ETS Canada - Educational Testing Serivce Canada, Inc.
Assessment for Learning Newsletter, December 2008 www.etscanada.ca
Rick Stiggins calls for Balanced Assessment Systems

ETS assessment for learning founder Rick Stiggins has issued a manifesto calling for the development of Balanced Assessment Systems:
 
We have reached a tipping point in the evolution of our schools when we must fundamentally re-evaluate, redefine, and redesign assessment's role in the development of effective schools. The work to be done is so crucial as to require urgent pedagogical, social, and political action.

This manifesto requires an immediate response for two reasons. First, society has changed the mission of its schools, requiring that assessment serve in important new ways that are fundamentally different from the past. Second, educators have been guided by a set of beliefs about what role assessment ought to play in schools - beliefs that have been so dominant that they have been unable to see and understand, let alone implement, new breakthroughs in our understanding of how to use assessment to promote student success.

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Attend free webinar with Rick Stiggins
 
ETS Assessment Training Institute's Rick Stiggins will present a webinar for Canadian educators on January 26, 2009 at 1:30 pm Eastern time. The topic: "What makes an assessment really formative?" There is no cost to attend the one-hour webinar.   

Email us to register

Enhance student writing skills with Criterion


Criterion is an online writing evaluation service that supports assessment for learning in the classroom. This exciting program empowers grade 4-12 students to become actively engaged in improving their writing skills, through strategic interaction with their teachers.
 
Try it out! Receive a 3-month Criterion subscription for only $5 per student.
 
Click on the link below to learn more. 
 
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If you have questions, please contact Bill Allan. He can be reached at 416-551-5337 or at:

allan@etscanada.ca
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