ATF+Meetings

=Thursday, May 6, 2010= MS Conference Room Pudong Campus SRC main gate: 6:42am WWG main gate: 6:45am Sign: //Assessment Task Force//
 * LOCATION**:
 * TRANSPORTATION**:

=AGENDA:=

8:15 AM – Welcome and First Moves
Please take a self-assessment from the perspective of an Assessment Task Force schoolwide leader:

Click [|here].

//The Shanghai American School Assessment Philosophy, Practices and Procedures Manual//
//**
 * // Google Doc (changes include initials)

9:30 AM - Preparing for "Hand Over"

 * Report card, reporting systems and assessment communication

· F orm a report card committee for each level (ES, MS, HS) committees members need to be assessment literate report card committees members should be from each subject area. powerschool managers should sit on that committee. Non-achievement factors should be separated and reported separately; develop an additional report card of learner profile/non-achievement report card. pilot with certain teachers for one year.
 * High School Recommendations:**


 * MS Recommendations**

__Report Card__ If the student “needs improvement” then a comment needs to be written _**Elementary Comments regarding reporting procedure**
 * Have the ability to include “incomplete” on the report created by Powerschool.
 * More than 175 characters (space for complete narratives)
 * Include habits of the mind on the report card - leading to standards based reporting
 * Commitment to Learning (Homework, Timeliness)
 * Personal and Social Behavior (Respect, Integrity)
 * Grade based on achievement of the standards only

__ Report Cards ES currently uses a standards- based report card, which we feel should remain but be tweaked. __ The standards do not reflect the current curriculum. Math – we currently use Everyday Math which have different benchmark Language Arts – too many benchmarks -also, still contains behavior - use “presentation” instead of “listening and speaking” because listening is addressed in Student as learner __Assessment__ must be aligned with current curriculum

//By June, Teachers are Assessment literate in terms of definitions specified in SAS Assmt. Manual; Teachers have "experimented with" 2-3 items as detailed in the 5-year assessment plan "Getting Started" HIGH SCHOOL RECOMMENDATIONS: AUGUST: **// Pre-diagnostic (baseline data) on teacher assessment literacy. An inventory or survey? Designed by building level groups. Collect (from each course and class) the course syllabi or evaluation scheme. Recruit pilot teachers - teachers who teach isolated courses? To pilot some of the “15 Fixes” Professional development for HOD’s and team leaders. FOCUS: **Summative assessment** – calculation of final grades (15 Fixes) - designing quality summative assessments - different forms of assessment - PowerSchool PD FOCUS: Formative assessment – how to use it to make instructional decisions? - What is it? What does it look like? - What is quality feedback? - PowerSchool PD Post test – Assessment Literacy.
 * ====**2010-2011 Assessment "Fence posts" - RECOMMENDATIONS (By June 2011 .... ) (AHL)**====
 * Fenceposts
 * October PD**
 * February PD**
 * June:** “Assessment literate” - experimented with 2 or 3

As much as possible, the agenda, task or activity will be designed and assigned by the HS Assessment Committee. We’d like to recommend that every Look@Learning is an assessment discussion or activity – sometimes by department, sometimes as a large faculty. Essential Topics: Eg. Getting familiar with the manual – ideas, concepts, terminology.
 * Assessment Program structure, time - Information for RECOMMENDATIONS
 * HIGH SCHOOL RECOMMENDATIONS:
 * **Programmatic Structures**
 * Building level representative chairs HS Pudong / HS Puxi Assessment Committees (which includes at least one administrator and IB and AP Coordinator). The committee should include one representative from each department.
 * Meeting Time**


 * **Schoolwide Committee Structure**
 * [[file:Ed Pro Inst Ldrsp Comm2.2.pages]]
 * **Wednesday Meeting Structures**
 * **One "Atlas & Assessment" and one L@L (Vertical Subjects) Meeting Sept - May**
 * **October (7&8) & Feb (7 & 8) PD days: One divisional, One vertical subjects**

pg. 23 "Academic Dishonesty" - "Loss of credit for the assessment" Faculty Handbook pg. 15 - 16 "Academic Support" "....It is not within the scope of SAS services to .... offer modified grades in the middle or high school". pg. 11 "Student Records: "A report card is distributed at the end of each of the four grading periods."
 * Various school policy revision - RECOMMENDATIONS
 * HS Agenda[[file:FINAL AGENDA.pdf]]

Board Policy

7.803 "Educational Technology" - update in light of 1:1 program. Report Cards, Progress Reports and Conferences 7.905P #6 Suspension of Students 8.504 "Students on suspension may receive a grade of zero..." 7.905P #1, "Report cards will be distributed..." #2, #4 7.905P Progress Reports #5 - "Progress reports will be prepared and distributed..."

