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?
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
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
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”
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
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
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
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
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
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
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 [...]
