#500, 11010-142 Street
Edmonton, AB T5N 2R1
Phone: (780) 447-9420
Fax: (780) 447-2531
E-Mail: aac@compusmart.ab.ca
Web site: www.aac.ab.ca

IMPORTANT DATES

October 23 to 25, 2003
9th Annual Fall Conference
Assessment: Drawing out the Possibilities
The Coast Plaza Hotel, Calgary

2002 - 2003 Executive
Darlene Montgomery, Chair
Jacqueline Skytt, Sec. Treasurer
Monique Gibeau
Anne Mulgrew
Cully Poston
Tom Sperling

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 REPRESENTATIVES

Alberta Teachers' Association
- Jacqueline Skytt
Aspen View Reg. Division. No. 19
- Brian Bittorf
Battle River Reg. Division No. 31
- Stephen Smith
Calgary Roman Catholic Separate School District No. 1
- Michael Ross
Calgary School District No. 19
- Darlene Montgomery
Canadian Rockies Reg. Division No. 12
- Brian Callaghan
Chinook's Edge School Division No. 73
- Deb Thompson
East Central Catholic SSRD No. 16
- Valerie Burghardt
Edmonton Catholic School District No. 7
- Monique Gibeau
Edmonton School District No.7
- Anne Mulgrew
Elk Island Catholic Separate Regional School Division No. 41
- Bob Dulaba
Elk Island Public School Reg. Div. No. 14
- David Harvey
Evergreen Catholic Separate Reg. Division No. 2
- Mal Malowany
Fort McMurray School District No. 2833
- John Doi
Fort Vermillion School District No. 52
- Freddi Bromling
Golden Hills Reg. Div. No. 15
- Ed Holt
Grande Prairie School District No. 2357
- Lorne Radbourne
Grande Prairie Roman Catholic Separate School Division No. 28
- Karl Germann
Grande Yellowhead School Div. No. 35
- Judy Grigat
Greater St. Albert Catholic Reg. Div. No. 29
- Maureen Pawliuk
High Prairie School Division No. 48
- Laura Poloz
Holy Family Catholic Regional School Division No. 37
- Rick Berry
Holy Spirit R.C.S. Reg. Division No. 4
- Cully Poston
Lethbridge School District No. 51
- Wendy Fox
Living Waters Catholic Reg. Division No. 42
- Carol Lemay
Livingstone Range School Division No. 68
- Ellie Elliott
Lloydminster Public School Division No. 1753
- Michael Diachuk
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
- Barb Mulholland
Prairie Land Reg. Div. No. 25
- Christel Smith
Red Deer Catholic Reg. Div. No. 39
- Lynne Paradis
Rocky View School Division No. 41
- Wes Oginsky
St. Albert Protestant School District No. 6
- Lois Gluck
St. Paul Education Regional Div. No. 1
- Lorraine Tchir
St. Thomas Aquinas R.C.S. Reg. Div. No. 38
- Metro Hucaluk
South Slave Divisional Education Council
- Michelle Brown
Sturgeon School Division No. 24
- Darryl Reimche
Wetaskiwin Reg. Division No. 11
- Paul Mason
Wild Rose School Division No. 66
- Tom Sperling
Yellowknife Education District No. 1
- Claudia Parker

What is AAC?

AAC is a not-for-profit, partnership of basic education organizations. It is dedicated to enhancing student achievement through classroom assessment for learning. AAC is a registered charitable organization with membership consisting of 45 jurisdictions representing more than 80% of the students in Alberta.

What's Our Purpose?

I wish to formally thank you and the Alberta Assessment Consortium for the exceedingly valuable and generous contributions you have made to my education as a teacher-in-training over the past year.

Attending the AAC Summer workshop was a privileged learning experience. Although I was the least experienced participant, my contributions were treated respectfully and the atmosphere of collegiality that AAC fosters made me feel like an authentic, though junior, member of the profession.

Entering the teaching profession at this time and place has tenuous prospects. The effort that your organization makes to welcome and nurture those of us who wish to do so, affords us both professional knowledge and moral support. Because of the student discount, I was able to attend last fall's conference and have used my notes and with the conference package in several projects since then. I also use your website extensively as the hotlinks are thoughtfully chosen and updated regularly.

Someone once said that quality is never an accident. It is always the result of focused intention and excellent effort. Thank you so much for a quality experience.

Respectfully,

Colleen Heffernan

cc. Dr. Doherty, Associate Dean, Teacher Education, University of Alberta

Here are several feedback reflections from other workshop participants. These are in response to the question: What would you say to a colleague about the workshop?

• Do it! An exciting and relevant PD experience that can be utilized in the classroom in which we teach.
• I can do this! Try it- what a learning experience!
• That it was the BEST PD experience I have ever had!!
• I would love to come every year.
• I really got an eye-opener about my own classroom assessment strategies.
• A worthwhile way to spend a working week during the holidays.
• Attend! Attend! Attend! You can't help but learn something. The networking is invaluable.
• It is rewarding to have completed a product that may be used by many teachers in the province.
• Excellent opportunity to develop assessment projects and rubrics with 'expert' advice and assistance.

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 23 at 4:00 at the Coast Plaza Hotel in 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.

New Member
AAC is pleased to announce Holy Family Catholic Regional School Division No. 37 has joined the consortium. Our membership stands at 45!

2003 Fall Conference - October 23rd to 25th - Calgary
This year's conference theme is "Assessment: Drawing out the Possibilities". The conference will be held at The Coast Plaza Hotel in Calgary featuring two renowned keynotes. Tom Guskey is Professor of Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation at the University of Kentucky and is known throughout the world for his work in professional development and educational change. Robin Fogarty is known as "the teacher's teacher" focusing on brain compatible classrooms and problem-based learning. Educators come away from her trainings with practical strategies that transfer to the classroom the next day.

