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"Sometimes it feels crazy overwhelming to keep assessing students and know exactly what they do/don't understand. That's where these quick and easy formative assessment ideas comes in! My school district sent us a monthly newsletter from the GATE department. This was a particularly helpful chart, so I kept it. But the image was too small, so I've remade it into an easier to read version (see below)."

"Like Donald Graves, I believe that the teacher is the chief learner in the classroom. I also believe that positioning ourselves as learners sustains our passion for our work. When we make a study of our teaching, we discover things we would not have otherwise. Lights flicker. We're continually inspired. What would happen if you became a learner and embraced the idea students assessing teachers? This has nothing to do with mandating the use of student feedback for teacher evaluation purposes. This kind of assessment is off the record. It's a gift that your students give you, and one that you might use in service to them."

40 Alternative Assessments for Learning http://t.co/uUKfksBG #edchat

"Advanced Online Assessments with Google Forms "

Assessment is an essential component of the teaching and learning cycle but sadly it is one that is often misunderstood. If we are to have any hope of getting it right we must begin with a sound understanding of what we hope to achieve, what is being assessed, who is being assessed and what will be done once the results are available.

Welcome to the second edition of the AifL Self-Assessment Toolkit for schools. This resource aims to help practitioners understand the scope of the AifL key features and implement them into their teaching practice.

Digital Literacy Self-Assessment This Self-Assessment is designed to help you determine if you will need additional training or practice to meet the computer-related requirements of your degree program. It is divided into 9 parts:

Why Formative Assessments Matter

"Formative and Summative Assessments in the Classroom"

"Please, No More Professional Development! By Peter DeWitt on April 17, 2015 8:10 AM Today's guest blog is written by Kristine Fox (Ed.D), Senior Field Specialist/Research Associate at Quaglia Institute for Student Aspirations (QISA). She is a former teacher and administrator who has passion for teacher learning and student voice. Kris works directly with teachers and leaders across the country to help all learners reach their fullest potential. Peter DeWitt recently outlined why "faculty meetings are a waste of time." Furthering on his idea, most professional development opportunities don't offer optimal learning experiences and the rare teacher is sitting in her classroom thinking "I can't wait until my district's next PD day." When I inform a fellow educator that I am a PD provider, I can read her thoughts - boring, painful, waste of time, useless, irrelevant - one would think my job is equal to going to the dentist (sorry to my dentist friends). According to the Quaglia Institute and Teacher Voice and Aspirations International Center's National Teacher Voice Report only 54% percent of teachers agree "Meaningful staff development exists in my school." I can't imagine any other profession being satisfied with that number when it comes to employee learning and growth. What sense does it make for the science teacher to spend a day learning about upcoming English assessments? Or, for the veteran teacher to learn for the hundredth time how to use conceptual conflict as a hook. Why does education insist everyone attend the same type of training regardless of specialization, experience, or need? As a nod to the upcoming political campaigns and the inevitable introduction of plans with lots of points, here is my 5 Point Plan for revamping professional development. 5 Point Plan Point I - Change the Term: Semantics Matter We cannot reclaim the term Professional Development for teachers. It has a long, baggage-laden history of conformity that does not

"Exit tickets or cards are informal assessment tools teachers can use to assess students understanding at the end of a class. They can also be used for formative assessment purposes to help teachers design better instructional content based on students feedback. Exit tickets can take the form of a prompt or a question related to what have been taught in the lesson. Here are some examples of questions and prompts to use in your exit cards as featured in "

"A recent blog by Grant Wiggins affirmed what I have long believed about creativity: it is a 21st-century skill we can teach and assess. Creativity fosters deeper learning, builds confidence and creates a student ready for college and career. "

"At Sammamish High School, our staff has dedicated our professional development to building expertise in the key elements of problem-based learning. Previous blog entries by my colleagues have given an overview of this process, as well as exploring how we include student voice and work with authentic problems. Another crucial element of successful problem-based learning is using authentic assessment throughout all stages of a unit to constantly evaluate and improve student learning. "

"If you are looking for a new formative assessment tool check out Understoodit. Whether your students are on iPads or have access to the web from desktops, Understoodit is a fantastic free assessment tool that is perfect for collecting data when presenting new information to students. As you speak, students press one of two buttons on a website unique to your class: "Confused" or "Understood" You'll receive real-time data on how well your class understands your presentation."

 The role of assessment has always played its part but it is a role that is changing in the present global climate and understanding this shift is important for educators.

"The iPad makes new assessment practices possible. First, just being able to hear a student explain his or her thinking is a transformative event."

Next to technology use in education, assessment generates buzz. Americans scramble to put together formative assessment into their system and here are links to research articles to show evidence of the race.

Jim Minstrell is a leading researcher in formative, diagnostic assessment approaches.  He represents the 'facet,'  as opposed to the 'learning progression theory of knowledge construction.  Through his study of student 'misconceptions,' he formulated a 'facet' apprach to assessment which takes into account student prior knowledge and is culturally sensitive.

"Using rubrics and providing student's feedback via the iPad has not been an area that has received a great deal of attention. This is, however, starting to change. I have recently spoken to a number of teachers who have developed apps that will allows teachers to use the iPad as a viable way of assessing student work. Some of these apps actually do more than just mark work. Check out the list and see if any would work for you and your students."