Is formative assessment a tool or a process, and what makes it good?

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Is formative assessment a tool or a process, and what makes it good?

May 28, 2015

Categories: Assessment,

Not too many years ago, we fought some “wars” in our profession, and we may be on the verge of yet another. It started with the “Reading Wars” of Whole Language vs. Phonics. Then, we fought the “Math Wars” of [...]

Teaching informational text through “life portraits”—a second coat

Latest Post

Teaching informational text through “life portraits”—a second coat

May 14, 2015

Categories: Reading

My original post on teaching informational text through biography borrowed from the elements of art to engage students in new ways as they write about the lives of others. The post focused on three elements of art—form, texture, and [...]

Unlock deeper learning with foundational skills practice

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Unlock deeper learning with foundational skills practice

April 30, 2015

Categories: Math, Reading

Common Core Someday someone will write a retrospective book about the origins of the Common Core State Standards. It’ll be a story of policy and politics, testing, international benchmarking, and teaching. (Mostly politics.) This book will likely never be made [...]

Teaching informational text through “life portraits”

Latest Post

Teaching informational text through “life portraits”

April 16, 2015

Categories: Reading

Across the states, we see an emphasis on learning to write and read at a depth that prepares students for success in college, career, and life. These efforts require students to work with evidence—find it, distinguish the letter shapes in [...]

What educators need to know about validity

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What educators need to know about validity

April 2, 2015

Categories: Assessment,

In this post, we take a closer look at validity. In the past we’ve noted that test scores can be reliable (consistent) without being valid, which is why validity ultimately takes center stage. We will still define validity as the extent [...]

Driven by teachers—How our products evolve with real user feedback

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Driven by teachers—How our products evolve with real user feedback

March 12, 2015

Categories: Assessment, Math, Reading

What does it really mean to be customer-centric? Lots of companies claim to be customer-focused because it is an easy thing to say. Renaissance is grounded in our mission—to accelerate learning for all. We care about the teachers we serve.

A measure of stability in a time of uncertainty

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A measure of stability in a time of uncertainty

February 19, 2015

Categories: Assessment,

The 2014–15 school year brings unprecedented change in summative assessment. More than 80 percent of US students will sit for a new assessment, whether it’s from The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), the Smarter Balanced [...]

The real truth about achieving excellence

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The real truth about achieving excellence

February 5, 2015

Categories: Assessment, Math, Reading

How important is talent when it comes to success? Our efforts to create excellence in students are inextricably linked to our beliefs about what constitutes talent. Daniel Coyle, author of The Talent Code, advances that to help students achieve excellence [...]

Effective teachers are empowered—and so are their students

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Effective teachers are empowered—and so are their students

January 22, 2015

Categories: Assessment, Math, Professional Development, Reading

Educator effectiveness and grit are trending across educational media. Is it coincidence or inevitability that these two concepts should dominate current discourse simultaneously? Perhaps it is the potential for these ideas to be unified toward a single purpose: to empower [...]

Reflecting on education reform—Awareness of the past can unite us today

Latest Post

Reflecting on education reform—Awareness of the past can unite us today

January 8, 2015

As I reflect back on almost 40 years in the field of education, I note how fitting it is that the job from which I retire is with Renaissance Learning, as these 40 years can be viewed as an ongoing [...]

Renaissance Blog

Latest Post

Is formative assessment a tool or a process, and what makes it good?

Is formative assessment a tool or a process, and what makes it good?

Recent Posts

Teaching informational text through “life portraits”—a second coat

Teaching informational text through “life portraits”—a second coat

Unlock deeper learning with foundational skills practice

Unlock deeper learning with foundational skills practice

Teaching informational text through “life portraits”

Teaching informational text through “life portraits”

What educators need to know about validity

What educators need to know about validity

Driven by teachers—How our products evolve with real user feedback

Driven by teachers—How our products evolve with real user feedback

A measure of stability in a time of uncertainty

A measure of stability in a time of uncertainty

The real truth about achieving excellence

The real truth about achieving excellence

Effective teachers are empowered—and so are their students

Effective teachers are empowered—and so are their students

Reflecting on education reform—Awareness of the past can unite us today

Reflecting on education reform—Awareness of the past can unite us today