Grading system procedure 7.904 "1. A modified curriculum grade may be given to students..." 2. The grade the student earns on any modified curriculum will be noted as (MC) grade.

7.902 Homework - "Homework will be evaluated by teachers." 8.301P "Unexcused Absences - Students who are unexcused will have no right to make up work." MS Agenda (Pudong) Pg. 6 "Individual teachers establish their own policies for late work and these are distributed to students ..."

Student Support Services & ESOL Handbook Admission of Students with Special Learning Needs " No major curriculum modifications are available for students at SAS."

Some Assessment extractions (incomplete): Key words used: //assess, test, grade, report//**

11:30 AM - SAS Assessment Inventory -
Review, add and recommend next steps. Divisional groups. Google Spreadsheet : DIRECTIONS: **Please edit with ATF-HS, ATF-MS, or ATF-ES initials. DO NOT DELETE, but feel free to add comments or to note inaccuracies**

//12:15 Lunch? You think we're going to let you eat??//

1:00 PM - Five Year Plan -
//Who is it for? What is its purpose? How can it be used by teachers and leaders?//

===The Five-year assessment plan is for teams, leadership, and faculty to evaluate, in the language of the essential practices, which bullet points are to be implemented, what professional development is needed,===

Review, revise, recommend**
 * Five Year Plan link here.

3:00 PM - Closing moves and thank you...
//Thinking Lot// 1. Make a recommendation of Report Card and reporting systems alignment (each building level). Assessment communication collect data. Communication and reporting procedures. 2. Recommendations for "fenceposts" to admin ... for next year (K-12 "Gate Statement" ... divisional teams could advance forward at a more advanced pace.END of October PDEND of February PD - What do we want to have accomplished?December meetings - Recommendations from teachers on the manual (Aspirations, Assumptions) 3. Review and Add and Recommend Next Steps: to "SAS Assessment Inventory" - one per school 4. Structure and Time Recommendations (Again, by division): Beyond the L@L Wednesday and the "Atlas/Assessment Wednesday" Most successful structure?Each building would have an Assessment Task Force representative ... 5. Five Year Plan revision and review - who is it for - Team leaders who are leading the assessment program? what is its purpose? How can it be used by team leaders?

Monday, March 8, 2010 - Puxi Campus
AGENDA: **Location: ES – 2nd Floor Project Area

8:15 AM – Welcome and First Moves 8:30 AM - Shared Reading -

SAS WASC Goal 1: Assessment and Making Meaning protocol ** //We will//
 * Read the text in silence and make notes (10 minutes)
 * Respond in round-robin with evidence (from text)-based observations to "What do you See?" (5 minutes/15 secs per participant!)
 * State in round-robin questions we have about the text without expectation of an immediate answer (5 minutes)
 * Speculate on the meaning and significance of this text to our work, noting insights, problems, or other issues

January 2009 - we're late 2c. the development of common asssessments (need to touch base). 2a. develop a school-wide assessment philosophy (difficult) Nothing is a surprise - we are working on all of this. A lot missing - an overview. Planning is very shallow. Requires revision 2b. disaggregating assessment data ... data analysis team. Start looking QUESTIONS: Developing common assessments - across campuses? How do we go about developing timelines What is a quality metric? COMMENTS: This validates what we have been doing. Some of these goals are more critical. Need to prioritize... now and the end of the year. Important for any school at any time... We've done a lot of this
 * Hear from one admin an one teacher historian of this WASC process and the ATF origins (5 minutes)
 * Discuss the implications to our continued work (5-7 minutes)
 * Debrief the process

9:30AM - 1PM Proposed Modification - Results and Syllabi as resources for Analysis & Expansion of Five-Year Assessment Plan
- ID Scaffolded Assessment PD
 * 9:30 AM - Assessment Survey Results
 * 10:00 AM – BREAK
 * 10: 15 AM – A Look at Evaluation and Assessment Practices
 * 11:00 AM - Review and Refine 3 year Assessment Plan

OUR FUTURE ASSESSMENT VISION is here :

Success Indicators: //By 1PM, inclusive of lunch and break times, present to the ATF a document which clearly delineates recommendations to 3-5 Year plan by division. This plan should also clarify teacher expectations, as framed by the// 5 Year Assessment Plan.doc

If additional time and/or collaboration is needed for completion, at 1PM, teams should present dates of next meeting, tasks, and individual responsibilities.

