The focus will be on creating the skills necessary to make classroom exercises and activities so compelling and powerful that the two separate fields of instruction and assessment will merge into a single domain (Bond, 2006). Teachers will begin instructional planning with the end (assessment) in mind by identifying the desired results and competency targets as related to their specific subject and grade level. Teachers will address how evidence is gathered through a variety of formal and informal assessments to effectively gauge student performance (Wiggins, McTighe, 1998). Related issues such as classroom management, motivation and test anxiety will be addressed. Alternative methods of assessment will be introduced and incorporated into practical and classroom-friendly activities.

• To explain the changing role of assessment and how it relates to instruction.
• To explain the role of assessment in brain development.
• To expand on the role of assessment in self reflection for students and teachers.
• To explore the role of assessment in assisting students and educators to meet developmental and grade level standards.
• To explore instructional strategies that have a direct impact on enhancing test results.
• To give educators differentiated assessment tools, strategies and activities.
• To provide educators with the self-assessment tools they can pass on to students to empower them as self-directed learners.
• To understand the difference between in-depth understanding and superficial understanding in assessment.
• To understand how qualitative (vs. quantitative) performance task projects actually reflect a deeper level of understanding.
• To create and organize authentic assessments.
• To compare the benefits of establishing the curriculum first and then developing the test and vice versa.
• To apply the latest research regarding assessment techniques.
• To present novel assessment methods which provide avenues for early feedback and communication between both students and teachers.
• To emphasize the value of creating a positive learning environment for assessment activities.

There are a series of major assessment concepts systematically presented by the instructor using the Socratic or Instructional Conversation method. Each concept acts a building block to form a basic understanding that teachers can weave into their own classroom strategies and best practices to assist teachers in creating a school setting where assessment and learning go hand in hand. This is a sixty-hour, three credit graduate level course completed over a thirteen-week period. Modules One through Nine will be completed one per week. Module Ten will be completed over a two-week period so students will have time to revise and complete the final integration project.

The required textbook for this course is Assessment as Learning: Using Classroom Assessment to Maximize Student Learning by Lorna M. Earl. In this text educators will learn to embrace assessment as an integral part of the learning process in their classrooms—with this comprehensive resource that discusses the changing role of schooling and learning practices, as well as reasons behind the confusion and discomfort surrounding assessment. A textbook and student guide will be provided for all students. Case studies, rubrics and lesson plans are included.

1. Member introductions
2. Individual and group expectations
3. Course sessions, resources and requirements
4. Defining assessment
5. Assessment terminology
6. The purpose of assessment, targets and benchmarks
7. Assignments

1. Weighing the pros, cons and perceptions of standards
2. Relating standards to curriculum development: Why students need learning targets
3. Which came first, the curriculum or the test?
4. Benchmarking performance of the class and students through the academic year
5. Getting creative in meeting standards within the curriculum
6. Assignments

1. Accountability and school/state testing
2. Using standardized tests as a teaching tool
3. Assisting students to become good test takers
4. Specific strategies to teach test-taking skills (SIMS Model)
5. Parental involvement and test-taking
6. Diminishing the negative perceptions of standardized tests.
7. Assignments

1. Students in survival mode
2. The difference between stress and distress
3. Stress and the visual, auditory, motor and memory systems
4. Stressors impacting student performance
5. Assignments

1. Affirmations as a stress reduction tool
2. Visualization techniques
3. Restructuring brain (neural) patterns
4. Getting rid of A.N.T.s (Automatic Negative Thoughts)
5. Movement-related activities to reduce test anxiety
6. Assignments

1. Evaluating traditional assessment
2. Discovering the elements of alternative assessment
3. Evaluating authentic assessment throughout the school day
4. Creating the outline and criteria for an authentic assessment
5. Creating an authentic assessment task
6. Assignments

1. Comparing analytical and holistic rubrics
2. Evaluating task specific and unit rubrics
3. Developing criteria for an assessment worksheet
4. Rubrics as holistic and analytical assessment tools
5. Using standards to create rubrics
6. Assignments

1. The benefits of portfolios
2. Development of portable life skills: Critical thinking, Organization and Self-Direction
3. Creating timelines and checkpoints for portfolio development/growth
4. Effective self assessment for students and teachers
5. Quantifying/grading portfolios
6. Assignments

1. Linking pretest results to the course of study
2. Identify ways of pre-testing: Oral, Written, Socratic questioning
3. Building efficiency into instructional time
4. Developing grading guidelines: A is for assessment
5. Learning styles and testing options
6. Learning accommodations for individuals and groups
7. Assignments

1. Using web-based resources
2. The NTeQ approach
3. Electronic portfolios
4. Final exam and project