One of our 4th grade teachers uses a “graffiti wall” to assess students’ knowledge of content such as identifying figurative language, text structure, and main idea. I have also utilized this strategy with Social Studies content. Use chart paper or the whiteboard as a space for students to respond to a topic or question. I have most often…Read More

Kahn Academy is a great resource our Middle School teachers are very fond of given our participation in a grant utilizing the PSAT to measure progress. This provides an individualized path for students to progress through skills.

One resource that teachers in my school utilize is the website Prodigy. The site has over 1200 math skills for grades 1 – 8. Students have avatars in a virtual world and compete against each other but must first correctly answer math related questions.

In my paperless classroom I utilize Google Apps for Education every day. Google Classroom is our “home” where they receive and submit their work. Google Forms is great for assessments, especially now because they have a lock down browser enabled to prevent cheating. I am also a big fan of Google Drawings which allows students to get creative with…Read More

I run a paperless classroom in all of my courses including Advanced Placement World History. I have found Fiveable and Get A Five have both been great for students to be able to learn concepts. They incorporate videos and assessments for students, which are instrumental in student success because our content ranges from the dawn of mankind to…Read More

A resource that I would like to start incorporating into my classroom is PearDeck. I had not heard of it until a training a couple weeks ago. It is a Google app that allows you to have interactive Google slide presentations and embedded assessments. Students are given a code to enroll and participate. It is to my understanding that other students…Read More

A resource that I use as well as several other teachers at my school is quizlet.com . This site allows you to create vocabulary “cards” for the topic of study. Then you provide students a link and they can use it to study as flashcards, write them, spell them, and/or do a practice test. You can also provide a given code with quizlet live and the…Read More

Resource

One resource that has been extremely helpful to my classes this year (and one I had not explored yet) has been Google Classroom. With the on-demand writing test moved online, Google Classroom has allowed students to get in much needed typing practice and has made one-on-one work much simpler for myself. When I create a new assignment,…Read More

Resource.
I have been a big proponent of case studies throughout my teaching career, as it develops students’ understanding of content through their own research and active problem solving skills. The following link is for a data base of case studies related to the subject of science. These are great and students actually enjoy them.…Read More

Resource #1
My teachers have been using quizizz.com and they love this resource. It has quizzes that are already created by other educators as well as the option to create your own quiz. I also have been using this with my teachers in our weekly interactive agendas and they log in and answer their questions for me.

I wanted to share a site that was shared with me concerning Kentucky’s academic standards. As many of you may already be aware, there is a site available to explore the newly adopted Kentucky Academic Standards (KAS) and standards resources. If you look on the “Explore your Standards” page, you will find a downloadable PDF and a critical fact…Read More

I tried to start my own challenge since so many are silly these days. I was calling it the Formative Assessment Challenge. You do a challenge then get pics of your students engaging in it and post online. Thought it would be a great way to share strategies with each other. I had a tiny bit of success but if anyone on here would like to…Read More

Someone said that the 8th and 10th On Demand was all online? Is this accurate?

Achieve the Core (achievethecore.org) is an outstanding resource that shares free open-source resources to support common core implementation at all levels. It helps educators improve instruction and increase student achievement. The actual site has 3 tabs that include professional learning, planning and reflection and classroom resources (which…Read More

I have always found it difficult to understand the Common Core Math Standards. Sometimes I feel like I have no clue what the standard is asking for. Therefore, it makes it difficult to plan and assess. A book I have found super helpful this year is called, “The Common Core Mathematics Companion: Standards Decoded.” In this book it explains the…Read More

Here is a good resource for integrating formative assessments into your daily instruction and feedback. This PowerPoint “56 Examples of Formative Assessment” offers up some quick and easy formative assessments some using technology resources and others as easy as using the fingers on your hand. This is a great one to add to your “Teacher Toolb…Read More

A resource I wanted to share is called, “Visible Learning For Literacy.” I have always found it challenging to assess reading. It is different than assessing math. There are certain math problems students can work tied to a particular standard that can give you insight into whether or no students have master that standard. However, there are…Read More

https://ldc.org/

This is a great website to use for combing reading and writing in the content areas! Also, each module comes with a rubric for helping you assess student work/writing! I always find it hard to find the materials I am looking for to correctly assess student writing! This is a plus with this site!