TEAMS: RESOURCES School-wide plan (Please note divisionally-focused components):
 * Three teams: ES, MS, and HS
 * Schoolwide PD team
 * [optional] Manual/Handbook revision team, or
 * Admin Plan team

Link to Professional Development TEACHER SELF-EVALUATION **Rubric :

Document to complete for presentation (digitally) by division @ 1PM Exemplar SAS 5-year plan: **

1:10 PM - Review “Essential Practices” from policy document
1. Assessment Principles (SIX) - Edit, warm / cool feedback. 2. Essential Practices (Edit. Wordsmith. Do we need more? Do we need to delete any?)

Thursday, January 28, 2010 - PUDONG CAMPUS

 * Team Norms**
 * Contribute to substantive conversation.
 * Be respectful of the presenter and appreciative of the facilitator’s role.
 * Keep the conversations constructive, remembering that we are constructing our work on assessment together.
 * Keep comments succinct, valuable and monitor your own airtime.
 * Speak transparently, with one voice
 * Assume good intent
 * Don’t skip the debrief
 * Be present (mentally and physically - with appreciation)

AGENDA

8:10 AM – Breakfast and Welcome (Pudong Campus Garden Room). 8:30 AM – Warm Up and personal connections 8:40 AM - Review of team norms (Cindy) 8:45 AM - Rick Stiggins on “Assessment for Learning / Assessment of Learning” Activity __**//Discussion Points://
 * __Purpose: Finalizing our “Assessment policy” draft to submit to administration (May 2010) and then divisions (August 2010).


 * Student learning in AfL is an active role, OF learning is more passive for students.


 * Internal and external motivators are influenced by AfL compared to AOFL


 *  Self-actualization and motivation in AfL


 * This document could be a formative assessment for teachers in terms of where we are in understanding AfL and AOL


 * Practice tests help students understand their needs prior to high stakes testing


 * <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">Direct correlation to instruction and student’s learning – AofL: are we assessing their knowledge or how hard they study?


 * <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">Authenticity of assessment is critical!


 * <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">In the U.S. School Boards and communities are consumers of the summative assessments - the same seems to be true here.


 * **<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">//Scores have improved as a result of AfL – kids are learning and truly// **//know//**//.//**


 * <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">Motivators: assessment should be motivational for students

9:30 AM – Assessment inventory results – “A Look at Data” protocol:
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">· What do you notice?
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">· What are your observations?
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">· What questions emerge?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">10:15 AM – BREAK 10:30 AM - Draft “SAS Assessment Philosophy and Policy” – Charette WASC Recommendations: Curriculum & Instruction

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">12:15 PM – LUNCH <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">1:00 PM: Professional Development for teachers and admin. (Tonya and Alicia) 1:30 PM: External assessments at SAS
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">What do we currently do with external assessment results? What should we do?

· What we ARE doing with data: · Aspire to more in classroom · ERBs – take them, results come, put in files, send home · Reports are hard for parents to understand · IB results give very explicit information about areas of strength or where instruction can improve · Historically, when ERBs and ITBS were used to inform the literacy review · Currently used in SST or cohort patterns · Are we giving the right assessment? · Are we using them as much as we can? · Different measurement tools used by different grade levels, departments (some have continuum devoid of external data) · AP/IB provide enough data to improve instruction, · Gap in program on two campus is no grade 9 or 10 students – particularly new kids. End of waiting for PSAT results**
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">What recommendations do we have as a task force for the collection, storage, reporting and use of external assessment data?
 * Parent Coffee to review ITBS results (low %)

Shoulds? · Look at the longitudinal data to determine statistically off the beam · Educate the teachers on how to use the assessment data · Ask if we’re using the right tools for this school? · ITBS – look at its lack of alignment to our curriuculm. (ERBs are still pretty much what we teach · Continue or accelerate [Begin??] our comparison of IB and AP scores to summative results from actual classes**
 * · Use the data we already have to analyze (and understand) the data (e.g., IOWAS

We MUST: Examine what other benchmark schools are using for external assessments Have professional development in whatever external measurement is used Examine the students’ academic behavior over time when considering behavior Make results accessible to teachers in a timely fashion Remove the technical glitches which reduce the timely reporting to parents and ensure cross-river consistency in that reporting Define the purpose of the external assessments Look at whether and how we send test reports home (Do we need to train parents? Review the external assessment practice to ensure we cover all grade levels
 * Look at the lack of alignment between external tests and curriculum

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">2:30 PM - External assessments (Andy) 3:00 PM: Review, closure and next steps?

