Course 1081
New Approaches to Assessment and Evaluation
Apply this towards your professional development requirements
Tuition: $575 for all 3 modules complete
For teachers and administrators, assessments can serve many purposes - they provide a measure of student progress and achievement or a measure of their effectiveness as an educator. Regardless of the outcome, tests and assessments are a steady fixture in classrooms and schools. This course provides alternative methods for assessing students, tried-and-true techniques that have been proven to raise achievement scores, and online assessment tools that can supplement traditional assessment practices and cater to a technologically advanced generation. By focusing on students' needs, strengths, and interests, teachers will be able to increase their students' comprehension, as well as their achievement levels and test scores.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Module 1082
High Stakes Testing: Increase Student Scores Year After Year
What You'll Learn
Whether you are a fan of high stakes testing – or strongly opposed to it – there is no denying that high stakes tests can have a huge impact on students, teachers, and education policy. For students, these tests begin at an early age and follow them throughout their lives. For teachers, these tests may act as measures of success or even influence salary decisions. Regardless of your opinion, it is clear that student achievement on these tests is in everyone’s best interest. With special attention to state standards and focus on specific strategies, educators can increase the achievement scores of their classrooms and schools.
In this module, you will learn how to increase your classroom’s test scores and implement strategies that will impact students’ achievement scores year after year. You will discover:
The main element of standardized testing
The barriers to testing that many students face
Strategies that will give students context to concepts so that they will not need to rely on memorization
Techniques to collaborate with other teachers to increase student achievement
Highlights
Analyzing High Stakes Tests and Their Effect on Students
Evaluate the elements of high stakes tests to find out exactly what students are being tested on
Identify the specific testing barriers that are faced by English Language Learners and students from poverty
Investigate state standards to prepare students for the right topics
Strategies to Prepare Students for High Stakes Testing
Incorporate vocabulary matrices into your classroom lessons and activities
Provide students with context to words so that they do not rely on memorization
Incorporate graphic models into lessons to accommodate various learning styles
Preparing and Executing a High Stakes Testing Action Plan
Identify specific standards to focus students on
Create materials that allow students to go back and review
Organize fellow teachers so that all lessons can become more impactful for students
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Module 1083
Beyond Multiple Choice: Differentiating Assessment to Help Students Achieve
What You'll Learn
The days of standard multiple choice tests are over. In recent years, educators have developed assessment alternatives which have allowed students to deepen their learning. Research has shown that new assessment techniques positively influence student learning, performance-based assessment improves instruction and more equitably assesses minority and underserved students.
In this module, you will learn why students’ brains need differentiated assessments and the three different types of assessment. Our expert, Bruce Campbell, will explain how you can smoothly integrate these new testing techniques into the instructional cycle. This module will help you:
Design your own differentiated assessment tasks
Assess students before, during and after instruction to monitor comprehension
Provide opportunities for more students to demonstrate their skills and knowledge and to be successful learners
Highlights
The Assessment Basics
9 reasons we use assessments in the classroom
The important difference between assessment, evaluation and reporting
Why multiple choice is not always the best way to evaluate student learning
The Changing Face of Assessments
3 fundamental ways that assessments are different than the way they used to be
How to effectively implement honest student self-assessment
Why grading in a differentiated classroom is weighted, and how this is fair
How You Can Differentiate Instruction
4 example assessments you can use today
Introducing your class to graphic organizers
25 thinking skills and questioning strategies for you and your students
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Module 1084
Assessing Today’s Students: Use Technology to Measure Comprehension
What You'll Learn
Chances are, you’re probably already using technology to bolster your lesson plans. Savvy teachers, however, are taking it a step further by using technology to improve student assessments. In this module, you will discover the latest technological tools to help you assess the comprehension of today’s digital-age learners. You’ll learn how to collect data in real-time to help you get a quicker sense of what your students are learning, as well as design assessments that effectively measure student understanding. In addition, you’ll learn how to develop effective scoring rubrics for each tool and resource presented.
In this module, you will learn how to:
Draw upon the latest technological tools to assess student understanding
Implement resource collection and organization tools for both formative and summative assessment
Utilize word cloud tools to determine student learning and understanding
Assess learning with engaging audio and visual tools
Highlights
Proven Technological Assessment Tools
Word Cloud sites that measure word comprehension
Digital image tools that improve promote stimulating assessments
Resources that facilitate both formative and summative assessment
Easily-accessible Web sites that work for all grade levels and content areas
Resource Collection and Organization
Techniques for assessing research and information fluency
Tips to better examine quality of annotations for resources
Methods for evaluating quality or research resources
Effective research organization tools
Engaging Audio & Visual Tools
Quick use audio publishing resources
Classroom-friendly video tools
Audio and video creation options
Audio/video tools that measure reading and writing skills
The Virtual Teachers Lounge™
Check in with your peers and get answers to your questions – any time, 24/7. Taking this course will give you exclusive access to the thoughts, insights and experience of other educators and K-12 experts discussing your topics and giving you solutions and ideas for whatever is on your mind. In the Teachers' lounge, you can:
Learn new, working strategies and solutions from other educators – live!
Get answers to your toughest questions from top K-12 experts
Discuss course topics with your peers and benefit from their experiences
Share your success stories and best practices to benefit other teachers and administrators
Get new perspectives, fresh ideas and guidance – whenever you need it.
You can log whenever is most convenient for you, 24/7
All you have to do is sign up for this course, and you're in!
Materials & Assessment
Lectures
Your lectures, delivered by one of the nation's leading, recognized experts on
this topic, are presented in multiple parts to make listening and tracking your
progress easier. You can listen to each as often as you like by playing it on your
computer, downloading it to your iPod or other MP3 player, even burning it to CD.
Listen wherever it is most convenient for you: at home, in your car; at the park;
and whenever you like: before or after work, at night or on
weekends. Many educators can complete a module in only a week.
Text Resources
Virtual text resources are downloadable and expand on the material covered in your lectures. They may include articles, web links to related materials and web sites, definitions of important terms and concepts, and a bibliography. All materials can be viewed on your computer or downloaded and printed.
Assessment
To receive your Certificate of Completion or Certificate of Attendance and earn Professional Development/Continuing Education units/credits/hours, you will need to complete all assessments and submit all final projects.
Virtual Teachers Lounge
To gain Professional Development credits or hours for any of these three modules, you must participate in the Virtual teachers Lounge discussion for that module. If you are not seeking credits or hours, participation in the Lounge is not mandatory, but you are still welcome to connect with and share your thoughts, questions, insights and experience with your peers at any time.
Register Now
New Approaches to Assessment and Evaluation
Tuition: $575 for all 3 modules complete