#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 24 to 26, 2002
8th Annual Fall Conference
Assessment: Bridging the Gap
Fantasyland Hotel, Edmonton

2001 - 2002 Executive
Darlene Montgomery, Chair
Jacqueline Skytt, Sec. Treasurer
Danny Kinal
Ann 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 REPRESENTATIVE

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
- Manny Ferreirinha
Calgary School District No. 19
- Darlene Montgomery
Canadian Rockies Reg. Division No. 12
- Brian Callaghan
Chinook's Edge School Division No. 73
- Jim Barritt
East Central Catholic SSRD No. 16
- Valerie Burghardt
Edmonton Catholic School District No. 40
- 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 Vermillion 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
- Wes Oginski
Greater St. Albert Catholic Reg. Div. No. 29
- Maureen Pawliuk
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
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
- Robin Webster
Peace Wapiti School Board No. 33
- Paul Cincurak
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. Paul Education Regional Div. No. 1
- Lorraine Tchir
St. Thomas Aquinas R.C.S. Reg. Div. No. 38
- Metro Hucaluk
Sturgeon School Division No. 24
- Darryl Reimche
Wetaskiwin Reg. Division No. 11
- Randy Risto
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 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 40 jurisdictions representing approximately 80% of the students in Alberta.

What's Our Purpose?

Ken O'Connor, a recent presenter at assessment workshops throughout North America, including the most recent Greater Edmonton Teachers' Convention and the AAC Fall Conference in 2000, writes an interesting "Preface" to his book entitled "How to Grade For Learning" [1999]:

"In May 1990, I had the good fortune to attend a train-the-trainer professional workshop given by Rick Stiggins in Toronto. This sparked in me a general interest in assessment and evaluation, but the part of this workshop that really 'turned me on' was the part on grading. Since then, I read everything that I could find about grading. I also watched the passage of my own children through the school system. Each of these influences convinced me that what is needed is a practical set of grading guidelines that support learning and that teachers could apply at the classroom level, that is, in their grade books and computer grading programs."

A valued colleague of mine, and representative of the Edmonton Catholic Schools to AAC, Monique Gibeau, attended the recent O'Connor sessions and shared the following valuable insights with me. Ken O'Connor challenges all teachers to critically examine their own practices. We are also challenged to operationally define critical terms such as "mark-marking" and "grade(s)", including the purposes for "grading". If we adhere to the thought that learning is not linear, but occurs at an uneven pace, then some of our traditional assessment practices must be challenged. Grading practices must go beyond crunching numbers into grades. O'Connor's works focus on practical guides for teachers on "how to grade for learning".

O'Connor outlines "Assessment for Learning Top Ten 'Be's". Without the benefit of any further explanation, take a moment to personally reflect on each of the following:

# 1 Be a proud professional	# 2 Be a quality assessor
# 3 Be clear about purpose	# 4 Be fair
# 5 Be a planner	# 6 Be student-centered
# 7 Be subjective- and don't apologize for it	# 8 Be clear about motivation
# 9 Be a clear communicator	#10 Be a reflective practitioner

Which of these is part of what you "are" at the present time? Which of these do you need to acquire or further enhance?
Do you feel that you can make a difference in improving the learning process? If you don't, you probably won't.
Are you assessment literate? If not, what action are you taking to becoming literate.
Are you involved in ongoing professional dialogue? Do you collaborate through the processes of reflect, discuss, and revise?

The Association For Supervision and Curriculum Development [ASCD] "Curriculum Update, Spring 2002" features Ken O'Connor in the lead article "Assessing Assessment" and is well worth the read. An assessment story is shared and reference is made to his latest book "How to Grade for Learning: Linking Grades to Standards". The practical aspects of the work of O'Connor are drawing rave reviews by educators in North America.

If you haven't had the opportunity to review O'Connor's work, do yourself a professional favor, and access some of his work. Look for Ken O'Connor on the conference scene.... who knows, ten years from now you may be writing the preface to your own book..." During the Fall of 2002, I had the good fortune to attend a session by..."

Danny Kinal , Edmonton Catholic Schools

New Members
AAC is pleased to announce Lloydminster Public School Division No. 1753 has joined the consortium. Our projected membership now stands at 42!

2002 Fall Conference - October 24th to 26th - Edmonton
This year's conference theme is "Assessment: Bridging the Gap". The conference will be held at The Fantasyland Hotel in Edmonton featuring keynotes Rick Stiggins (teacher, author of numerous books and articles on classroom assessment, and founder of the Assessment Training Institute, Portland,) and Anne Davies (teacher, Canadian author of resources in effective teaching and assessment practices, consultant, and university speaker).

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.

Here is a preview of several session and workshop topics:

• Looking at Student Writing
• Innovative and Creative Student Self-assessments, Goal Setting and Parent Responses
• Principals and Staff Working to Enhance the Teaching-learning Process
• Performance Assessment for Beginning Teachers
• Bringing Portfolios to Life: A Unique Partnership
• Assessing Early Literacy Using Running Records
• Building Rubrics with Young Learners
• Grading and Physical Education - Aligning with the ABCD's
• Student Assessment: The Engine that Drives Instruction
• Assessment in Music Education

To register use the conference Program Guide (brochure) or go to the AAC web site for on-line registration. Register early to avoid disappointment!

NEW for 2002!

