Why do Pro-D on assessment?

1. Why do Pro-D on assessment? Understanding the gaps in students’ learning should inform the content of educators’ professional development. This works best, however, when educators use data from the students they teach rather than the school system prescribing one-size-fits- all professional development based on a study of system-wide data. Hayes Mizell hayes.mizell@learningforward.org

2. Dylan Wiliam says . . . Expert teachers do not use general, all- purpose approaches to solving problems, but rather generate solutions that take advantage of specific details in the challenges they face. That is why “what works” is not the right question in education; everything works somewhere, and nothing works everywhere. The right question is “under what conditions does this work?” That is why if we are serious about developing assessment for learning, we must help each teacher find her or his own way of doing this. Black, P., Harrison,C., Marshall, B. & Wiliam, D. (2003). Assessment for learning: Putting it into practice.

3. SIX KEY STRATEGIES • CLEAR LEARNING INTENTIONS • PEERS AS LEARNING RESOURCES • CRITERIA FOR SUCCESS • QUESTIONS FOR EVIDENCE OF LEARNING • DESCRIPTIVE FEEDBACK • LEARNERS OWNING THEIR OWN LEARNING

4. SPIRIT GUIDE PROJECTCriteria for Success EXEMPLARY Totem is neatly and colourfully drawn with exceptional attention to detail. Explanation of choice of animals is fully explained with explicit references to personal qualities with few grammatical errors. ACCOMPLISHED PLUS Totem is neatly and colourfully drawn. Explanation of choice of animals is explained with some detail and some grammatical errors. ACCOMPLISHED Totem is adequately drawn and coloured, or well drawn but not in colour, and choice of animals explained with minimal detail and/or frequent grammatical/word choice errors. DEVELOPING PLUS Totem is neatly drawn without colour. Only the qualities of the animals chosen are given, without specific reference to self. DEVELOPING Totem is sketched in pencil. Little explanation of choice. Incomplete. BEGINNING Incomplete

5. Student Totem

6. Student Totem

8. CRITERIA FOR SUCCESSTo Kill a Mockingbird • WHAT MAKES A POWERFUL DIALOGUE PERFORMANCE? • Your actions • What you are saying – who are you talking to? • What others are saying – are you looking at them? • Paying attention to what the narrator is saying • Facial expressions • Body language • Tone –how you say something • Accent- southern dialect – BONUS OF 2

9. KNOW/UNDERSTAND /DO I KNOW THAT A GOOD PERFORMANCE INVOLVES BOTH MY VOICE AND MY BODY. I CAN MAKE MY VOICE REACH THE BACK OF THE CLASSROOM I UNDERSTAND THAT A POWERFUL PERFORMANCE IS MORE ENGAGING FOR ME AND MY AUDIENCE

10. To change or not to change . . . If you try to change everything, then your classroom will descend into chaos . Going more slowly produces faster real change. Adapted from Dylan Wiliam

11. Reflection is for you AND the students Decide which assessment strategy you’d like to adopt, adapt it to your classroom, and keep asking yourself: • Is it manageable? • Is it working? • Is it consistent with the principles of AFL?

12. For you and the students . . . What are you learning? How is it going? Where to next?