Professional Development Topic Category

Data and Assessment

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Alternative assessment, often called authentic, comprehensive, or performance assessment, is usually designed by the teacher to gauge students’ understanding of the material. In this session we will introduce strategies and technology-based applications you can use to leverage a variety of other options to check for understanding that is beyond multiple-choice tests. At the conclusion of the session, you will be able to explore the relevant apps at your own pace.

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Learn powerful research about how effective flexible, purposeful grouping can be. Participants will be grouped over five different ways throughout the workshop.

Be prepared to have fun, move often with a purpose, and acquire the tools to implement this highly differentiated process in a classroom the next day!

Gain a better understanding about how daily data collected through the formative assessment process can guide instructional decisions all day long.

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Teachers think and hope they’re being effective, but how do they really know? By gathering, analyzing, and interpreting student data, educators can improve classrooms or schools.

This session examines the ins and outs of Data-Driven Decision Making (D3M), debunking myths, demystifying the process, and developing strategies that can be used at all levels of school management.

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This workshop provides educators with strategies for implementing formative assessments to measure student progress, plus how to use that data for planning the next steps in the learning process.

This training is designed to help educators interpret the data to drive instruction and increase student academic achievement.

Research-based instructional strategies and resources are used to differentiate instruction based upon assessment results that are explored throughout.

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With so many technology tools available for schools, this session focuses on how teachers can leverage mobile devices to engage students and transform assessment into engaging exercises that inspire and motivate learners.

Explore the paperless classroom and tools that can be implemented in a classroom quickly and easily.

Participants bring their own device to join in this interactive workshop.

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The “Cha-Cha-Cha’s” summarize the steps toward successfully implementing one of the most powerful strategies we can implement in our 21st-century classrooms: the formative assessment process.

Students must acquire a small chunk of content based on these standards; they then they must “chew” or process that content in different ways. While they’re chewing or thinking about the content, educators are checking for understanding and then altering their instruction, if needed.

According to research, this process can double the speed of learning! In this session, participants receive the best pre-assessment and formative assessment ideas to use the next day.

When you bring all these pieces together, a data-driven classroom with high engagement and achievement can be attained.

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It stands to reason that if students are not learning from the way they are being taught, then teachers must teach them the way they learn. Whether participants refer to them as multiple intelligences, like Howard Gardner, or to them as gifts, like Marcia Tate, students come to class with many different ways of learning.

Experience 20 brain-compatible strategies for unwrapping those gifts, such as role play, drawing, music, or movement. To help identify whether or not these strategies are effective, participants also experience over 50 ways (including the use of products and performances) to determine if those strategies are making a difference in student achievement.

This workshop deals with both traditional and more authentic forms of assessment, since both forms should be included in a student’s overall portfolio.