#500, 11010-142 Street
Edmonton, AB T5N 2R1
Phone: (780) 447-9420
Fax: (780) 447-2531
E-Mail: aac@compusmart.ab.ca
Website: www.aac.ab.ca
IMPORTANT DATES
October 25 to 27, 2001
7th Annual Fall Conference
2001: An Assessment Odyssey
The Westin Calgary
2000 - 2001 Executive
Darlene Montgomery, Chair
Jacqueline Skytt, Sec. Treasurer
Danny Kinal
Tom Sperling
Joanne Stickle
Robert Hogg, Executive Director
Diane Toomey, Executive Assistant
AAC Communique is also
on-line at http://www.aac.ab.ca/newsletters.html
AAC MEMBERS AND THEIR REPRESENTATIVE
Alberta Teachers' Association
- Jacqueline Skytt
Aspen View Reg. Division. No. 19
- Julian Topolnisky
Battle River Reg. Division No. 31
- Stephen Smith
Calgary Roman Catholic Separate School District No. 1
- Manny Ferreirinha
Calgary School District No. 19
- Darlene Montgomery
Canadian Rockies Reg. Division No. 12
- Brian Callaghan
Chinook's Edge School Division No. 73
- Dot Negropontes
East Central Catholic SSRD No. 16
- David Keohane & Valerie Burgardt
Edmonton Catholic School District No. 7
- Monique Gibeau
Edmonton School District No.7
- Anne Mulgrew
Elk Island Public School Reg. Div. No. 14
- Christine Romanko
Evergreen Catholic Separate Reg. Division No. 2
- Larry Hlushak
Fort McMurray School District No. 2833
- Ken Saunderson
Fort Vermilion School District No. 52
- Freddi Bromling
Golden Hills Reg. Div. No. 15
- Ed Holt
Grande Prairie School District No. 2357
- Wes Brooks
Grande Yellowhead School Div. No. 35
- Judy Grigat
Greater St. Albert Catholic Reg. Div. No. 29
- Joan Tod
High Prairie School Division No. 48
- Rene St. Andre
Holy Spirit R.C.S. Reg. Division No. 4
- Cully Poston
Lethbridge School District No. 51
- Paul Stevenson
Living Waters Catholic Reg. Division No. 42
- Carol Lemay
Livingstone Range School Division No. 68
- Ken Lorenz
Medicine Hat Public School District No. 76
- Joanne Stickle
Northern Gateway Reg. Division No. 10
- Terry Sunderland
Northern Lights School Division No. 69
- Roger Nippard
Northland School Division No. 61
- Karen Penney
Palliser Reg. Division No. 26
- John Darroch
Parkland School Division No. 70
- Harry Wagner
Peace River School Division No. 10
- Robin Webster
Red Deer Catholic Reg. Div. No. 39
- Chris Andrew
Rocky View School Division No. 41
- Mel Sly
St. Albert Protestant School District No. 6
- Lois Gluck
St. Thomas Aquinas R.C.S. Reg. Div. No. 38
- Metro Hucaluk
Sturgeon School Division No. 24
- Garnet Goertzen
Wetaskiwin Reg. Division No. 11
- Bryan Wyley
Wild Rose School Division No. 66
- Tom Sperling
What is AAC?
AAC is a not-for-profit, partnership of basic education organizations. It is dedicated to enhancing student learning through classroom assessment that increases student confidence as learners and enables them to reveal what they know and demonstrate what they can do. AAC is a registered charitable organization with membership consisting of 37 jurisdictions representing approximately 80% of the students in Alberta.
What's Our Purpose?
- to develop a broad range of assessment materials that are directly
tied to the Alberta Learning Curriculum, are based on grade level standards,
and will enhance student learning
- to support teachers by providing opportunities for quality professional
and staff development;
- to facilitate networking and sharing of knowledge, skills and expertise;
and
- to establish liaisons with other agencies
Students can hit any target they can see and holds still for them.
(attributed to R. Stiggins)
AAC Web Site… A Rich Resource
It was last fall when I discovered the AAC site. At the time, I was teaching grade six, was a lead teacher on the 'Assessment for Learning Team' (a system-wide endeavor to improve learning) and had begun working on my Masters of Education at the Faculté St. Jean. This rich resource helped me in all three areas.
In my day-to-day teaching, I appreciated the performance assessments that had been created. I always checked the site for specific materials for specific concepts. The assessment tools that were provided gave me a better understanding of what needed to be learned and assessed. Furthermore, I learned the language and process of creating rubrics for various subject areas. 'Rubrics' was a "buzz" word in my classroom. My students occasionally worked with me to create rubrics and used them in self-evaluation. They appreciated having the rubric before beginning any assignment. My teaching practices have improved as have my students' achievement!
