Assessment Tools
Making sense of the enormous amount of student data in any classroom or school is probably the biggest challenge we face individually and in our school communities. Here you'll find everything from one-page templates created by teachers for use in their classrooms to videos of staff teams poring over large data sets. We don't have all the answers, but we do provide tools to help you ask better questions as you evaluate students and talk about assessments with your colleagues.
Latest Content
Assessment During On-Demand Writing
Tara Barnett and Kate Mills combine an engagement inventory and an on-demand writing assessment to get a full picture of skills and habits in their classroom community.
Super Teacher Reading Workshop
Mary Lee Hahn tries to be super teacher while she confers — juggling goals, assessments, notices and notes . . . and then it all comes crashing down. She shares what she learns from trying to do too much at once and failing.
The Scarlet Level
Stephanie Affinito tells everyone at a staff meeting to write their weights and ages on sticky notes so that she can post the numbers for the group to view. When teachers balk at the request, she has the perfect opening to discuss why focusing on levels in classrooms is a bad idea.
Practical Ways to Connect Students and Goals
Kate Mills and Tara Barnett provide some practical tips for connecting students and goals.
Student-Designed Development Cards
Melanie Meehan finds that student-designed development cards are a great way to get students invested in literacy goals.
Tapping into What Students Know
Melanie Meehan shares the value of assessing what students know first, and then tapping into this knowledge in new units.
Consistent Feedback in Writing Workshop
Carly Ullmer assesses how she can give consistent and meaningful feedback to every one of her many middle school students at least once a week.
Expert Students
Christy Rush-Levine uses a quick assessment during writing workshop conferences to connect expert students with peers who might need assistance. She includes a video example of the practice.
Assessing Instruction in the Midst
Melanie Meehan shares some ways teachers can press the pause button in the midst of teaching to assess whether they are teaching the right lesson at the right time.
Creating an On-Demand Writing Checklist
On-demand writing can be a stressful assessment task for students, but it does mimic the type of writing many adults face in their professional lives. Tara Barnett and Kate Mills work with students to create an on-demand writing checklist.
The Ins and Outs of Using a Jot Lot
Tara Barnett and Kate Mills use a jot lot to turn students’ notes on their learning into instructional plans and assessment.
Setting Weekly Goals
Tara Barnett and Kate Mills share the process of helping students set weekly goals and then reflect on their progress every Friday.
Quick Take: Evolving Beliefs About Goals
Gigi McAllister gives a brief explanation of how her thinking on goal setting has changed, as well as the ways she uses student goals to connect with parents.
The Daily Record
Mark Levine uses the “daily record” to encourage reflection throughout each day’s workshop in his social studies classroom.
Tracking Student Goals
Carly Ullmer transfers a messy goal-setting protocol to her seventh graders, and in the process finds they take on more accountability for individual success.
Minilesson: Measurable Reading Goals in Fourth Grade
Gigi McAllister has her fourth graders consider what makes a reading goal measurable.
Quick Reading Reflection in First Grade
Bitsy Parks has her first graders complete a quick reading reflection before a share session early in the school year.
Goal-Setting Ideas for Students
Melanie Meehan shares a wealth of ideas for better goal-setting with students.
Student (and Teacher) Risk-Taking
Carly Ullmer ponders what it means to take risks in her middle school classroom as she and her students experiment with different response options.
How to Keep Conferring Notes
Ruth Ayres shares her grid notes sheet, and takes teachers step-by-step through the process of using this assessment tool in conferences and instruction.
Finding Clues in Writing Folders
Katrina Edwards looks for clues in her first-grade students’ work and conferences to help them develop more writing stamina. She analyzes her notes to develop instructional plans.
The Value of Pre-Assessment
Melanie Meehan explains why a baseline assessment at the start of any writing unit is well worth the time.
Beginnings, Middles, and Endings: The Power of Baseline Assessments
Carly Ullmer shares how much her seventh-grade students learn from examining their own growth as writers with baseline, midpoint, and final assessments throughout the year.
Fostering Thinking Through Play
Katie DiCesare repurposes materials for her first graders to play with, and finds that encouraging play early in the year is a great tool for building reflection skills.
Writing for Reflection at the End of the Year
Katherine Sokolowski reflects on ways to extend the learning from an end-of-year activity all the way to the fall.
End-of-the-Year Reflection
Melanie Meehan shares a series of thoughtful questions to help students reflect on their process as writers, and what they need as they move into the summer and new classrooms.
Choosing and Refining Student Goals
Katie DiCesare shares the process of having her first graders choose their literacy goals, and her role in helping them refine goals through observation and conferring.
Revising Weekly Reflections
Katherine Sokolowski revises the weekly reflection form her fifth graders use to ensure everyone is tracking goals, progress, and expectations.
Temporary Strategies
Clare Landrigan confers with a student and discovers that a tool designed to help the reader is actually hindering her learning. The experience causes her to reflect on the need for flexibility when matching strategy scaffolds to young readers.
Observations and Test Preparation
Christopher Carlson takes on the role of observer and researcher to analyze his students' needs when it comes to test-taking skills, and enlists students in the process of reflecting on his data to implement new test-taking strategies.
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