda (20 min.)
Baseball home: "What might you try in your classroom with respect to descriptive feedback?" (10 min.) / Judy
10:10–10:25 / Break (15 minutes)
10:25–11:10
11:10–11:30
11:30–12:00 / Keys 1–5: Evaluating Assessments for Quality (Chapters 1–4)
Westerville video – Assessment for Learning
Self-Evaluation
Activity: “Self-Evaluation — Human Bar Graph” / Rick
Judy
Rick
12:00–12:45 / Lunch (45 minutes)*
12:45–12:50
12:50–2:00 / Door Prizes
Learning Team Resources
Westerville, Part 2 (10 min.)
Introduction and research quote activity (20 min.)
Learning Team Facilitator Handbook Scavenger Hunt (30 min.)
Discussion (10 min.) / Judy
2:00–2:15 / Break
2:15–3:15
3:15–3:30 / Action Planning — incorporate break as needed
Individual
Team
Kick-off Presentation; share ideas with a neighboring table
Closure and evaluation of the seminar / Rick

*Participant responsibility

The Follow-Up Support Sessions

ATI offers a series of one-day follow-up sessions to LPD participants that will provide additional training and support for school-level implementation. After school and district teams have had some experience in presentations and forming and facilitating learning teams, another session will be scheduled to review and discuss the following:

  • successes, detailing what worked, why it worked, and how to expand on that success;
  • challenges, examining why what was done might not have worked as expected and what specific actions might be taken to improve the effectiveness of the activity; and
  • additional materials and strategies that can be used to assist learning team management and facilitate sound assessment practice development.

Materials for the day will include directions and all resources needed to carry out more than 30 activities that can be used to deepen understanding of assessment quality and effective use. Some activities will be modeled and others will be explained. Some are hands-on experiences, some require working with artifacts from the classroom, and some are discussion-based. All activities link directly to the content of one or more chapters of Classroom Assessment for Student Learning: Doing It Right — Using It Well.

Below is a sample agenda for a typical follow-up day.

Agenda
Time / Activity
8:00–8:15 / Welcomes, introductions, and agenda
8:15–9:00 / Activities for introducing the concepts of assessment quality to your teams (Chapters 1 and 2)
9:00–9:45 / Activities for deepening your teams’ understanding of what assessment for learning looks like in the classroom, and how to plan for it (Chapters 2–7; 11 and 12)
9:45–10:00 / Break
10:00–11:30 / More activities for deepening your teams’ understanding of what assessment for learning looks like in the classroom and how to plan for it (Chapters 2–7; 11 and 12)
11:30–12:15 / Lunch (served on premises/participant responsibility)
12:15–2:00 / How to help your teams evaluate assessments for quality (accuracy and effective use) (Chapters 4–7)
  1. Practice the process with ETS examples
  2. Practice the process with your own examples*

2:00–2:10 / Break
2:10–3:20 / Team planning for one or more meetings
3:20–3:30 / Closure

*Participants bring their own assessment examples and state content standards assessed by their examples.

Under model #2, ATI prepares a cadre of district trainers/presenters to deliver to district staff one or more of the one-day “Getting Started” workshops. Below are the descriptions of the three workshops.

(The pdf descriptions of the 3 one-day sessions would be inserted either here or as an appendix)

ATI will prepare district staff in a three-day “boot camp” to deliver the workshops. Once ATI certified, an intellectual property subscription (district site license) is required for presenters to be able to turn around this content/training. Below is an FAQ that addresses many of the commonly asked questions about how this agreement works.

What is Pearson ATI permitting?
Pearson ATI grants The District the use of its PowerPoint decks, Presenter/Facilitator Guides, and Participant Workbooks (hereafter called “the content”) associated with its one-day workshops, Getting Started with Seven Strategies of Assessment for Learning, Getting Started with Classroom Assessment for Student Learning, and Getting Started with Sound Grading Practices,(hereafter called “the workshops”) for the sole and expressed purpose of preparing The District presenters to offer the three workshop to help teachers and administrators in the district adopt effective use of classroom assessment and grading practices.

In what formats and media is the content provided?
After cadres have been trained, all related content will be made available to the district in both print and electronic form. Pearson ATI will provide electronic files to The District for duplication, and is not responsible for any duplication of the content other than what may be associated with its initial workshop training.
What can The District do with the content?
The District can copy and use the content for the sole purpose of delivering the one-day workshops aimed at helping teachers begin learning the effective use of assessment for learning practices in the classroomusing the school-based professional development model of collaborative learning teams.
Can the materials be distributed? If so, to whom?
Copies of the content can be made available without count to employees of The District in conjunction with presentations provided by a The District cadre trained by Pearson ATI to deliver the one-day sessions.

Can The District make copies? How many? Can The District make derivative works?
Within the time constraints of this agreement, The District is free to make as many copies of the Participant Workbook as it deems necessary to fulfill its expressed and intended goal. The PowerPoint deck and Facilitator Guide are intended only for certified presenters, and copies made are limited to those personnel.
Use restrictions
The District employees cannot provide copies of the content in electronic or print form, in whole or in part, to any other state, school district, publisher, or private company for any purpose without Pearson’s expressed written consent.
The District employees may not use these materials to present to faculty outside of Jefferson County.

The District employees may not sell the content or their presenting services associated with the content for profit.
The District may not alter or add to the materials without Pearson’s expressed written consent.
The District may not make, share or use adaptations or derivatives of the content without Pearson’s expressed written consent from Pearson ATI.
Only The District “certified presenters” may use the content. A “certified presenter” is a The District staff member who has gone through Pearson’s workshop presentation training program and found to be highly capable by The District of using the materials as they were original designed and produced, and for their intended purpose. At no additional cost to itself, The District grants Pearson representatives the right to take part in the certification process of its prospective presenters.
All Pearson content must carry the following notice:
“Pearson and The District are jointly distributing these materials as originally developed for the expressed purpose of establishing collaborative learning teams to study and apply the Seven Strategies of Assessment for Learning in The District classrooms. These materials may not be used for any other purpose except for what they were originally intended. They may not be altered or distributed without Pearson’s expressed written permission.”
For how long?
The District can use these materials for a period of one-year under subscription with increments of one-year renewable terms.