Session 1: The Assessment Capable Teacher

The 21st Century Learner

  • As a team use the outline of the child and determine grade and gender.

  • Left inside, write information about the situations that this child may come bring to the classroom.

  • Then consider what we want to create in this child by the time they leave.

    • What skills are necessary for students to succeed?

    • Do a quick search of video/web to learn about college and career ready skills.

  • On the right inside of the outline, write a list of the desired results of the student.

  • Circle the approaches to learning skills that area already listed. Add other skills to the image that are part of work life.

  • Draw a square around the attributes of the Learner Profile. Add new attributes that may be missing.

  • Environment: Around the outline, what type of learning environment would help this student?

  • What does it look like?

  • What does it feel like?

  • What does it sound like?

Teaching and Learning: Assessment

Teachers

An assessment-capable teacher is supported through professional development and a shared assessment culture. As indicated in figure AS02 [below], teachers support students to become assessment capable in the following ways.

Teachers become more effective when they are open to actively learning about student progress by monitoring what they know, understand and can do. Teachers inquire into student learning as a way of assessing their own practice as educators. They continually adjust their teaching to better support individual and group learning.

Teachers in a learning community ask the following questions.

  • What awareness and understanding do we have of student learning?

  • What is the evidence of what students can do, say, write, create and demonstrate?

  • How do we support students to understand what constitutes quality?

  • What other contexts can we provide for students to practise their skills?

  • What action needs to be taken to develop the learning further?

  • How will we know that we have sufficiently supported student learning?

  • How can we identify progression in learning across multiple contexts or units of inquiry?

  • How do we use evidence of learning to plan the next learning steps with students?

Principles into Practice: Learning and Teaching: Assessment

Strong communication, of the purposes of assessment and reinforcement of the value of assessment in the monitoring, documenting, measuring and reporting of learning, is important in building a shared assessment culture. A school-wide assessment culture acknowledges the role assessment plays in informing the learner, learning and teaching, and the learning community about achievement, progress and in supporting decision-making.

Establishing and fostering a school-wide culture around assessment begins by:

  • developing assessment capability within the learning community

  • developing a comprehensive assessment policy that emphasizes assessment integration

  • creating opportunities for teachers to plan, reflect and moderate assessment collaboratively

  • providing school-wide professional development opportunities around integrating effective assessment

  • reinforcing the role assessment plays in finding out what students know and can do, and in identifying the next steps for their learning

  • reinforcing the links between monitoring, documenting, measuring and reporting of learning.


Assessment Capable Teacher Indicators

What might development within the indicators look like?

0 - I have not yet considered this capability.

5 - I have fully developed this capability and begun refining it.

Assessment Capabilities Rubric (Linda's Group)

Assessment Capabilities Rubric (Laura's Group)

Success Criteria

  • I can demonstrate through my practice that I integrate assessment into learning and teaching.

  • I can plan balanced and effective assessment that monitors, documents, measure and reports on learning.

  • I can analyze data and evidence to reflect on and evaluate learning and teaching.

  • I can support the capability of students to assess their own learning.

  • I can provide feedback to others to feedforward for next steps.

  • I can contribute to and support the assessment culture within my learning community.