Common Formative Assessment

Course Description:

Common Formative Assessments are periodic or interim assessments, collaboratively designed by grade-level or course teams of teachers, and administered to all students in a grade level or course several times during the quarter, semester, trimester, or entire school year. Designed as matching pre- and post-assessments to ensure same-assessment to same-assessment comparisons, they are similar in design and format to district and state assessments.
Common formative assessment items are intentionally aligned to essential (Power) standards only and reflect a blend of item types, including selected-response (multiple choice, true/false, matching) and constructed-response (short- or extended). Participating teachers analyze student assessment results in Data Teams to plan and differentiate instruction. Such results provide predictive value as to how students are likely to do on each succeeding assessment (school, district, and state) in time for teachers to make instructional modifications.
This two-day/12 contact hour seminar is based on the book, Common Formative Assessments: How to Connect Standards-based Instruction and Assessment, by Larry Ainsworth and Donald Viegut (Corwin Press, 2006)

What are the BENEFITS of this seminar?

Participants will learn about:

• Regular and timely feedback regarding student attainment of the most critical standards in order to better meet diverse learning needs of all students
  
• Multiple-measure assessments that allow students to demonstrate their understanding in a variety of formats
  
• Ongoing collaboration opportunities for grade-level, course, and department teachers
  
• Consistent expectations within a grade level, course, and department regarding standards, instruction, and assessment priorities
  
• Agreed-upon criteria for proficiency to be met within each individual classroom, grade level, school, and district
  
• Deliberate alignment of classroom, school, district, and state assessments to better prepare students for success on state assessments
  
• Results provide predictive value as to how students are likely to do on each succeeding assessment in time to make instructional modifications

What are the LEARNING OBJECTIVES of this seminar?

Participants will learn about:

• The Big Picture: How Powerful Practices Connect Formative and Summative Assessments
  
• Aligning Common Formative Assessment to Standards
  
• Connecting “Unwrapped” Standards to Common Formative Assessments
  
• Assessment Literacy
  
• Developing and Refining, Collaborative Scoring and Collaborative Analysis of Common Formative Assessment Results
  
• Schoolwide and Districtwide Implementation of Common Formative Assessments
  
• Guidelines for Systemwide Sustainability

Co-sponsored by the Champlain Valley Educator Development Center

About the Instructor

Lisa Almeida is a Senior Professional Development Associate with The Leadership and Learning Center (formerly the Center for Performance Assessment). She specializes in the implementation of seminars by collaborating with districts and schools in creating standards-based systems. She has been a classroom teacher, a guidance teacher, an Assistant Principal and a district administrator. Lisa holds a Bachelor’s degree from the College of Saint Mary’s in Omaha, Nebraska and a Master of Science in Educational Administration from the Univ. of Nebraska in Omaha.