The Mason City School District understands the value of continued learning as they begin their second year commitment to Assessment for Learning. Dr. Kathryn Schladweiler, Executive Director of Teaching and Learning, shares that the district leadership team put together a plan of sustained commitment to assessment. Using a two-prong approach, they developed a model for District Professional Development to be supported by Building- Level Professional Development, which is held each Tuesday morning.

The District spent Year One developing the foundation and purpose of the work. Dr. Schladweiler says the success of the work depends upon "taking the time to develop a foundation of understanding." This required a year-long study of the research and concepts supporting assessment in the classroom.  

"Once the foundation is set, educators can go deeper in their understanding and support the implementation of the work," which Dr. Schladweiler labels as the priority for Year Two. The District is bringing in Dave Nagle from Leadership and Learning to work with a team of 64 leaders to deliver the learning in buildings.  Nagle will visit the District six times during the 2011-12 school year and observe schools/classrooms to provide feedback on the implementation process and help the team make adjustments along the way. Year Three will be a continuation of reviewing assessment results and refining the PLC model to meet the needs of the District.

Mason City is certainly a "School on the Move" with a commitment to sustained professional development!

Iowa ASCD would love to hear about your "school on the move." Please contact any board member (access them at the right) or the executive director, Lou Howell. We all want to learn from each other to assure the success of the kids in Iowa!

We all know that everything surrounding the Iowa Core emphasizes the learning of our students.  It is about the alignment of the intended curriculum (curriculum), to the enacted curriculum (instruction) and the assessed curriculum (assessment).  It is more than making sure that we have the Common Core and Iowa Core integrated into our curriculum; it is how we are teaching it through the Characteristics of Effective Instruction-student centered classrooms, teaching for learner differences, assessment for learning, rigorous and relevant curriculum, and teaching for understanding.  It is about motivating students to want to learn and setting a purpose for their learning.

Project-Based Learning is a vehicle that encourages students to partake in an authentic task, taking on an authentic role, and sharing their learning with an authentic audience.  To see a video clip on what a Project-Based Learning task looks like in the classroom,  check out this video tape on Edutopia. (http://www.edutopia.org/maine-project-learning-overview-short-video)

To learn how to develop Problem-Based Learning curriculum, Intel� Teach Elements has free on-line professional development courses that will assist you in constructing rigorous curriculum.  In addition,   Intel� Education provides free, easily integrated tools and resources that can help you with your student-centered classroom. (http://www.intel.com/education/teachers)

Robyn Jackson, author of Never Work Harder Than Your Students and Other Principles of Great Teaching, shares in this video clip, the six principles on which master teachers focus.

You can also view the archived webinar she shared on May 12 for ASCD - How to Plan Rigorous Instruction.  In this webinar, Robyn R. Jackson explains what rigorous instruction is, the four stages of rigorous instruction, how to move students successfully through each of the stages, and how to build struggling students' capacity for rigorous learning over time.

Authentic assessments require the transfer of knowledge and skills into real-world situations to both measure and motivate student learning. When students are bored with the work they are asked to do, they superficially read texts, casually execute procedures, and cursorily explain their thinking. If students do not experience flow and do not regularly work in the zone of proximal development, they become acculturated to boredom and overwhelmed by the endless litany of discrete assignments. This detachment makes it increasingly difficult for students to retain learning after the lesson, unit, or year is over, and harder for teachers to improve student performance.

How do we meaningfully build these assessments into the curriculum, mindful of the emphasis on Common Core and the current overloading of the curriculum? How do we evaluate them, mindful of the emphasis on 21st century skills and integration of technology?   

This webinar will explore the key tenets of authentic assessments and rubric design that will be paired with models developed at the local and state levels. In addition, there will be a set of "how to" recommendations as well as identification of possible misconceptions or missteps to avoid. This work inspires teachers and students alike because they see the application of learning, the need for collaboration, and the power of revision to complete a quality product.

Register now for webinar on Tuesday, September 13, 2011, 2:00 - 3:00 P.M.

Michael Fullan, international leader on educational change, shares in his latest article, "Learning Is the Work" - that "Learning on the job, day after day, is the work."  Fullan's colleague, Richard Elmore, nailed the problem of suprficial school reform when he noted that "improvement is more a function of learning to do the right thing in the setting in which you work."  He elaborates, "The problem [is that] there is almost no opportunity for teachers to engage in continuous and substantial learning about their practice . . . observing and being observed by their colleagues in their own classrooms and classrooms of other teachers in schools confronting similar problems of practice."

In this article, Fullan examines the nature of collaborative work, the results it gets, and what the implications are for the future in building individual and especially collective capacity to improve instruction linked to students and their achievement.

This work, along with that addressed by Fullan in "Choosing the Wrong Drivers for Whole System Reform," is driven by the moral imperative of raising the bar and closing the gap for all students and, according to Fullan, "doing so for the whole system - not just for some schools, but for all students; not just for some districts but all districts; and not just at one level but at all levels.  We call this 'whole system reform.'"