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
Reading, Engagement, and Kidwatching
Katrina Edwards looked around her first-grade reading workshop one day in winter and it wasn’t a pretty picture. Many students were doing anything but reading. She develops a plan to approach the issue of time on task thoughtfully.
Using Reading Notebook Covers for Reflection and Goal Setting
Clare Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan are using reading notebook covers in ingenious ways.
Data That Matters
What information is gathered by a teacher sitting in a rocking chair quietly watching her students? Christy Rush-Levine discover it is plenty.
Getting Started with Digital Portfolios
Megan Skogstad shares advice launching digital portfolios.
Launching Student Data Binders
Megan Skogstad shares lots of practical advice for creating and sustaining student data binders.
Growth Lines
Deb Gaby thinks about the importance of baseline information early in the school year.
Setting Goals During Mini-Celebrations
Melanie Meehan recommends linking goal setting to small celebrations as a great way to build community and skills at the same time.
Student Learning Targets
Christy Rush-Levine finds she has to rethink learning targets for her middle school students if she wants students to pursue complex and lifelong reading goals.
Setting Goals with Students
Melanie Meehan shares anchor charts and strategies for goal-setting.
Rethinking Reading Goals
Maria Caplin develops a system for helping students move beyond simple goals like noting the number of pages read.
Weekly Check-In Sheets
Are you finding effort from students is flagging? Katherine Sokolowski develops check-in sheets as a way to lift student energy and reflection.
Digital Status of the Class
Maria Caplin explains how a digital status sheet saves minutes every week that add up to extra hours of instructional time over the year.
Wyatt’s Running Record
Bitsy Parks completes a running record with first grader Wyatt as part of our running record series.
Running Record: Kaenon
Bitsy Parks completes a running record with first grader Kaenon.
Jillian’s Running Record
Bitsy Parks completes a running record with first grader Jillian. This is part of our new running records series.
Running Records: Rationale and Procedure
Bitsy Parks explains her procedures for completing running records in her first-grade classroom. This is the first installment in a video series on running records.
Grading in Literacy Workshops
Katherine Sokolowski finds grading student work in her fifth-grade classroom becomes far more interesting when students take responsibility for choosing what will be graded.
Letter to Franki Sibberson’s Students
Here is a letter Brenda Power wrote to Franki Sibberson's students about why adults observe children, if you're looking for ways to explain the presence of adult visitors in classrooms.
Peer Evaluation of Student Writing
Megan Ginther found she was spending too much time responding to student writing, and just as important, taking on too much of the responsibility for improvement. She tackled the issue by developing a new program for peer evaluation of student writing.
Jumping Off the Buzz Wagon: The Value of Reading Logs
Are you ready to ditch your reading logs? Not so fast. Franki Sibberson explains why she still uses them in her third-grade classroom.
Reading Passports
Justin Stygles develops reading passports as an alternative to traditional reading logs with his fifth- and sixth-grade students.
Giving Audio Feedback to Student Writing
If you find yourself buried in student work that needs a response, you’ll enjoy suggestions from Bill Bass for using a nifty new online tool.
Tutoring Ruth: Designing an Assessment
Max Brand continues his new tutoring series. In this installment, he designs a creative intake assessment for Ruth, a first grader who struggles with following directions.
Planning for Instruction: Sea Glass
Karen Terlecky uses sea glass as a metaphor for the assessments she completes to launch the year, and data analysis all year long.
Final Literacy Contracts: Student-Generated Themes
Megan Ginther and Holly Mueller close out the year with their final literacy contracts. It’s time for students to take ownership of their learning, so they select the themes.
The Data Wall Debacle
Shari Frost has a suggestion for what shouldn’t be on classroom walls: student assessment scores. She explains why this practice can be harmful to students.
Student Work Ethic: Overcoming Spring Fever
Katherine Sokolowski finds the work ethic of her fifth-grade students is flagging by spring, so she helps them reflect upon and improve their performance.
Understanding the Summer Slide: Sharing Data with Parents and Students
Clare Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan explain why it is important to share data with parents while school is still in session in order to avoid the summer slide. This is another installment in their summer reading series.
Reading Interviews: Part 3
We conclude our video series of end-of-year reading interviews with Ruth Shagoury. In this installment, she asks students about how they have changed as readers throughout the year.
Writing Interviews: Part 3
Ruth Shagoury’s end-of-year writing interviews finish with questions about change and the teacher’s influence on writing.
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