1. Belvidere High School Assessment Plan

2. Our Starting Point: Assessments  Assessments Given Building Wide  MAP Testing (English, Math, Reading 3 times a year)  PLAN, EXPLORE, ACT  Assessments Given By Specific Departments  Benchmark tests given each quarter (English and Math)  Common Formative and Summative Assessments (implemented in various departments; encouraged for all)  “Common” Final Exams  Common learning targets exist for most subjects

3. Our Starting Point: Grading and Alignment  Grading  Proficiency Scales written and being used in many departments  Strongly encouraged to grade on proficiency and allow for re-assessment  Alignment  Departments currently in the process of aligning to the Common Core

4. Our Starting Point: Staff Development and Time  Staff Development  SIP Days Currently run by the Marzano Group with focus on assessment and instruction  Time  PLC time provided once a month  Department Collaboration every month

5. The Ultimate Goal  The primary purpose of assessment should be to make informed, data-driven decisions both in the classroom and at the building level  Provide meaningful data to teachers, students, parents and the community regarding student achievement  Improve classroom instruction, student-learning and, through these, standardized test performance

6. Preparing the Staff

7. Is the Staff Open to Change? Teachers are receptive to improving their assessment competence as needed There is disinterest or resistance among teachers to improving assessment practices

8. Convince Staff of Need for Change (Changing Building Culture)  No plan will be successful without the support of our staff  Need to convince that change is needed and worthwhile  Use evidence and data (make this a focus of faculty meetings)  Recruit highly respected and motivated teacher leaders to lead the way with building assessments and data analysis; use these teachers as initial implementers (and make them department leaders)  Increase department collaboration time, and appoint department leaders to ensure meeting agendas are carried out  Understand this is a long process (will be the longest and most difficult part of the plan; will need to constantly be worked towards)  Need to be uncomfortable until we are comfortable!

9. Learning Targets: Group Goal or Individual Task? Learning Targets Have Been Clarified as Grade-Level Curriculum in Every Subject and Every Grade Each Teacher Develops His/Her Own Learning Targets

10. The Need for Increased Department Meetings/Common Prep Time  The only way to improve school culture and ensure standard-aligned learning targets  Can’t make valid inferences from assessment (or even know what we are measuring) until everybody is working together  Must ensure that collaboration is the norm and not the exception  Increase department collaboration time (weekly)  This can be accomplished through establishment of common prep periods and use of subs in the short term  Long term movement to weekly late start/early dismissal days

11. Rethinking Staff Development Staff Training and Support in Curriculum Implementation is Ongoing in All Subjects There Is Little Inservice Training for Staff on Teaching to the Standards

12. Restructuring our Staff Development  Data shows staff does not think our current plan is effective  Need to ensure that staff training is a reflection of current level of implementation  Movement towards “train-the-trainer” approach and authentic training experiences  Assign “Task-Leaders” for different aspects of assessment building/data interpretation in each assignment to undergo initial training  Use working and department collaboration time to facilitate authentic training while working  Encourage teacher’s/departments who are “ahead” to move forward (do not allow stagnation)

13. Is Our Staff Held Accountable? Teachers Are Held Accountable For Teaching the Adopted Curriculum/Learning Targets There Is No Monitoring of What is Taught

14. Accountability  Need to ensure changes are actually occurring  Increase amount of time administration spends in classroom  Constant conversations between staff members and administrators regarding assessment practices being used in the classroom  Administrators often looking at departmental data with teachers during department collaboration time  Administrator presence during department collaboration (but not constant, and not running the meeting  Implementation of department/teacher leaders as a first checkpoint  Teacher visits to other classrooms to increase accountability to other teachers as well as administration (Also achieved through frequent conversations)

15. Is the Staff Familiar With Our Plan? A Curriculum Implementation Plan Has Been Written Describing Roles and Responsibilities That Ensures Standards- Based Instruction as Achieved Through the Use of Learning Targets There Is Not a Clear Plan to Ensure Standards-Based Instruction

16. Communicating Our Plan  All staff members should have a clear understanding of the steps we are taking and our overall vision before the plan is implemented  Plan needs to be addressed during faculty meetings, and progress towards full implementation needs to be shared

17. Implementing the Plan

18. Learning Targets All Teachers Acknowledge the Need to Have Clearly Identified Learning Targets Learning Targets are Considered Unnecessary and Unobtainable

19. Learning Targets Learning Targets are Aligned to State Standards or Common Core Standards Learning Targets Have Not Been Aligned to State Standards or Common Core Standards

20. Phase One: Completion of Aligned Learning Targets  100% completion of ongoing work with targets (and review of completed targets to ensure alignment)  Initial focus of department collaboration meetings  Provide subs for departments who are farther away from completion  All targets turned in after they are reviewed by department for review by administration  Aligned targets are the initial step towards making valid inferences from assessments

21. Are Our Learning Targets Public Information? Learning Targets Are Published for All to See, Reviewed Regularly and Revised as Needed Learning Targets are Not Communicated to All Stakeholders, are Not Reviewed, and Not Revised as Needed

22. Phase Two: Publish Learning Targets and Leave Them Open to Review  All stakeholders in a district have the right to understand and give feedback pertaining to what students are learning  Ensures schools can be evaluated properly by teachers, students, parents and the public  Provides a layer of accountability

23. Phase Three: Writing Assessments  Use task leaders and department leaders to assist members of their departments in the task of assessment writing (this includes all assessments, not just traditional tests)  Experience must be genuine; teachers should be trained to write assessments while writing assessments  Some assessments must be common  Assessments need to be properly constructed to ensure reliability and validity of inferences made from data

24. Phase Four: Reviewing Assessments and Targets  Cannot simply ask teachers to review assessments and targets without direction or guidance  Train department leaders in the process of data review  Department/Task leader should walk department members through the steps of assessment and target review when this process first begins (training while doing)  In beginning, needs to be agenda item on department collaboration days

25. Formative Assessment and Data Assessment Is Systematically Woven Into Instruction Using Student Involvement and is Used Formatively to Drive Instruction It Is Not Clear How Assessment Can Be Good Teaching

26. Formative Assessment and Data There Is Not a Clear Sense in the Ways Data Can and Cannot Be Used from Various Assessments

27. Phase Five: Using Formative Assessment/Analyzing Data to Drive Instruction  As an administrative team, need to review assessments to ensure they are being used for the proper purpose  Need to communicate the proper purpose for each assessment given, and ensure that the assessment is only being used for that purpose  This may require constructing new assessments

28. Phase Five: Using Formative Assessment/Analyzing Data to Drive Instruction  Begins with presentations of data and research supporting the use of formative assessment in classrooms  Similar to assessment/target review process (lead by task leader who walks teachers through data analysis process)  Identify teachers who are successfully using formative assessments to act as task leaders to assist staff members in formative assessment usage in the classroom

29. Grading There is Consistency is Achievement Expectations Among Teachers Each Teacher Has Unique Teacher Expectations

30. Phase Six: Move To Standards Based Grading  Grades should mean the same thing regardless of teacher  Move towards standards based grading will ensure consistency among staff, and will allow for valid inferences from grades  Establish grading committee to discuss the best way to move towards standards based grading under our current system  Begin by piloting a few teacher’s ideas

31. In Conclusion: The Ultimate Goal  The primary purpose of assessment should be to make informed, data-driven decisions both in the classroom and at the building level  Use of formative assessment, data-driven decisions, improved test construction, well-written and aligned learning targets, valid inferences  Provide meaningful data to teachers, students, parents and the community regarding student achievement  Published targets, reliable assessments, standards- based grading  Improve classroom instruction, student-learning and, through these, standardized test performance