LAPDA support available to help you build a cohesive and comprehensive assessment system.

Vermont School Quality Standards (SQS) required each school district to develop a local comprehensive assessment plan by September 1, 2006. Many school districts are still struggling to meet this requirement and many are not sure how to even begin the work.

This is where LAPDA comes in; we will continue to offer professional development opportunities to increase assessment literacy and this summer we will begin to host assessment institutes to help our partner school districts develop comprehensive assessment plans that will do more than meet compliance requirements.

As you study the schematic above, let me offer a few simple suggestions on how you can begin to address each level of the assessment pyramid:

• Classroom assessment: Consider sending a team to our Formative Assessment Institute July 14-18. Read the Stiggins article (click link) for more information on this topic.
• School Assessment: Register ASAP for our two day training on Common Formative Assessment, (based on Larry Ainsworth’s book) April 8 & 9th at the Double Tree Hotel in South Burlington.
• District assessment: Attend our advisory council meetings and our summer institute to learn how to develop district assessments in writing, math and science. We will provide technical support at the regional level to help you develop these district assessments and we will facilitate a product and process exchange to “show case” real Vermont models. Look for a feature article from me on the LSSU change process that created the LSSU writing project and the assessment blue print that set the direction for the math and science assessment projects that are now under way.
• State assessment: Consider attending a VDC training session to learn how you can utilize the data warehouse to mine your assessment data and improve your instructional program.