6.19.18 The Battle for Time: Choosing Quality over Quantity During the last week of school, my colleagues and I were chatting in the sweltering heat while monitoring our students on the playground at recess. We were discussing time... We came upon the... Read more
6.15.18 We have a winner: MAP Reading Fluency! We are thrilled to announce that MAP Reading Fluency, our new oral reading fluency assessment for K-3 readers, won the 2018 SIIA CODiE award for Best Student Assessment Solution! MAP Reading Fluency... Read more
6.14.18 Personalized Learning is Student-Directed Learning This article in EdWeek highlights an idea I love – WIN sessions in Henry County, Georgia. WIN, or What I Need, periods provide students choice about, flexibility in, and ownership of their... Read more
6.5.18 How MAP Growth K-2 Meets the Needs of Early Learners Most educators agree that assessments can be powerful tools for students and teachers when they’re purposeful, instructionally aligned, and tied to student outcomes—but there’s still quite a... Read more
5.31.18 Achievement Down Under: How an Australian School is Changing the Conversation with MAP Growth When the staff at MLC Junior School in New South Wales, Australia set out to use MAP Growth to better understand the learning needs of their student population, they had no idea they were... Read more
5.29.18 Formative instructional practice: Using the results and data is what matters In a post about teaching techniques, Maryellen Weimer cautioned readers about loving techniques for the wrong reasons. When I talk about formative assessment or formative instructional practice, I... Read more
5.22.18 How One School is Making the Grade Using Interim Assessment Data Puesta del Sol Elementary in New Mexico’s Rio Rancho school district was graded a D- by the state in 2012. Three years later they received a grade of B+, and they credit this remarkable turnaround... Read more
5.15.18 Answering the Call to Lead I came into education through a temp job. True story. After college, my parents naturally wanted me to get busy with some work. So, I took a temporary job at the Oregon Department of Education. In my... Read more
5.11.18 MAP Reading Fluency named a CODiE Award finalist We are excited to share that our new oral reading fluency assessment, MAP Reading Fluency, has been named a 2018 SIIA CODiE Award finalist in the Best Student Assessment Solution category! The SIIA... Read more
5.8.18 The Power of a Teacher’s Reach On the last day of a conference I attended in November, I was standing in the back of the auditorium listening to George Couros convince us that teachers must embrace social media if we want to be... Read more
5.1.18 3 Keys to Assessment Implementation Success Initiative fatigue. Is that something happening in your school or district? The last ten years of legislation and technology – and changes to both – have driven a lot of new initiatives into the... Read more
4.26.18 How the MAP Growth Insights Report Takes the Headaches Out of Annual Reporting Each spring, many district administrators and leaders are tasked with reporting metrics to others in their communities – from parents to school boards – that answer the question, “How are the... Read more