| AAC | COMMUNIQUE |
| Spring 2000 |
|
AAC OFFICE
#500, 11010-142 Street IMPORTANT DATES July 31 - Aug 3/2000
October 26 - 28, 2000
Aspen View Reg. Division. No. 19
AAC is a non-profit partnership of jurisdictions & educational organizations, formed to enhance the quality of student assessment in the classroom. Our membership consists of 33 jurisdictions. We represent approximately 70% of the students in Alberta.
Check new assessment links on the AAC website (www.aac.ab.ca). As you encounter practical links for classroom use and teacher professional development, pass them along to be shared with others. "We must constantly remind ourselves that the ultimate purpose of evaluation is to enable students to evaluate themselves." Arthur L. Costa
|
MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR
AISI: AN OPPORTUNITY TO FOCUS ON CLASSROOM ASSESSMENTThe Alberta Initiative for School Improvement (AISI) is providing a welcome source of supplementary funding to school jurisdictions throughout the province. An important goal of the initiative is to encourage innovations in practice that have a strong potential, based on current research, to improve student achievement. This incentive provides a golden opportunity for school jurisdictions to do some very focused work with teachers to enhance the quality of classroom-based assessment in their schools. There is a significant body of research findings to substantiate an emphasis on assessment in AISI projects. Anne Davies has reviewed and summarized a number of studies that demonstrate the impact of high quality classroom assessment on student achievement:
Because the research literature provides considerable support for classroom-based assessment, we urge members of the Alberta Assessment Consortium to take advantage of the opportunity provided by the AISI funding to give special emphasis to professional development initiatives that will enable teachers to use formative and performance assessment methods with increased confidence and effectiveness in their classrooms. The assessment tools and supporting frameworks developed collaboratively by AAC members provide readily available assessment. Alberta Learning requires school jurisdictions to provide evidence of the impact that AISI projects have had on student achievement. It is important that the measures we select for accountability purposes reflect accurately and comprehensively the learning outcomes in the Alberta Program of Studies. Tests produced commercially for use throughout Canada and North America are unlikely to meet this requirement. On the other hand, the template used by the AAC to develop assessment tools for teachers is based solidly in the general and specific outcomes prescribed for Alberta students. Therefore, the measures required to demonstrate student achievement of these outcomes are built into the rubrics designed for each assessment tool The research support, the resources for staff development and the accountability measures are there for the taking. We hope you will seize this opportunity to advance our collective endeavor to improve student assessment in Alberta schools.
Dr. Darlene Montgomery, Chair
About Our ExecutiveOur Executive Committee meets at least four times each year to review activities, determine priorities and set or amend policies. In addition to being the AAC representatives for their district, they also hold the following positions:
2000 Fall Conference - October 26th to 28th in EdmontonThis year's conference will be held at the Fantasyland Hotel (West Edmonton Mall) in Edmonton, and features keynotes Ken O'Connor, (author of "The Mindful School: How to Grade for Learning"), and Jay McTighe (co-author of "Understanding By Design"). The theme is "Assessment: Bringing Learning to Life". Brochures and posters providing information about breakout sessions and the 34 presentations have been sent to jurisdictions in early May. Check our website for the latest available information.
Summer 2000 Assessment Development - July 31st - Aug 3rdEach summer AAC brings together teachers from all member jurisdictions across Alberta to provide them with an opportunity to learn about developing everyday assessment tools for the classroom. These new skills are then immediately put to use in creating new material to add to our ever-growing bank of assessment tools (more than 275 at present). This year's four day summer workshop will be held in Edmonton at W.P. Wagner School, Edmonton. Interested teachers from AAC jurisdictions are invited to complete and submit an application form available at your school or on the AAC website. The deadline for submissions is Friday, June 2, 2000. This year we will also be composing the first in a series of AAC How To resources- practical guides for the busy teacher. These will complement the two well-respected AAC resources, A Framework for Student Assessment (1997) and A Framework for Communicating Student Learning (1999). The new professional resources will:
New Assessment MaterialThirty-seven (37) new performance assessments with many samples of student work are on the AAC website and available to AAC members in print. Member jurisdiction representatives will receive print copies that may be duplicated for teacher use. This addition of more than 500 pages of assessment materials includes both public domain tools (under our contracts with Alberta Learning - Health and Life Skills [1-9] and the Alberta Regional Professional Development Consortia- Mathematics 9 and 10). Look for the new resources in the following subject areas:
* Currently, available at the Calgary Regional Consortium-Consortia Math web site- www.rockyview.ab.ca/crc/consortiamath-temp.html Important Notice: Publication of Health and Life Skills [1-9] materials will be delayed until Alberta Learning finalizes learner outcomes. If necessary, these will become back ordered items (see 2000 Product Order Form). To make the assessment material easily available for all member jurisdiction teachers, materials can be accessed as follows:
|