Workshops
Professional Development Workshops
Assessment for Learning
Promote General Assessment for Learning
At its core, assessment is the art of collecting evidence to determine a student’s depth of knowledge. However, choosing the right assessment technique depends on many factors. In this workshop, participants will learn to:
- Choose assessment formats based on the type of learning to be assessed
- Evaluate assessment tasks by considering four key criteria: learning goals,
depth of knowledge (DOK) to be assessed, ampleness of evidence, and clarity - Use a wider range of assessment strategies to break the monotony and better access student thinking
- Assess whole classes more efficiently
This workshop is a follow-up to the Assessment Techniques workshop, diving deeper into three key assessment formats: the ever-popular test format as well as performance tasks and self-assessment, two underused formats that research shows to be exible and effective. To improve their usage of these formats, participants will learn to:
- Identify and avoid common issues with tests, applying these principles to one of their own tests
- Design performance tasks as an alternative to testing
- Develop students’ ability in self-assessment
Formative assessment is valuable only when teachers use it to adjust instruction and provide feedback to students. To get more out of their assessment practice, participants in this workshop will:
- Distinguish summative and formative assessment, while acknowledging the gray area in between
- Identify types of errors, breakdown errors into their root causes, and strategically address them
- Respond to formative assessment with a variety of timely adjustments to instruction—immediate,
near-term, last-chance—and monitor for effectiveness - Make other instructional adjustments to students’ learning tactics and classroom climate
Research shows that feedback is one of the most significant strategies teachers can engage in to promote student learning. To reflect on and expand their practice of providing effective feedback, participants will:
- Identify several modes and formats forgiving students feedback
- Understand key research about feedback and distinguish grading from giving feedback
- Learn techniques for providing effective, actionable feedback to help students meet learning goals
For: K-12 Teachers, Instructional Leaders
Effective schools use data to continuously improve. Participants in this session will learn how to gather and analyze data that will help to understand where their schools are, why they are getting the results they are, and how to focus improvement strategies. They will examine the roles and responsibilities of data teams and develop a shared sense of responsibility for student success. Additionally, in this workshop, participants will:
- Practice a four-step process for analyzing data
- Establish teams to use data to make instructional and curricular decisions for the purpose of increasing student achievement
- Take a solution-oriented approach to focusing instructional improvement
- Use data to set goals to improve teaching and learning schoolwide
Continue to practice the data analysis cycle with a focus on using the data to plan and adjust instruction. Participants will use assessment data to target skills and will explore the use of data walls to facilitate collaboration and focus instructional improvement. During this workshop, participants will also:
- Create a SMART goal to improve performance on targeted skills
- Choose from a variety of instructional strategies to reach their SMART goal
- Understand the learning environment guidelines for “walls that talk” related to data walls
- Visualize and plan a meaningful and inspiring data wall for their own learning space
Establish a Data-Driven Culture to Positively Impact Student Achievement
School leaders seeking to establish a data-driven culture in their learning community must be prepared to manage complex change and lead their staff through the data analysis cycle. In this session, participants will examine the developmental stages of change and how to guide their school through that process. Participants also will analyze benchmark data from their school and practice drafting SMART goals for students and classrooms that align to school and district targets. In addition, participants will:
- Describe the change management process, including implementation dips and the difference between first- and second-order change
- Use the data analysis cycle to analyze benchmark data and identify strengths and growth opportunities
- Develop SMART goals to improve performance on targeted skills
In this session, participants learn how to design and establish high-impact achievement teams. Participants will examine the importance of distributive leadership and ways to deal with resistance and get team members on board. Participants will also explore protocols for facilitating data team meetings and continue to analyze benchmark data from their school as well as practice drafting SMART goals for students and classrooms that align to school and district targets. This workshop is designed as a follow-up to Change Management & the Data Analysis Cycle.
- Apply operational and facilitation factors necessary for high-impact achievement team meetings
- Implement processes for achievement team follow through and quality assurance
- Identify strengths and growth opportunities by analyzing benchmark data
- Develop SMART goals to improve performance on targeted skills
Participants will continue to analyze benchmark data and set SMART goals, but with a speci c focus on examining and selecting instructional interventions to respond to the skill gaps they observe. Participants also will learn how to visualize and plan “walls that talk” so that data displays become an integral part of the school’s learning environment. This workshop is designed as a follow-up to Effective Achievement Teams.
- Identify strengths and growth opportunities by analyzing benchmark data
- Develop SMART goals to improve performance on targeted skills
- Implement instructional interventions to respond to observed skill gaps
- Create compelling data displays that support progress toward SMART goals
In this session, participants will learn how to conduct non-evaluative classroom observations that focus on collecting evidence of quality teaching and learning. Participants will practice facilitating data-focused coaching conversations using the MEET framework and identify concrete next steps to ensure teachers receive the instructional support they need to use data effectively to drive instruction. This workshop is designed as a follow-up to Designing Data Displays & Instructional Interventions.
- Identify ways to collect data-focused class room evidence during observations
- Examine observation note exemplars and identify quality indicators
- Apply components of high-leverage, data-driven coaching conversations
- Create an action plan to observe class rooms and provide teachers with effective feedback on their utilization of data in the classroom
For: K-12 Teachers, Instructional Leaders
At the start of this session, participants will reflect on recent observations and how to support teachers in more effectively collecting and using data to drive instruction. Participants will then examine the types of assessments currently in use within the classrooms they observed and explore what constitutes a high-quality assessment task. Based on the trends they see, participants will determine next steps for improving the quality of assessments in their school. This session is designed as a follow-up to Data-Driven Observations & Coaching Conversations.
- Assess the strengths and growth opportunities of teachers’ data use in the classroom from recent observations
- Identify trends of assessment types currently in use
- Examine instructional planning approaches for designing high-quality performance tasks