Assessment for Learning Project

Introduction Webinar

November 12, 2015

Who we are

Initiative Partners:

Center for Innovation in Education

Next Generation Learning Challenges

Design Partner: 2Revolutions

Funding Partners:

William & Flora Hewlett Foundation

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

The Need

1) Traditional summative assessments measure only a small percentage of what matters most

2) Assessment is too often isolated from instruction and conflated with accountability

3) Educators have not been prepared and empowered to determine the most appropriate roles for assessment that support learning

Goal One

Advance our understanding of assessment’s essential roles in the

learning process, as learning models become more personalized, less cohort-restricted, more competency-based and

student-centered.

Goal One Funding Priorities

• The design and implementation of models of on-going formative assessment and feedback that improve learning, deepen student agency, and increase college and career readiness

• Demonstrations that essential intra- and interpersonal skills and dispositions can be taught, learned, and assessed as a natural and necessary part of a child’s experience in public education

Goal Two

Help to inform and develop crucial enablers such as a) models of assessment

and accountability system design, b) models of educator capacity building,

and/or c) use of technology tools, all to advance Goal One.

Goal Two Funding Priorities

• The development of models that build educator capacityto gather, interpret, and apply professional judgment of student learning based on multiple and varied forms of evidence across a wide range of student competencies

• The design and exploration of systems of aligned assessment and accountability policies that embrace and enable richer/deeper success definitions for students and multiple, varied forms of measurement of student progress towards those definitions

• The use of technology tools within systems of assessment to enable educators using formative assessment and related data to better inform instruction and a student-centered learning experience

Why a “Request for Learning?”

• Promote and model a culture of continuous learning

• A flexible structure that allows a personalized experience for grantees and latitude over project length and grant/budget request

• Opportunities for additional investment in grantees demonstrating learning and innovation that can inform their own work and that of others

Design principles

• Grounded in the concepts of personalized learning and deeper learning, with reference to building student agency in assessment as appropriate

• Focused on formative assessment in ways that build from a foundation of prior learning

• Reflective of a strong vision of instruction with clarity about how strategies and systems of assessments support better instructional practice

Design principles

• User-centric and problem-specific, illustrating good perspective on the relationship of the problem to the system within which it operates

• Designed to be transformational versus incremental with the potential to be scalable and contribute to the broader learning around innovative systems of assessment

Is this a fit for you?

• Public school, CMO, LEA, SEA, or non-profit partnering directly with schools

• Demonstrated commitment to assessment FOR learning

• Readiness to design, test, study, refine innovations in practice

• Eagerness to learn and grow, not simply scale current practice

• Keen awareness of systems-level implications for impact

• Passionate to participate in learning community

• A vision with the potential to transform rather than incrementally improve assessment for learning

Supports

Learning Resources

Communication

Community of Practice

Talent & Technical Support

Potential for Additional Funding

Expectations

Participate in community of practice.

Attend all ALP convenings in person.

Openly share all tools and learning.

Respond to formative feedback.

Share learning through blogs, interim reports.

Supports, Expectations

Grant specifics

• 12-15 grants, duration of 6-24 months

• Initial awards of $50,000 - $225,000

• Additional technical support from pool of national TA providers

• Potential for follow-on grants

Criteria for review

Ideas: Innovative idea(s) that address core challenges in assessment for learning, aligned to our funding priorities

Learning: A clearly defined problem, a testable hypothesis, a plan for testing the hypothesis and communicating what you’ve learned

Impact: The potential to further understanding and advance practice at multiple levels of the system, directly addressing the funding priorities

Readiness: The right team, with the dispositions of learners and innovators, that can already demonstrate a level of knowledge and/or skill, and is well-positioned to propel learning forward

(Please review pages 10-11 of RFL for detailed criteria)

How to submit

Click on at: http://nextgenlearning.org/AssessmentForLearningProject

Narrative (5-pages, Word doc)• Address criteria on pages 10-11 of RFL

• Be explicit about how the project will address the funding priorities

• Remember to state timeframe

An artifact of your choosing• e.g. slides, short video, illustrative graphic, sample of current work

• Should demonstrate your vision, plan, and/or capacity

• Can draw from existing work or be created for this application

A budget (Spreadsheet in .xlsx or .pdf)• 6-24 Months, beginning in Jan 2016

• Income by source, expenses by category

• Budget narrative of <1 page, can be attached to full narrative

Before you apply

Visit: http://nextgenlearning.org/AssessmentForLearningProject

Closely review: RFL, Supporting Materials, Sample Grant Agreement, Conflict of Interest & IP Policies.

Continually check: FAQs on ALP site.

Timeline

Q&Ahttp://nextgenlearning.org/AssessmentForLearningProject

NGLC Program Officer: tsiddall@educause.edu