Our AISI funding has allowed teachers to meet periodically in 2009-2010 to review the assessment strategies of the school as they pertain to our AISI assessment goals, and to review some of the pillars of the school's assessment philosophy.
The following video is a compilation of numerous assessment-related discussions that occurred during PD days during the the 2009-2010 school year.
In the video you'll see teachers discuss the following three key areas over the course of three professional development days offered over a six-month period:
1) What do report cards tell parents, and how do we consider reporting information to parents?
2) How do we collect data in an effective way that best represents the understanding of students?
3) How do rubrics and exemplars help teachers and students communicate the language of assessment in a classroom context?
As you watch you'll see teachers debate some of their own understanding of assessment in light of some of the assessment data, report card exemplars, grade books, student rubrics and exemplars shared in these PD days. By the end of this professional development time together there seems to be a shared sense of what quality assessment looks like at our school.