The DEAN’s List

This is an example of a Class Summary Report. I know it is a little small here, but it will do I hope! The Class Summary Report is intended to give you a bird’s eye view of how your class is doing. In less than 10 seconds, you should be able to determine an area your students are doing well in and an area they are struggling with.

In this example, the class is doing well in a number of areas. Algebra is one area where there is very little red. The class is having some trouble with measurement.

Once an area has been identified as a strength or weakness, teachers should ask themselves this question: “Was the focus of my instruction on this area just before the assessment?”

If the answer is yes and the question is about an area of strength, CELEBRATE! Your teaching strategies are working for this group of students.

If the answer is no and the question is about an area of strength, use that information to adjust your plans. Your students already have a firm foundation in the area.

If the answer is yes and the question is about an area of weakness, reconsider your strategies. Investigate new ways to reach your students. Check out some new resources on DE Streaming!

If the answer is no and the question is about an area of weakness, you’re informed! Your students are going to need lots of support when you get there

Until next time!
Your Friendly Assessment Nerd, Porter

Greetings Blogosphere!
One of our community members asked if I could get some information from others on how you’re using the results from our Early Skills Assessment. Here are her questions:

If your school or district is using the Early Skills Assessment (ESA) from Discovery Education Assessment, would you share how you are using the results to help guide your intervention groups? How you are correlating the results to group according to the five components of reading?

Thanks for the help!
Your Friendly Assessment Nerd, Porter

Hi all!

EdWeek is having a free webinar on Using Data to Improve Achievement. This event is scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 1, 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern time.

This will be an in-depth discussion of why data are helpful, how best to collect it, and use it to help support achievement.

Follow this link to learn more and register.

Your Friendly Assessment Nerd, Porter

Greetings, Blogosphere!

Before becoming Your Friendly Assessment Nerd, I taught special education for 8 years in South Carolina. So, in addition to an interest in assessment and technology, kids with disabilities are near and dear to my heart. Today, Education Week shared this article about the results of a new study.  The study showed that test scores on state assessments for students with disabilities have increased in recent years. Part of this improvement may be because states may be offering alternate assessments based on modified achievement standards (AA-MAS) intended for students with milder disabilities and are definitely implementing alternate assessments based on alternate achievement standards (AA-AAS) for students with the most significant disabilities. Though these accountability tests may not be perfect, they are an appropriate option for many students with disabilities for whom standardized tests taken with or without accommodations may not yield valid scores. (If you’re interested in information about Alternate Assessments, check out NCEO’s website.)

So, let’s celebrate for a moment that progress is being made to improve the large-scale assessment options for students with disabilities. Hopefully as the field learns more about Universal Design and accessibility, there will be greater improvements!

Until next time!
Your Friendly Assessment Nerd, Porter

On Saturday, October 24, 2009 join thousands of educators online and in-person as the DEN team goes house to house to explore the many digital treats available to educators today.  You can attend virtually from the comfort of your home or in-person at one of the many events hosted by the DEN Leadership Councils.

To participate in the virtual sessions register at: links.DiscoveryEducation.com/Virtualcon.

For information about the 25 in-person events please visit: http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/virtcon09 .

More information

The 25 in-person events are taking place in sixteen states: AL, AR, AZ, CA, FL, IA, KS, LA, MD, ME, MI, MO, PA, TN, TX and WI.

The schedule for the virtual sessions is below.  All times ET.

9 AM
Can I Help You With That?  The Student as Collaborator, Creator and Director
with Justin Karkow

10 AM
Do You Have the Audacity to Podcast?

11 AM
Thinking Outside the Slide

12 PM
Putting the Bling in Your Builders
with Steve Dembo

1 PM
What on Earth is a Gloggle?

2 PM
Be Nice and Share: Publishing Your Media-Infused Projects for the World to See

3 PM
Can I Help You With That?  The Student as Collaborator, Creator and Director
encore presentation with Justin Karkow

Greetings Blogosphere!

One of the things I do as your friendly assessment nerd is train teachers on using the information from Discovery Education Assessment’s reports to improve instruction. I usually start by telling them places to get support and ways to join the community of folks who use Discovery Education. Well, a crew of fabulous technology coordinators in Collinsville. IL asked that I post links. So, FYI:

When you log on to Discovery Education, look on the right side of the screen for “My Services.”  Make sure you see Discovery Educator Network (DEN):

If you do not, go to http://community.discoveryeducation.com

From now on, when you log in, you’ll have a quick link to the DEN!

Now, here are some other places we discuss:

• http://www.twitter.com/den
• http://delicious.com/discoveryea
• http://www.facebook.com/discoveryeducationassessment

So, there’s some things to keep you busy for a while! Connect with us and let’s get to sharing

Your Friendly Assessment Nerd, Porter

Assessment is everywhere!

This weekend, I visited one of my best friends in Springfield, IL. On Sunday before my return flight home, I decided to buy a magazine to entertain myself on my flight. Although I do read a lot about education, technology, and assessment, sometimes I like to read about things that are not work related. So, I bought the September 2009 issue of Family Circle.

On the cover, new slow cooker recipes, 45 ways to save $, and 40+ pages of “home sweet home” ideas are promised. There’s also a section on back to school. I don’t have any school-age children, so I wasn’t so excited about the style trends for kids as I was the great tech buys promised. Well, would you believe right smack in the middle of my magazine there is a four page article “Testing 123: Everything you need to know about SATs, ACTs, APs and more. Pencils down!”? I just can’t get away from assessment nerdery!

One of the things that I found interesting was the article points out that test-prep for these tests is important to help students become familiar with the directions and format. David Hawkins of the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) says that there are large studies that show that for the SAT most students’ score increase only about 30 points overall after test prep. For the ACT, he says a recent study showed scores increased about half a point after test prep. Here’s what I think is really interesting about these numbers… the increases are tiny! Why???? I know why! Testing for the sake of testing does not improve student performance. Without quality instruction on what is being tested, students just won’t make marked improvements. This applies to most anything, I think! We must assess with a purpose… to inform instruction. Then we must use those results to plan and adjust what we are doing. That’s when we’ll see increases in student performance.

On an unrelated note, I also learned in this magazine that eating a cup and a half of blueberries a day can reduce belly fat by up to 12%. I suppose that means by themselves and not in muffins. Oh well!

Your Friendly Assessment Nerd, Porter

Greetings Blogosphere!

One of the benefits of joining the DEN is that you get access to several Builder Tools that you can use with Discovery Education Streaming.

One of those tools that I’ve been playing with this week is Quiz Builder. Quiz Builder allows you to create quizzes that have multiple choice, short answer, and true/false type questions. The really cool thing is that you can add DEstreaming videos for the quiz as a whole and/or for individual items. You can also add videos that show up in the report when a student misses the question.

Check out this quiz I built on the human body.  Be sure to miss a few items for fun.

Until next time,
Your Friendly Assessment Nerd, Porter

Greetings Blogosphere!
Did you know that the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) have joined, along with a number of other agencies to initiate a state-led process of developing (and adopting) a common core of state standards? Forty-six states plus the DC, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands have signed on to take part in The Common Core State Standards Initiative.

I knew this was underway, but imagine my surprise when Education Week reported that drafts had been released this week!

Well, here they are for your viewing pleasure:
Preamble
Standards for Reading, Writing, and Communication
Mathematics

Check ‘em out. What do you think?

Your Friendly Assessment Nerd, Porter