12.5.17 Using Formative Assessment as a Compass for Daily Planning and Differentiating Instruction Developing autonomy as a learner and becoming self-regulated with an evident sense of self-efficacy are all supported by differentiating within the classroom. Formative instructional practices... Read more
11.28.17 From 8 to 80 in two years: How fluency drives students toward comprehension Ask any primary grades teacher about reading fluency, and you are likely to hear something about WCPM from one-minute oral readings. (That’s words correct per minute, a bit like miles per... Read more
11.21.17 My First Trip to Personalization Town – An Adventure in Personalized Learning I like to travel. In fact, I think that traveling is one of the most important gifts I can give my son. Traveling comes with a myriad of life lessons, even before you arrive at your destination,... Read more
11.16.17 Meet Generation Alpha: 3 Things Educators Should Know They are in your schools now. And there are more coming—lots more. Are you ready for them? This year, more than 3.8 million students enrolled in kindergarten at public schools across the United... Read more
11.14.17 Personalized Learning for Early Childhood Classrooms: What Could it Look Like? I can't help but think about all the chatter I hear about personalized learning. Almost every conversation I have with middle school teachers eventually turns to the topic. They talk about student... Read more
11.7.17 Closing Achievement Gaps and Moving Students Forward with MAP Skills If El Dorado Middle School sounds familiar, it might be because we keep sharing what they’ve learned on the road to success in using MAP® Skills™: Media Spotlight: Using MAP Skills at El... Read more
11.2.17 Three Examples of How to Put Assessment Data to Work in the Classroom Getting data into the hands of teachers and school leaders to inform instructional decisions is what gives assessment its power. Timeliness is key, as is structuring opportunities for... Read more
10.17.17 Parents and MAP Growth – 7 Things to Know As MAP® Growth™ reports get sent home and parent-teacher conference season approaches, teachers and parents alike might be looking for information to share about MAP Growth. Terms like... Read more
10.10.17 October: My Teaching Sweet Spot I love October. This year, I'm particularly excited about the month. Personally, it will include a trip to Boston College, my alma mater, with both my 3.5-year-old son and my husband. We will take in... Read more
9.14.17 Preparing for Open House Night with Assessment in Mind With school in full swing, teachers everywhere are preparing for their open house nights, when the doors to the classroom are opened and the parental questions are posed. This is a great time for... Read more
9.7.17 What is NWEA Doing to Manage Disengaged Test Taking on MAP Growth? In my last blog, I discussed the problems caused by disengaged test taking, and how we detect its occurrence when students take MAP Growth. Today, I want to share what NWEA is doing to address the... Read more
8.29.17 Rebooting Your Classroom – Five Ways Formative Assessment Can Help One blog that I’ve bookmarked, and I re-visit each summer without fail is Terry Heick’s post – The Difference Between Updating and Rebooting Your Classroom. Great read! He paints clear... Read more