Formative Assessment: Voices from the Field

With Administrators in Mind

Playful Learning through Intentional Teaching

What has been the impact in kindergarten classrooms of good implementation of the following new initiatives and tools in Massachusetts?

According to Kathleen Bailer, John Ashley School and Cowing School Principal, West Springfield, these initiatives have had a major, positive impact on kindergarten teaching in her district.

Here is the link to her recent post on the MESPA blog, Principals Supporting Principals:

Play Ball! A Home Run for Kindergarten

What are your thoughts about this approach to 21st century learning?

Taking Our Data to the Next Level

By Doug McNally, MKEA Coordinator, Berkshire Region

We are just beginning to understand the positive impact that effective use of formative assessment in early education could have on both individual learners and on the early education system as a whole.  Although GOLD® is a tool for formative assessment, and as such is not meant to be predictive, over time aggregated data will provide profiles of children at early ages who achieve success in grades three and beyond.  Wouldn’t it be great if we could show a correlation between strong early development in the executive function and reading proficiency in elementary grades?
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The Benefits of Formative Assessment in a Time of Accountability

By Doug McNally, MKEA Regional Coordinator, Berkshire Region

As a long time school principal, I am very sensitive to the difficulty school administrators have connecting the dots among the array of initiatives they are called upon to implement. We have to develop school improvement plans aligned with district plans. We have to align our evaluation practices with new guidelines, including assisting teachers in developing SMART goals that support the school plan and will help them improve student achievement. Principals are called upon to ensure that the curriculum is aligned with current standards and that it is consistently implemented in all classrooms. Furthermore, we know that to effectively implement the strategies required by RETELL, such as tiered instruction and tiered vocabulary development, we need some way to formatively assess students’ proficiency; all this in the time of accountability and high-stakes testing. No wonder that some principals feel a bit overwhelmed by the requirement that they oversee the implementation of an observational assessment tool in the classrooms of their very young kindergarten students.

But in fact, the use of GOLDTM by Teaching Strategies is a vehicle that can enable schools to bring order to all the challenges they face…. [Read More]

How do you use iPads and tablets?

by  Barbara Jacobs, MKEA Regional Coordinator, Greater Boston Region

Lisa Kuh, Director of Early Education for the Somerville Public Schools, posted a question recently to colleagues in the Greater Boston Regional MKEA Leadership Network set up last year. Her question: How are adults and children in other districts are using iPads/tablets in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten classrooms? Here is a synopsis of the responses:

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