A great tool we utilize in our district and school is our district walk-through document and the ewalk website used during our daily classroom observations. We use this document to monitor classroom activity and teacher effectiveness. The website provides useful information and data that reflects what is happening in our classrooms. As the…Read More

One resource that has been extremely helpful for me in adjusting to standards based for grammar is the app zipgrade. I and the students get immediate results and it’s a great tool for data collection.
I have also recently looked into noredink as a great resource for English. It breaks down parts of language into various sections for students…Read More

“25 Quick Formative Assessments for a Differentiated Classroom” by Judith Dodge is a resource our principal introduced to the staff during a professional development meeting. This book is filled with various types of assessments that can be used and/or modified for any class or grade level. It never hurts to have multiple types of assessments in…Read More

A resource that I’ve used is “Uncovering Student Ideas in Science- 25 New Formative Assessment Probes” by lead author, Page Keeley. This book is volume 4 out of a series of books. This resource is labeled for all grades levels K-12. It is really easy to find a topic in the table of contents because it is categorized by science (life,…Read More

I’m new to 5th grade Social Studies this year and one thing that stood out to me immediately was the need for spiral review. With that in mind, we started using 180 Days of SOCIAL STUDIES for Fifth Grade. It seems so simple and worksheet like, but the students actually ask to have these as an assignment. They like that it is quick and they can…Read More

I am a paperless classroom so I utilize numerous resources that allow me to monitor and enhance engagement. All of the Google Apps for Education are fantastic. I like to use Google Drawings in my Integrated Social Studies course in order for students to present visuals of topics that we are discussing. Another resource that I use is Nearpod.…Read More

One of the many resources that we have used at Highland Turner that has been helpful has been the http://www.coretools.ldc.org for integration of writing through content classes. We also have used Jim Knights, High-Impact Instruction, A Framework for Great Teaching published by Corwin ISBN: 9781412981774. Both resources has been used to coach…Read More

A great resource we use at Allen Elementary is atlas.org. This is a site offered through the National Board Teacher Certification and provides a video bank of accomplished teaching for professional development opportunities for teachers. We utilize these video case studies once a month in PLC’s and target specific strategies for student…Read More

A resource I like to use is ReadWorks.org. This is a free site that offers K-12 reading passages and questions sets. They can be assigned to be completed on line or can be printed. You can search for fiction/non-fiction passages by grade level or lexile level. They include text-based multiple choice or short answer questions that are explicit and…Read More

One resource I enjoy is “Inquiry-Based Lessons in US History” by Jana Kirchner, Ph.D., and Andrew McMichael, Ph.D. (ISBN: 13:978-1-61821-423-2) This book lays out social studies lessons and points you in the direction of primary source documents that you can use. I find this to be a valuable tool to use with my 8th grade students, as they nee…Read More

Our school’s problem of practice includes specific, immediate corrective feedback. A resource I found includes a descriptive teacher feedback rubric that can be used by groups or individual teachers who want to improve their formative assessment practice: Using the Formative Assessment Rubrics, Reflection and Observation Tools to Support…Read More

I have two resources to share. (1) A book titled The Best Lesson Series: Literature, edited by Brian Sztabnik (ISBN – 978-0692531556). This book is available on Amazon. There are fifteen different, detailed lessons for making literature connections with your students. Near the beginning of the school year, I tried the first lesson about…Read More

I posted these questions in the accountability thread as well. When looking at the KDE assessments page, it says that the ACT will be administered to both grades 10 and 11 this year. Is that accurate? (It also says they’re trying to secure funding for that grade 10 administration.) Also, when looking at EOC information on the KDE assessment site,…Read More

A tool I like to use for diagnostic testing in my algebra 1 class is
https://www.varsitytutors.com/algebra_1-practice-tests
It’s free and there are several different versions!

