Wednesday, October 11

Meeting Objectives:

  1. Define and organize FAST SCASS: discuss member expectations and goals, establish core leadership group, and subgroups by area of focus, and develop communications plan.
  2. Develop shared understanding of CCSSO Formative Assessment Initiative, which centers on the Chiefs' strategic aim #1 "to inform teaching and learning for the 21st century."
  3. Work towards a vision of a balanced assessment system and a durable "definition" of high quality formative assessment, relevant at both the classroom and district level.
  4. Specify Concrete Priorities and Action Plans for this year: Explore member state and organizational priorities and needs for integrating formative assessment in standards-based assessment and learning systems in areas such as research, policy, implementation, professional development, and technology (including small group activity) and Recommend overarching scope of work for sustained and coherent efforts across SCASS projects in advancing formative assessment, and specify scope of work for FAST.

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7:00 A.M. REGISTRATION
7:30 A.M. BUFFET BREAKFAST
8:15 A.M. WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS
Speakers: Don Long and Doug Rindone, CCSSO FAST Coordinators

Today is to focus discussion on developing a shared understanding of formative assessment and its role in student learning, good instructional practice, school improvement and strengthening education systems. Tomorrow we will look at practical examples at the classroom and district level. We will then breakout into subgroups by specific areas of focus, and develop an overarching scope of work to recommend for SCASS projects. On Friday we will discuss this scope of work as a whole and discuss next steps.
8:30 A.M. WELCOME TO TEXAS
Speaker: Shirley Neeley, Commissioner of Education, Texas Education Agency
8:45 A.M. WELCOME TO AUSTIN
Speaker: Pat Forgione, Superintendent, Austin Independent School District
9:00 A.M. BALANCED ASSESSMENT SYSTEMS AND STUDENT LEARNING
Speaker: Henry Johnson, Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education, U.S. Department of Education
9:30 A.M. TEACHING AND LEARNING FOR SUCCEEDING IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Speaker: Ken Kay, Partnership for 21st Century Skills
10:15 A.M. BREAK
10:30 A.M. WHAT IS FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT? WHY IS IT IMPORTANT? MOVING FORWARD WITH A CLEAR AND SHARED UNDERSTANDING OF FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT: PANEL DISCUSSION WITH THE CCSSO FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTADVISORY GROUP
Speakers: Jim Popham, moderator, Doug Christensen, Angela Faherty, Stuart Kahl, Sarah McManus, Bob Nielsen, Wendy Roberts, Martha Thurlow, and more!!
12:15 P.M. LUNCH
1:15 P.M. VARIOUS PERSPECTIVES AND APPROACHES TO BALANCED ASSESSMENT SYSTEMS, INCLUDING FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT
Speaker: Stuart Kahl

Industry Perspective: Components of District Assessment Systems – Stuart Kahl, Measured

  1. Classroom Formative Assessments
  2. Local Summative Assessments
  3. Interim, Benchmark, and Other Summative Assessments
2:00 P.M. CONCRETE EXAMPLES OF EFFECTIVE IMPLEMENTATION: WHAT FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT LOOKS LIKE AT CLASSROOM LEVEL AND GOING TO SCALE
Speakers: Joan Gunnerson and Uri Treisman
  1. Proficiency Assessments for Wyoming Students (PAWS) - Joan Gunnerson, Wyoming Department of Education.

    Three attributes of the PAWS tests intended to make these assessments instructionally supportive:
    1. Measurement of only a modest number of extraordinarily significant curricular aims, that is, cognitive skills;
    2. Provision of lucid, teacher-palatable assessment descriptions for all PAWS-assessed curricular aims; and
    3. Reporting of each student’s status with respect to every PAWS-assessed curricular aim.
3:00 BREAK
3:10 P.M. CONCRETE EXAMPLES OF EFFECTIVE IMPLEMENTATION: WHAT FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT LOOKS LIKE AT CLASSROOM LEVEL AND GOING TO SCALE (CONTINUED)
Speakers: Joan Gunnerson and Uri Treisman
  1. Practitioner-Based Research Perspective: The appropriate role of assessment in informing good instructional practice - Uri Treisman, Charles A. Dana Center, University of Texas at Austin

    Concrete examples of effective implementation include:
    1. Going to scale: the Silicon Valley Math Initiative (which includes 35 school districts)
    2. A public-private initiative: technology-mediated formative assessment supports for high school mathematics (Starting fall of 2006, 5000 teachers and 400,000 of their mostly high poverty students will use this new system.)
4:00 P.M. CONCRETE EXAMPLES OF EFFECTIVE IMPLEMENTATION: WHAT FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT LOOKS LIKE AT DISTRICT LEVEL
Speakers: Maria Whitsett and Viviana Lopez, Austin Independent School District
5:00 P.M. ADJOURN
6:30 P.M. DOWNTOWN AUSTIN "PEEL OFF" - A SCASS TRADITION!