Education Week - October 22, 2014 - Special Report - S23

Taking Stock of Personalized Learning > www.edweek.org/go/personalized
EDUCATION WEEK OCTOBER 22, 2014 | S23
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CONTINUED FROM PAGE S20
transfer of learning by asking them
to show their work, or write a passage,
for instance. To measure true
transfer of learning, tasks must be
"designed to provide students with
opportunities to adapt or apply their
knowledge in new or unique ways,"
said Eric M. Carbaugh, an associate
professor in the department of middle,
secondary, and math education
at James Madison University in Harrisonburg,
Va. "You can't assess true
transfer at all with multiple-choice
questions," he said.
Mr. Carbaugh, who consults with
schools and districts under the auspices
of Alexandria, Va.-based ascd
Professional Learning Services,
said many experts recommend a
simple "3-2-1" exit-card approach to
helping teachers use formative assessments
to gauge student understanding:
"Give me three big ideas
you took away, two questions you
have, and one way you think you
can use it," he said he tells teachers.
That information can go on a
blog, in a journal, or on an index
card. "It's a little messier, from a
teacher's standpoint, but we need
to measure more than whether kids
can get a right or wrong answer," he
said.
Smarter Balanced recently released
its digital library, which features
mathematics and English/
language arts literacy resources to
help teachers with the formativeassessment
process that can take the
form of assignments, classroom discussions,
and other approaches. The
consortium contracted with Amplify,
based in New York City, to build the
interactive online modules, which are
"meant to demonstrate how the formative-assessment
process is used to
implement the intent of the Common
Core State Standards," said Chrys
Mursky, Smarter Balanced's director
of professional learning.
Integrating Response Data
The Northwest Evaluation Association,
which is based in Portland,
Ore. and produces the Measures of
Academic Progress interim assessments
that are adapted to students'
instructional levels, also owns the
Formative Assessment Item Bank
it acquired from the Princeton, N.J.based
Educational Testing Service.
The 81,000-item bank, which is operated
independently of the evaluation
association, is usually licensed
to platforms that can store and build
tests and scan and report on data. It
is also licensed directly to some districts.
Some
companies are also creating
products and services to help educators
use polling software and "clicker"
technology to have students register
responses to formative-assessment
questions. Turning Technologies, a
Youngstown, Ohio-based company, is
one provider that integrates the data
from its response systems with interactive
whiteboards and on mobile devices.
Poll Everywhere is an app that
does the same.
Acuity, the McGraw-Hill Education
CTB Web-based assessment platform,
offers 10- to 20-minute tutorials for
students with embedded assessments
to check students' understanding of
the material they are trying to learn,
and it incorporates an online community
where teachers can share resources
and tests they have created.
Other formative-testing developments
are also worth noting.
For instance, cresst's Ms. Heritage
said a new K-3 formative-assessment
platform in North Carolina that is
under development with a state university,
using Race to the Top and
state funding, looks very promising.
At the click of a button, teachers can
view a progression and learn about
strategies for collecting evidence.
Plus, teachers can capture audio and
video evidence, and add notes, to document
student learning, then review
information that would help teachers
interpret the evidence, she said.
For the Christensen Institute's Ms.
Freeland, the fast growth of blended
learning and an emerging competencybased
education system-similar to
what is in place in New Hampshire-
are harbingers of future formative-assessment
opportunities for schools, and
companies, if it is done well.
"As content becomes more widespread
and commoditized," she said,
"it's going to be all about online assessments
to verify what students know." l
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Education Week - October 22, 2014 - Special Report

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