Assessment Board Stories
These Board Stories show how assessment for and as learning practices are embedded in various classrooms both at the elementary and secondary levels, and how materials have been created by teachers to support assessment practices and ultimately, students success for their classrooms. We sincerely thank the boards that participated and the administrators and teachers in those boards that shared their expertise and wisdom so that we could gain additional insight into the importance of the assessment for learning initiative.
Peterborough Victoria Northumberland Clarington Catholic District School Board
A major focus of the Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington Catholic District School Board (PVNCCDSB) is to use research-based instruction and assessment to improve learning for its 14,000 plus students in 31 elementary and 6 secondary schools. Four years ago, the board launched an assessment initiative to support all staff in developing a deeper understanding of the power of effective assessment to improve achievement. Read more…
School Stories: St. Elizabeth Elementary School, St. Peter’s Secondary School
What are people saying about the impact of Assessment for Learning and as Learning?
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Waterloo Region District School Board
The Waterloo Region District School Board has a specific focus for the 2009–2010 school year: Specified groups of students (boys, English language learners, students receiving special education support, and students in applied and essential mathematics) will improve their ability to communicate their thinking in writing. This will be accomplished through the implementation of specific instructional tools and the use of supportive practices, including assessment for learning and as learning. The board has made a commitment to all system leaders to provide professional development in the areas of assessment strategies, tools, and techniques to improve written communication. Throughout the year, principals and vice principals (elementary and secondary) and board consultants and coordinators, along with senior administration, will be in-serviced in the areas of student exemplars, anchor charts, open-ended critical questions, graphic organizers, and non-fiction writing as a means of eliciting evidence of student learning. This approach to professional development supports the notion that system leaders are instructional/assessment leaders and initiators of learning teams in schools and within a family of schools.
School Stories: W. T. Townshend Elementary School
York Region District School Board
A key priority for continuous improvement for the schools within the York Region District School Board (YRDSB) is differentiated, assessment-based instruction. All elementary and secondary schools are engaged in Differentiated Instruction and Assessment Networks, which consist of superintendents, principals, vice principals, literacy teachers, and classroom teachers learning together. The concept of collecting evidence of learning through observation, conversation, and final products as student data is not new with this board; however, tracking these kinds of assessment data and then using them intentionally to differentiate instruction is a work in progress. Participants in learning networks share their own learning through this process of collecting assessment data and this is demonstrated by school teams bringing artefacts to share and discuss with other school teams. By 2012, practices in every school and classroom in the YRDSB will have created conditions for differentiated instruction and “assessment for learning”.
School Stories: H.G. Bernard Elementary School, Richmond Hill Secondary School