NWEA NEWS
Dr. Christina Schneider, NWEA Senior Director of Psychometric Solutions, authors the book for teachers Using Formative Assessment to Support Student Learning Objectives. This book which guides teachers in defining and measuring growth through classroom assessments is co-authored by Robert L. Johnson, Professor of Educational Research and Measurement at the University of South Carolina and is part of a series on student assessment for educators. More information is available here: https://www.routledge.com/Using–FormativeAssessment–to–Support–Student–Learning–Objectives/SchneiderJohnson/p/book/9781138649538
Publisher Routledge says of the guide:
“As student learning objectives become an increasingly prominent approach to setting goals and growth measures in schools, teachers’ competence in formative assessment is essential. Using Formative Assessment to Support Student Learning Objectives introduces current and future educators to SLOs as tools for shaping career- and college-ready students. Written in concise and straightforward language, and replete with step-by-step exercises, reallife examples, and illustrative charts, this useful guide provides pre- and in-service educators with the theoretical background and practical tools needed to implement the latest SLO research in their classrooms.”
Reviews on the publisher’s website say the guide is “a pragmatic approach for linking formative assessment practices to instructional next steps,” offers an approach “with a consistent orientation of service to students and their development,” and “provides guidance for teachers to maximize the period between pre- and post-assessment to monitor students’ progression toward the learning goals.”
Dr. Schneider provides technical expertise to states, districts, and schools desiring to build coherent, cohesive connections across classroom, interim, and large scale assessments. Dr. Schneider has led psychometric work and standard settings for large-scale assessment programs and co-developed the framework for creating Range achievement level descriptors (ALDs) for statewide achievement tests, a framework currently used by forty percent of states. Before joining NWEA, Dr. Schneider worked with the states of Utah, Florida, Georgia, and those in the Smarter Balanced® Consortium to develop ALDs comingled with learning progressions that show more clearly the learning outcomes targeted by assessments. At NWEA, Dr. Schneider oversees Ph.D.-level scientists working on summative assessment contracts and sets the technical direction for those contracts.