This knowledge and experience have encouraged me to investigate assessment further. It was through the AAC web site that I have come to improve my teaching practice. I am now using the backward design process in planning units. As a result, I have become a resource person for my staff during our 'Assessment for Learning' training sessions. Since I have become familiar with the web site, accessing it almost on a daily basis, my colleagues have counted on me to help them create rubrics in their subject areas.
As my knowledge has broadened using the web site, I felt that 'rubrics and their effectiveness' would be an interesting topic to research as part of my graduate program. The AAC link, About Classroom Assessment (Q & A), gave me a clear understanding of the difference between "assessment" and "evaluation". The links and the references allowed me to further my professional reading, giving me valuable information to enhance my mini-research paper.
AAC has provided me a new outlook to teaching and assessment. I look forward to sharing my knowledge and supporting my colleagues to improve and enhance student learning.
Manuela Ferrante, Assistant Principal
École Grandin School
Edmonton Catholic School District
Call for Nominations
The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Consortium Council (the total membership of the Consortium) provides representatives with an opportunity to nominate and elect Executive Committee officers. The Executive Committee consists of 6 members: a Chairperson, Secretary-Treasurer and four members-at-large duly elected from the Consortium Council. Each elected officer serves for a three year term. Using the three year rotation system described in AAC by-laws, two positions are open for nominations and election each year.
The next AGM will be convened on Thursday, October 25 at 4:00 at the Westin Calgary. Representatives (or their designates) from each member jurisdiction will nominate and elect two Executive Committee members. Nominations, including self-nominations, will be invited at the meeting. Time commitment as an executive member? - Executive Committee meetings are conducted primarily through teleconference at least 4 times per year.
2001 Fall Conference - October 25th to 27th - Calgary
This year's conference theme is "2001: An Assessment Odyssey". The conference will be held at The Westin Hotel in Calgary featuring keynotes Ruth Sutton (renowned British educator and author) and Elliott Asp (Assistant Superintendent, Research and Assessment from Colorado)
More in-depth sessions are a feature of this year's conference. There will be three half-day workshops on Friday morning. Now delegates can choose to attend one half-day workshop or two breakout sessions.
Register early to avoid disappointment! To register use the conference Program Guide (brochure) or go to the AAC web site for on-line registration.
This conference offers learning and assessment insights through the most diverse choice of sessions ever offered by AAC.
Summer Development Workshop 2001
Many performance assessment tools developed and revised during the summer have had an initial review and are now on the AAC web site (www.aac.ab.ca) under 'Assessment Material' on the home page and linked to 'Work in Progress 2001'. They are username and password accessible.
Assessment materials are being field tested during the 2001-2002 school year through the Request for Tools (RFT) initiative. Samples of student work will be collected and included on the web site. Consider participating in the field testing by going to the RFT link http://www.aac.ab.ca/request.html.
A new professional resource titled, Smerging Data: Grading… More Than Just Number Crunching is well underway toward publication.
Assessment materials were developed in the following subject areas.
- Language Arts (grades 1-6)
- French Language Arts (grades 2-3)
- English Language Arts (10)
- Mathematics (grades 1-6)
- Science (grades 8) in partnership with Let's Talk Science (LTS)
- Information and Communication Technology (ICT) summative assessments (grades 5 and 8)
Here are some workshop participant comments:
- Great PD experience!
- Small working groups within larger working groups… teamwork!
- Collaborating, sharing and learning with colleagues
- Sense of purpose quickly established in teams
- Networking opportunities
- Wonderful mentorship and leadership from project leaders and 'coaches'
- Very well organized and structured with an 'unstructured' atmosphere
- Beginning to feel at ease with rubrics… but, more help is still needed!
- Plenty of work time for work
- Food was awesome! … meals on site - more relaxing
"You trusted we could do the project and gave us the tools to do so."
It is essential that teachers distinguish between formative and summative assessment.
(O'Connor, 1999)
AAC Product Orders
Please take advantage of the product order form on the AAC web site (http://www.aac.ab.ca/order.html) to order classroom assessment materials.
Copies of the video, Building Professional Learning Communities are available through the AAC office (780) 447-9420 at a cost of $25 plus GST. This high impact five minute presentation, s set to the beautiful music of Enya, was created in by Dr. Rick DuFour, Superintendent, Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois. Benefits of fostering 'professional learning communities' are highlighted. This resource is complementary to AAC's commitment to teacher professional development in classroom assessment. All proceeds go to the Adlai E. Stevenson H High School Foundation.
Implementation Study Update
The AAC Implementation Study titled, Improving Student Achievement Through Classroom Assessment, was first introduced in the Summer 2001 edition of the AAC Communique. Here is an update on its evolution and development.