I wanted to share another resource ” Total Participation Techniques” Making Every Student an Active Learner by Himmele.
The book provides easy-to-use alternatives to the stand and deliver approach to teaching. It provides different ways to engage students in active learning and allow them to demonstrate the depth of their knowledge and…Read More

Wanted to share a resource- 25 Quick Formative Assessments for a Differentiated Classroom.
This is a collection of quick, flexible, informal assessments that helps teachers take a snapshot of student learning. I was able to find the PDF version online of the entire book for FREE!…Read More

One of my favorite books is “Better Learning Through Structured Teaching” by Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey. It is focused around how to implement The Gradual Release of Responsibility Framework. The following section is one I would like to share from this text:

When teachers are gradually releasing responsibility to students, formative…Read More

Here are great tools that will allow you to give students immediate feedback and provide yourself with real-time data. I use these in my classroom on a regular basis! Great assessment tools!

1. Play a quick formative assessment game. There are lots of great techy options here. Kahoot!. Quizizz. Quizlet Live. The list goes on and on. If we want…Read More

News Article #2:

My Top 3 Formatives

There are many assessment practices that I use that have yielded tremendous benefits for students. I use formative assessments for quick, continual assessing of student learning. The purpose of formative assessments is to capture data to inform my instruction. It lets me know which students are struggling…Read More

News Article:

“When am I ever going to use this?”

The biggest question I hear more than I enjoy is, “When am I ever going to use this?” No teacher likes to hear this, especially when they’ve worked so hard to create notes, practice, and activities for that topic, and especially when the subject is the teacher’s passion. It’s almost insult…Read More

Our district uses MAP (Measures of Academic Progress). The MAP assessment allows an insight to our students growth compared to other students in the nation. Each child’s performance is compared to the National average of other students in the same grade level. Student profiles make the data easy to understand. The student progress reports o…Read More

I teach 3rd grade math and use multiple formative assessments every single day. We use smart pals or white boards daily to review content and as a quick check for me to gauge their understanding to new content as well. Each of my math lessons end with an exit ticket. This helps me ensure that students are reaching mastery and fully…Read More

Whiteboards:
There are many assessment practices that I use that have yielded tremendous benefits for students. The first is a very simple, yet effective practice that I use regularly. After guided practice on an objective, I will use my classroom set of whiteboards to formatively assess students. I will post a problem on the board. Students will…Read More

I feel like a broken record since so many others have mentioned standards based grading, but that has been our district wide push this year, and I have enjoyed it. It has created more work for me as I find I am letting kids retake exams and redo papers more than I have in the past, but I like the mastery that comes from it!

One method of assessment that I use within my classroom is the “gallery walk.” I incorporate movie/TV quotes or song lyrics and hang them on the walls. Students then have time to circle the room and study each quote. Depending on the unit, students must recognize grammar mistakes or any literary devices. It is great for engaging the stu…Read More

I am a paperless classroom teaching Integrated Social Studies and Advanced Placement World History. I have been involved with creating innovative and engaging lessons. The best thing that I use to assess my students includes numerous Google Apps for Education. I use Google Classroom as my home for the students to get their work. Slides,…Read More

We have also been attempting to make the move to standards-based grading. Through this process, we do reteaching and retesting. One of the strategies that I’ve found to be helpful is allowing students to do test corrections on the first test. Students don’t get the same test when they retest. After the tests are graded, they are returned, and…Read More

Like Mr. Arnett’s post, our entire school has been focused this year on standards-based grading and assessment. One of the biggest changes in our building this year has been the implementation of “learning checks,” or formative assessments on a weekly basis that check for mastery of specific standards. We use Google Forms via Google Classroom to…Read More

In the past two years, our Biology department has worked on transitioning to standard based grading. We have developed and implemented weekly standard checks that are based on daily learning targets. These short 15-minute quizzes check for understanding of the week’s daily learning targets. These quizzes are graded using zip grade, which give…Read More

After hearing Dr.Gusky speak last summer about Mastery Learning, it really opened my eyes to formative assessments. I have always used formative assessments but never as a tool to achieve Mastery Learning. This year at Flat Gap Elementary each teachers designed daily learning targets that are aligned with the standards. Then a formative assessment…Read More

Educational Reform has made major impacts within education within the past 20 years.
But not until recently has the impacts driven the way we evaluate student achievement and success. There have been several major players who have helped this movement, such as KDE, Gates Foundation, and ARI. Teachers no longer are waiting on state test…Read More

Thank you for your post Tony. Student ownership is certainly what we all are after. Do you have any more details for how you encourage or prompt student analysis of their work?