The phrase
"common assessments" refers to tests or exams that are the same for all students. It means that everyone takes the same test to measure their understanding or knowledge on a particular subject or topic.
Full definition
Few educators would argue the benefits
of common assessments for monitoring student learning and impacting their instructional practice.
Create common program standards and
use common assessment tools across health, behavioral and education systems.
As a member of the fourth grade team, she works collaboratively to review data, develop unit plans, and
create common assessments and pacing calendars with her team.
In working with teams, we've found that some teams focus
on common assessments rather than common formative assessments.
When implemented thoughtfully and effectively, the AP program may benefit certain students and allow for
common assessments across schools and districts.
Simple, practical, and easy applications for designing
quality common assessments that allow collaborative teams to determine whether students acquire essential knowledge and skills.
They had already been
giving common assessments for about three years as collaborative teams, so their unit assessments were in agreement.
When the decision context calls for comparable evidence across classrooms, she shows us
why common assessments are the key to success.
When teachers function more as franchises they might
create common assessments, but they take individual responsibility for student success rather than team responsibility.
A large majority (88 %) of surveyed districts reported that at least half of their teachers
used common assessments.
The research is crystal clear, formative use
of common assessment is one of the most potent learning strategies for the classroom.
While working recently with a high school mathematics team to write
quality common assessments, I asked the teachers to bring in their previously used unit tests.
In my next blog we look at what the research has to say, along with an actual case from a school
where common assessment has shown great gains in achievement.
Teachers will learn how to identify and
implement common assessments, refine instruction based on analysis of data, and work together to continuously improve their practice.
The prevailing attitude is best summarized by Fullan (2011) who reports that in every case of significant school improvement, «there are
common assessment frameworks linked to individualized instructional practice... progress and problems were also transparent... with corresponding discussions of how to improve results.»
They actually maintain a «board» with a card for every student in the school along
with common assessment data that is coded red / yellow / green so that they can make informed decisions at the child level.
Erkens defines collaborative
common assessment as «any assessment, formative or summative, that is either team created or team endorsed in advance of instruction and then administered in close proximity by all instructors so they can collaboratively examine the results, plan instructionally agile responses, analyze errors, and explore areas for program improvement.»
The purpose of the PLC was to interpret and clarify the state standards and to
design common assessment tasks that were independent of particular instructional resources and materials.
The single - school configuration helped the teachers easily
administer common assessments, obtain assessment data from a larger sample size (3 biology classrooms), and use the information from their collaborative study of the assessments results to modify instruction in a timely manner.
Understanding student data and being able to make judgments based on that data may necessitate the development of benchmarks or
common assessment tools that can be used across the school.
That unevenness will be harder to sustain, however,
when common assessments come on line, particularly if the multi-state consortia developing those assessments can actually (as their RTTT grant says they must) agree on common «cut scores» to denote student proficiency — and «college - career readiness» — in every participating state.
Discover what districts are doing to find the technology that fits their testing needs, particularly in relation to
new common assessments.
«We have worked with assessment results, increased our assessment literacy, examined assessment results through data walls [Reeves], common assessments [Ainsworth], and multiple lenses [Bernhardt].
The SQE, which will not come in before September 2020, will involve a single
common assessment which replaces the courses and examinations under the current regime, including the GDL and LPC.
To stay on top of the needs of a highly mobile enrollment, educators in the Aldine Independent School District in north Houston rely on
frequent common assessments across subjects and grades to gauge how well students are learning.
Teacher leaders will learn how to build a team culture of trust and honesty, establish consistent expectations for students
through common assessments and curriculum, guide peers to make decisions based in evidence, and strengthen colleagues» instructional expertise.
The School Improvement Services department may be contacted for assistance in quality classroom assessment practices, progress assessment practices, and universal assessment practices,
including common assessment design, construction and use.
Aside from resume screening and Medline interview process, personality tests are the
most common assessment used in the Medline recruitment process.