Persuasion Across Time and Space: Analyzing and Producing Complex Texts
WestEd's Teacher Professional Development Program developed the "Persuasion Across Time and Space: Analyzing and Producing Complex Texts" in conjunction with the Understanding Language Initiative. The goal of this unit (involving five conceptually linked lessons) is to provide exemplars...
Video: Counting Collections: Kindergarten - A Common Core Classroom Friendly Exercise
This is a video of kindergarten math instruction aligned to college and career ready standards. Students work in pairs to create collections of 5 or 10 objects and record their counting process. The teacher checks in with the different groups to hear their thinking and advance their learning, i.e...
What Are the Myths and Misconceptions Around Formative Assessment?
The topic for this segment of Bam! Radio (an all-education radio network that offers programming from top education organizations and leaders) is formative assessment. Guest Nancy Frey, a professor of Educational Leadership at San Diego State University and teacher-leader at Health Sciences High...
A Descriptive Analysis of State-Supported Formative Assessment Initiatives in New York and Vermont
The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) arrived at a consensus definition of formative assessment as “a process used by teachers and students during instruction that provides feedback to adjust ongoing teaching and learning to improve students’ achievement of intended instructional...
Relationships and convergences among the mathematics, science, and ELA practices
A product of the Stanford University Understanding Language initiative, this Venn diagram is a tool that effectively illustrates the overlap and grouping of student practices (and student capacities) from four sets of seminal documents: the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in English language...
Next Generation Science Assessment Project
The Next Generation Science Assessment (NGSA) team is developing technology-enhanced assessment tasks, rubrics, and accompanying instructional resources in physical science and life science for middle school classrooms. The project aims to create exemplary tasks that can be used during instruction...
NGSS Sample Classroom Assessments Tasks
This resource offers a collection of sample classroom tasks blending content, practices, and concepts from both the NGSS and the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Teachers across the disciplines collaborated to write tasks, which reflect a vision of integrating science, engineering, and...
Understanding Formative Assessment: Insights from Learning Theory and Measurement Theory
From the website summary: "Formative assessment is intended to yield real-time information about if and how students are learning—and what might be impeding their progress. Insights gained from this ongoing classroom assessment process can help teachers shape instruction and guide student efforts...