The study will:
- determine the relationship between what teachers know and do with respect to their assessment beliefs and practices and the expectations of the Teaching Quality Standard;
- identify professional development* strategies that enable teachers to build and internalize assessment capacity;
- determine ways to enhance the dissemination and use of AAC products and services in support of the attainment of the Teaching Quality Standard; and
- recommend future directions that will enable teachers to build and internalize assessment capacity and enhance the value and use of AAC products and services.
* pre-service and in-service
The first phase of the four-phased study will be launched during the AAC Fall Conference in Calgary as delegates are invited to complete a questionnaire. This phase focuses on gathering data including establishing baseline data about the relationship between what teachers know and do with respect to their assessment practices in support of the attainment of the Teaching Quality Standard. This 'survey phase' will elevate the importance of classroom assessment for improving student achievement, emphasize the role and function of AAC as a valued educational resource, and identify lighthouse sites. Research processes for this phase will be facilitated by Dr. W. Todd Rogers of the University of Alberta.
Phase 2 will focus on identifying professional development strategies that enable teachers to build and internalize assessment capacity (Spring 2002 - June 2003). During this phase AAC will:
- identify strategies for building and internalizing assessment capacity
- identify several AAC member districts as implementation study sites (see phase 1 findings)
- select curricular areas from a broad range of subjects and grades embedding ICT assessments where applicable in both traditional [synchronous] and on-line/distance learning [asynchronous]) learning environments… or a blend
- determine implementation strategies appropriate to each site in consultation with district representatives
- provide orientation for selected school site teachers
- implement school site study
- identify further strategies for building and sustaining assessment capacity and for using AAC resources
- report results of the study to date
- modify implementation strategies as appropriate
BOOK REVIEW
Conferencing and Reporting: For Use in Middle and Secondary School
Classrooms
By Kathleen Gregory, Caren Cameron and Anne Davies
Publisher: Connections 2001, ISBN 0-9682160-3-X
This is the third in a series of practical publications by the authors. Its companion books are Setting and Using Criteria (1997) and Self-Assessment and Goal-Setting (2000), and all of these handy resources are truly grounded in actual classroom practice.
These British Columbia educators continue to make it easier for teachers to involve students in their own assessment and evaluation. In their introduction, they suggest that the process of conferencing and reporting student progress be an evolving one. Conferencing and reporting should always be student-led, collaborative (an audience is essential) and on-going. It should not be associated only with a specific reporting period, as it is designed to support learning and to be part of the learning process, effectively communicating to all stakeholders a more accurate reflection of student proficiency in a given area. Students are encouraged to be metacognitive throughout this process, able to clearly identify their own strengths and weakness.
In Chapter One, teachers are presented with an array of graphic organizers, straightforward directions, simple formats, and adaptations of ten concrete ways to communicate student learning. Work Samples, Portfolio Afternoons, Subject Stations, Personal Newsletters, and Criteria With Evidence, are just a few delightful examples of effective ideas that could comfortably find their way into a teacher's assessment repertoire. Black line masters of these and other "conversations about learning" appear in the Appendix.
In Chapter Two, the authors outline how students may review their learning during a term in one of three types of conferencing. The first involves parents and teachers taking an active role with the students at the end of a specific reporting period. Student performance and expectations, as well as procedures are clearly identified, and require preparation and participation by all three parties. The second kind of conference involves students with special needs who have Individual Education Plans (IPP's in Alberta); this approach is likely very familiar to resource facilitators and their teacher teams. A student-teacher conference is the third type, and it takes place during a reporting term; it requires students to demonstrate their learning of specific outcomes. Preparation for this conference involves setting goals and identifying specific evidence of achievement. These conferences all take place on an individual basis.
Setting up conferences with these structures and this level of active involvement would increase the likelihood of parents participating. However, teacher participation in secondary schools may pose a concern. Because they know that time to conference with a large number of individual students is problematic and challenging, the authors suggest in the final chapter, that a teacher limit the number of students who actually engage in this process. They suggest selecting three to four special students in each class, or perhaps choosing thirty from a group of hundred students, or even choosing parents who would benefit (along with their children of course). Their best advice is to start small - select and refine one idea in the book and team up with a colleague who shares the same enthusiastic approach to student-centred education.
A final thought. If reality is shaped by the way we use language, then what would happen if educators systematically substituted the word "conference" for "interview" as in Parent-Teacher __ ? Would this then enable us to more easily shift our beliefs and practice about how we communicate (rather than present) the way the student is learning to parents? One can't help but wonder.
Monique Gibeau
Secondary Language Arts Consultant
Edmonton Catholic Schools