What Every Educational Leader Needs to Know About Classroom Assessment
When it comes to classroom assessment, informed educational leaders have a whole new set of questions. They are asking,

• What does current research about classroom assessment say?
• What is evidence of learning?
• How can we use samples of student work to further adult learning?
• How do we work together with colleagues to define standards of quality for student work?
• How can we use classroom assessment to support educators as learners?
• How can we learn from large-scale assessments so they better support learning?
• How can we provide opportunities for educators and parents to learn more about assessment when there is no time and no budget?

During this full-day intensive session Dr. Anne Davies will engage participants in considering the latest information concerning classroom assessment research, consider ways of thinking about evidence of learning, ideas for using samples of student work to support adult learning and coming to common understandings of quality. Some examples of ways districts and schools have successfully differentiated adult learning about classroom assessment will be provided.

Summer Development Workshop 2002

Workshop activities will include:

• a half day workshop on Monday afternoon on how to design authentic performance assessments and rubrics. This will set the direction and standard for developmental work during the week Participants should be familiar with the contents of the AAC resource, How to Develop and Use Performance Assessments in the Classroom.
• projects* to
  • develop performance assessments for new secondary programs (both English and French) including Science, Mathematics and Language Arts
  • develop performance assessments for division 2 elementary programs (both English and French) including Language Arts, Mathematics, Fine Arts and Science
  • review and revise AAC assessment materials for elementary Science
  • compose a new AAC professional resource on how and why to conduct formative assessments in the classroom (protocols for looking at student work, strategies for valid and reliable student self-assessment and how to provide meaningful feedback to students to help them in continuing to grow) Nominations from jurisdiction representatives will be invited for this project during March - writers will begin their research and writing as a team in the spring)
  * subject area projects will proceed based on sufficient numbers of both experienced and novice performance assessment developers. Assessment tasks will be ready for field-testing and collecting samples of student work during 2002-2003 (see the RFT incentive program)

Request for Tools (RFT)

Teachers will receive a non-taxable benefit for

• creating and submitting a performance assessment using the tools provided on the AAC web site. A professional development voucher of $300 will be awarded for each approved performance assessment.
• reviewing and refining performance assessments developed by other teachers prior to the field testing. A voucher of $75 will be awarded.
• field testing a performance assessment that have already been developed, collecting and submitting samples of student work to AAC (with appropriate copyright clearance) in each of the four levels performance, and making suggestions for further enhancement of the performance assessment. A $125 professional development voucher will be awarded.

Details are found here Request for Tools (RFT)

It is never too late to be what you might have been. George Eliot

BOOK REVIEW

Guskey and Bailey guide readers through critical assessment questions facing educators today. Most educators will not emerge unscathed. Teachers are helped to have the fortitude to examine their assessment practices and education administrators need to examine assessment policies. This book enables both groups to do so.

The authors have provided a "framework from which to view the complex issues related to this process", and, with research and reason, challenge common assessment practices and suggest that compelling developments in education make immediate implementation of the extensive knowledge base on grading and reporting imperative. Although the issues are complex, essential issues are clarified enabling educators to begin to implement recommended changes. Educators will find suggestions for improving student assessment that can be implemented one step at a time.

Some of our most accepted beliefs and practices are challenged and recommendations offered that would more accurately report student learning. Two of the issues are summarized.

• Issue: Determining the percentage grade by averaging is the most prevalent process to determine grades at the secondary level in Canada. Teachers faced with a typical set of grades (not their own) view the practice and resulting grades as unfair. Averaging marks often skews grades to the point of being invalid indicators of student understandings, especially if zeros are included in the averages. Yet educators persist in the use of averaging and zeros.
  Recommendations: " We encourage educators… to make thoughtful use of… technology." Computers "cannot, however, determine fair and appropriate grades." Technology " does not lessen the obligation of educators to ensure that the marks or grades they assign are accurate, honest, and fair summaries of the quality of students' performance." "The use of an I for "incomplete" is an alternative to assigning zeros"·
• Issue: The use of one symbol, percentage or letter, to indicate the depth of student understanding of a curriculum is still a common practice. "Many varied sources of information must be combined into that single symbol or category … this makes the grade a hodgepodge of information that is impossible to interpret" by students, parents, other teachers or institutions. Yet educators persist in the use of single symbol grades.
  Recommendations: "… use multiple grades, each one representing a different aspect of the subject area or course, or a different dimension of students' performance." or "When grading policies stipulate that only a single grade can be reported, we recommend that the performance criteria or learning standards used to determine the grade be described in detail and clearly articulated to parents and to students."

The authors convincingly advocate changes in assessment and grading practices providing specific recommendations for better practices. In part, they conclude that, "Until we precisely identify what students are expected to learn, articulate the criteria by which their learning will be judged, and clearly communicate these criteria to students, grading will remain an arbitrary and highly subjective process that victimizes more students than it helps. … To grow as a profession and to do the best we can for our students, we must view these practices more thoughtfully and more critically. We also must use the knowledge base we have on grading and reporting to build better and more effective reporting systems."

Developing Grading and Reporting Systems for Student Learning should be on the must read list for all educators and teacher training programs. Educators must eagerly examine current research and develop better practices before the general public determines the limits of our systems and calls for an accounting. I, for one, will begin immediately, one step at a time, to revamp my practices.