All About Assessments

Educators need to understand what each student already knows, and where that student needs to go next in the teaching process. They need to be experts in using an array of interventions to help get their students to success, and to evaluate the impact that they've made. 
—John Hattie

In a November 16, 2015 Education Week article, John Hattie shares the purpose and power of using assessments correctly. He shares that "this power is truly maximized when the assessments are timely, informative, and related to what teachers are actually teaching.” 

It is this kind of formative assessment that is a strength of Daily 5 and CAFE. To help you better support your students, see the following resources. 

The first two articles will help you set up an effective and efficient assessment area. 

• Efficient Assessment Area (video)

The next three will help you look at assessments, make instructional decisions, and monitor progress. 

• Assessment to Instruction (7 Steps)  (article and download)
• Selecting a Strategy for Student Goals (article and download)
• Recording Assessment Data  (article and download)

We use conferring notes and more formal assessments to help students meet their full potential. 

• A Conferring Notebook Tour (video and downloads)
• Assessing Each Strategy (downloads)
• ConferringNotebook (online conferring notebook)

Finally, these two will help you learn more about assessments so you can become an expert in using the array of interventions that we know are required to ensure growth for everyone. 

• About Assessments (article)
• Assessment in Perspective  (article and book recommendation)