**Professional Development:
 * @http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AjLSovmANWnpdFktbE9lTHVSaVo1M2djb3g3bURxc1E&hl=en **

MOVING FORWARD


 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">Audit various school policies which might require alignment with a new assessment policy (e.g., divisional manuals, board policies, etc.) and prepare recommendations
 * A report card audit and recommendations
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">Participants understand SAS Policy, the timeline for implementation and necessary understandings and dispositions of SAS educators and administrators.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">Clearly defined "Habits of Assessment" for teachers
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">A Five-year PD plan, inclusive of monitoring, review, and revision.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">A communication plan with embedded parent and student education

Tuesday, November 17th - PUXI CAMPUS

AGENDA: TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 17th @ PUXI CAMPUS 8:00 AM – Breakfast and Welcome (Puxi Campus Central Admin conference room). 8:30 AM – Warm Up and personal connections 8:40 AM - Review of team norms
 * <span style="font-family: 'Garamond Premr Pro',helvetica,sans-serif;">Contribute to substantive conversation.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Garamond Premr Pro',helvetica,sans-serif;">Be respectful of the presenter and appreciative of the facilitator’s role.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Garamond Premr Pro',helvetica,sans-serif;">Keep the conversations constructive, remembering that we are constructing our work on assessment together.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Garamond Premr Pro',helvetica,sans-serif;">Keep comments succinct, valuable and monitor your own airtime.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Garamond Premr Pro',helvetica,sans-serif;">Speak transparently, with one voice
 * <span style="font-family: 'Garamond Premr Pro',helvetica,sans-serif;">Assume good intent
 * <span style="font-family: 'Garamond Premr Pro',helvetica,sans-serif;">Don’t skip the debrief
 * Be present (mentally and physically - with appreciation)

8:45 AM - Reflections on Assessment Practices at SAS?


 * Team 1 (Framework) link: http://tinyurl.com/AsstTeam1
 * Team 2 (Audit) link: http://tinyurl.com/Team2
 * Team 3 (Curricular Alignment) link : http://tinyurl.com/AsstTeam3

9:00 AM – Taskforce Subcommittees reconvene – 15 minutes- Each Subcommittee presents a brief report on their work – 30 minutes 10:00 AM - Break 10:15 AM– Moving forward – New groups, new tasks. //“Putting the boards on the barn”// 12:15 PM – LUNCH 1:00 PM – Continuing our work 1:30 PM – Reporting to the group and feedback. 3:30 PM – Review, closure and homework?

//“Putting the boards on the barn”:// //Building our Assessment Policy//
//“Putting the boards on the barn”: Building our Assessment Policy//

1. 1. __Glossary and Bibliograph__y __a. Glossary of Assessment Terms – **Continue our efforts to build a common assessment vocabulary. Compile an extensive list of terms that require a common understanding across divisions and campuses.** b. Annotated Bibliography of Assessment Resources – **Begin to create an annotated bibliography of assessment journals, articles, books, websites and resources.**

2.__ 2. __Essential Assessment Practices__: __**Your group’s task is to research and record a list of “essential assessment practices” to be included in our K-12 SAS assessment policy. Attempt to organize practices under the following categories:** i. **Collecting – What are some essential practices in the gathering of assessment data?** ii. **Evaluating / Feedback – What are some essential practices in the feedback on and evaluation of assessment data?** iii. **Recording – What are some essential practices in the recording of assessment data?** iv. **Reporting – What are some essential practices in the reporting and communication of learning? N.B: Try to list specific and concrete practices of assessment.**

3. 3. Philosophy__: Your group’s task is to outline the philosophical underpinnings of our assessment policy: __** i. Purposes of Assessment: What are the purposes of assessment at SAS? Please consider various stakeholders (students, parents, teachers, admin, board members, universities, etc.) ii. Principles of Assessment**: Make a list of SAS’s principles of assessment. Begin you with this statement: “The development, selection, administration and use of assessments at SAS are guided by the following principles”: iii. Philosophy Statement: Having done i. and ii., take a stab at a succinct, yet global statement that will encapsulate SAS’s vision of the role of assessment. iv. Solve the Israeli – Palestinian conflict.


 * These are ‘big idea’ statements: eg.** // Reliable assessment requires a variety of measuring tools. //

4. 4. Assessment Audit__ –** Based on the recommendations of the Assessment Audit subcommittee, continue their work and design an assessment audit to be distributed K-12 on Wednesday Dec. 12th “Look at Learning”. The purpose of this audit is to capture a snapshot of assessment practice, beliefs, literacy at SAS. Information from this audit will provide us with a map forward – What areas do we need to focus on? Where do our strengths lie?

1.