Building Common Assessments Workshop

Boston, Massachusetts

In a professional learning community (PLC), teachers work together to answer the following critical questions:

1. What do we want students to learn?
2. How will we know if they have learned?
3. How will we respond when they don’t learn?
4. How will we respond when they do learn?

One of the best ways to study and answer these questions is through the use of common formative assessments. By collaboratively developing these assessments, teams establish a consistent way to effectively monitor student learning, collectively respond to results, implement informed practice, and raise expectations.

Participants are encouraged to attend as a team, as time will be provided each day to support the collaborative planning process for a general common formative assessment framework. Bring hard copies of your standards, assessments, curriculum, and any other resources relevant to the design process. A team laptop will also be helpful to save your work.

You will:

• Learn the common formative assessment process from beginning to end.
• Understand how to collect meaningful instructional data that informs interventions and enrichment planning.
• Focus on the keys to accurate design and effective use of assessments.
• Gain supportive tools, such as planning templates and protocols.
• Leave with a framework for working interdependently to create high-quality assessments.