The pre-conference Leadership Day on Thursday October 23 at the Coast Plaza Hotel will feature Dr. Guskey. The focus will be on how to foster quality staff and professional development for teachers in the interest of improving student performance and achievement through classroom assessment.

Once again this year's conference will feature a diversity of sessions including in-depth workshops. In addition to breakout sessions, delegates can choose to attend one of three half-day workshops on Saturday morning.

Registration details for both the pre-conference Leadership Day and the conference are being sent to schools through AAC jurisdiction representatives. To register use the conference Program Guide (brochure) or go to the AAC web site for on-line registration. Register early to avoid disappointment!

Assessment Specialist Project

• enlarge the base of assessment expertise and build assessment capacity across the consortium in support of improved student achievement and school improvement by developing a cadre of assessment specialists
• increase local and regional leadership, self-reliance, and advocacy and support of classroom-based assessment for learning.

New Developments- Summer Development Workshop 2003

AAC wants to receive samples of student work for all assessment tasks and make them available for teachers to use to show students different levels of quality. Consider participating in the innovative AAC initiative, Request for Performance Assessment (RPA) - see the AAC link http://www.aac.ab.ca/word/request.html for details.

Assessment materials were developed in the following programs.

• English Language Arts grades 1-12
• French Immersion grades 1-5
• Mathematics grades 4-12
• Science grades 7-12
• Religious Studies grades 1, 2, 9 and 10

Here are more reflections about Summer Workshop 2003:

• I learned so much about teaching as well as assessment. I really enjoyed working with all the 'moving forward' people.
• This is not MORE WORK! But, it is a necessary step in delivering a balanced program.
• You gain a much deeper understanding of assessment for learning and a deeper understanding of the curriculum.
• Hey, have you seen the AAC web site?
• More people need to be aware of this opportunity.
• It's a great way to be energized for the fall!

New Professional Resources and Services

Part 1: Assessment Can Become Effective Instruction
Part 2: Students Have a Role to Play in the Assessment Process
Part 3: Students Have a Role to Play in the Grading Process

Contact ERC for information about this innovative series at 780 492-9972 visit the website at www.quasar.ualberta.ca/erc

Some Like it Hot for the grade 7 Heat and Temperature Unit. AAC and Let's Talk Science Teacher (LTS) Resource Package- AAC and LTS have developed a second practical resource for junior high science that will also be published in time for the conference. Special reduced pricing is available for AAC members.

The Optics package for grade 8 science and the new Some Like it Hot resource are available from LTS. For more information call 1-866-352-3060 or visit the website at www.letstalkscience.uwo.ca.

Little Assessment Humour - No Cow Left Behind

As a principal facing the task of figuring out all the complexities of the No Child Left Behind legislation and its impact on education, I have decided that there is a strong belief that testing students is the answer to bringing about improvements in student performance. Since testing seems to be a cornerstone to improving performance, I don't understand why this principle isn't applied to other businesses that are not performing up to expectations. I was thinking about the problem of falling milk prices and wondering why testing cows wouldn't be effective in bringing up prices since testing students is going to bring up test scores.

The federal government should mandate testing all cows every year starting at age 2. Now, I know that it will take time out of the farmers' necessary work to do this testing every year and that it may be necessary to spend inordinate amounts of money on the testing equipment, but that should not detract us from what must be done. I'm sure there are plenty of statistics to show what good milk producing performance looks like and the characteristics of cows who achieve this level of performance. It should, therefore, be easy to figure out the characteristics necessary to meet this standard.

We will begin our testing by finding out which cows now meet the standard, which almost meet the standard, which meet the standard with honors and which show little evidence of achievement.

Points will be assigned in each category and it will be necessary to achieve a certain average score. If this score is not achieved, the Department of Agriculture will send in experts to give advice for improvement. If improvements do not occur over a couple of years, the state will take over your farm or even force you to sell.

Now, I'm sure farms have a mix of cows in the barn but it is important to remember that every cow can meet the standard. There should be no exceptions and no excuses. I don't want to hear about the cows that just came to the barn from the farm down the road that didn't provide the proper nutrition or a proper living environment.

All cows need to meet the standard. Another key factor will be the placement of a highly qualified farmer in each barn. I know many of you have been farming for many years but it will be necessary for all farmers to become certified. This will mean some more paperwork and testing on your knowledge of cows, but in the end this will lead to the benefit of all.

It will also be necessary to allow barn choice for the cows. If cows are not meeting the standard in certain farms, they will be allowed to go to the barn of their choice. Transportation might become an issue but it is critical that cows be allowed to leave their low-performing barns. This will force low-performing farms to meet the standard or else they will simply go out of business.

Some small farms will probably go out of business as a result of this new legislation. Simply put, the cost per cow is too high. As taxpayers, we cannot be expected to foot the bill to subsidize farms with dairy compacts. Even though no one really knows what the ideal cost is to keep cows content, the Legislature will set a cost per cow. Expenditures too far above this cost will be penalized. Since everyone knows that there are economies of scale, small farms will probably be forced to close and those cows will merge into larger farms.

Some farmers may be upset that I proclaim to know what is best for these cows but I certainly consider myself capable of making these recommendations. I grew up next to a farm and I drink milk. I hope you will consider this advice in the spirit it is given and I hope you will agree that the "no cow left behind" legislation may not be best for a small state like Vermont.

From the Internet

Here now is Colleen Heffernan's (see front page) piggyback poem based on Mary Had a Little Lamb!

Mary had a failing cow
It flunked the high stakes test
And when it flunked the second time,
She moved it to a nest.