Leadership Series

2009-2010
Focus on Learning:
assessment, grading, and response to instruction

Focus on Learning: Assessment, Grading, and Response to Instruction is a series of related professional development activities that is designed as a unified systems approach to provide a vision of excellence in assessment, grading and reporting practices, and a system for responding to student learning.

Click here to download a printable brochure.

Leadership for Excellence in Assessment

Rick Stiggins - October 15, 2009 - 8:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

This workshop will take school district leadership teams through a two-part process of understanding and designing balanced, instructionally productive assessment systems. The day will focus on three big ideas that are essential in building a vision of excellence in assessment: the meaning and importance of balanced assessment, quality assessment, and assessment for learning. School leadership teams will be introduced to seven specific assessment actions that will make the vision a reality. Through self-evaluation they will decide the extent to which they have taken or still need to take these actions:

Balance their assessment systems

Continue the process of refining academic achievement standards

Assure the quality of assessments throughout their local system

Turn learners into assessors

Provide students with continuous access to feedback during learning

Motivate students by relying on success at learning versus intimidation

Promote assessment literacy at all levels throughout the system

How to Grade for Learning

Ken O’Connor - December 16, 2009 - 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.

Grades should be accurate, meaningful, consistent, and supportive of learning, and reporting needs to provide a comprehensive picture of each student as a learner. This session will focus on 15 fixes for grading that emphasize learning and make grades and report cards more accurate, meaningful, and consistent.

The main section of the workshop will be the presentation and discussion of these 15 fixes, fixes that will make grades accurate, meaningful, consistent, and supportive of learning. Each fix will be introduced, and then there will be opportunities for questions before table groups discuss the implications of each guideline for their school and their role as school leaders.

During the workshop, participants will:

discuss some of the key issues involved in grading,

consider the purpose(s) of grading and the reasons for standards-based grading, and

discuss seven “big picture” perspectives about grading and the issues that arise from those practices.

Pyramid Response to Intervention: RtI, PLCs, and How to Respond When Students Don’t Learn

Mike Mattos - March 22, 2010 - 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.

The federal government revised special education law in 2004, promoting a radically different model for helping students with special needs: Response to Intervention (RtI).

The underlying premise of RtI is that schools should not delay providing help for struggling students until they fall far enough behind to qualify for special education. Instead, schools should provide timely, targeted, and systematic interventions to all students who demonstrate the need.

Yet, for Professional Learning Community (PLC) schools, this approach should hardly be considered “new,” as the PLC practice of creating a “Pyramid of Interventions” is essentially the same work.

This workshop is designed to help educators understand how to implement PLC practices to create a powerful, highly effective site intervention program that ensures high levels of learning for all students.

Participants will:

develop an understanding of RtI,

identify the essential characteristics of an effective intervention program,

understand how PLC practices are aligned to implement RtI and ensure high levels of learning for all students,

study real-life effective K-12 intervention programs, and

leave with a practical “Pyramid of Interventions” plan.

Target Audience:
Teams of K-12 central office administrators, building administrators, and teachers are encouraged to attend all these sessions.

Mail registration to:

Lori Gerber
Berks County Intermediate Unit
P.O. Box 16050
Reading PA 19612-6050
or fax to 610-987-8406