Agenda Champlin, MN • August 1–3

Monday, August 1

6:45–8:00 a.m.Registration E3 CorridorContinental Breakfast Cafeteria

8:00–9:45 a.m. Keynote—Cassandra ErkensAssessment at the Center Auditorium

9:45–10:00 a.m. Break10:00–11:30 a.m. Breakouts11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Lunch (provided) Cafeteria12:30–2:00 p.m. Breakouts2:00–2:15 p.m. Break2:15–3:45 p.m. Breakouts

Tuesday, August 2

7:00–8:00 a.m.Registration E3 CorridorContinental Breakfast Cafeteria

8:00–9:30 a.m. Keynote—Eric TwadellProficiency-Based Learning and Assessment Auditorium

9:30–9:45 a.m. Break9:45–11:15 a.m. Breakouts11:15–12:15 p.m. Lunch (provided) Cafeteria12:15–1:45 p.m. Breakouts1:45–2:00 p.m. Break

2:00–3:30 p.m.Team TimeA collaboration time for your team. Presenters are available for help in team discussions.

Cafeteria

Wednesday, August 37:00–8:00 a.m. Continental Breakfast Cafeteria

8:00–9:30 a.m. Keynote—Tom SchimmerGrading From the Inside Out Auditorium

9:30–9:45 a.m. Break

9:45–11:30 a.m.Keynote—Thomas R. GuskeyBeyond Assessment for Learning: Assessment That Improves Learning

Auditorium

Agenda is subject to change.

1

Breakouts at a Glance

Presenter & TitleMonday, August 1 Tuesday, August 2

10:00–11:30 a.m. 12:30–2:00 p.m. 2:15–3:45 p.m. 9:45–11:15 a.m. 12:15–1:45 p.m.

Cassandra Erkens

Instructional Agility C146

Engineering Engaging Conversations C146

Angela FreeseAnalyzing Math Standards for Assessment Planning A118–119

Analyzing Reading Standards for Assessment Planning A118–119

Writing Rigorous Selected-Response Items A118–119

Unstoppable Assessment: Using Evidence-Based Practices to Champion Student Achievement

A118–119

Engaging the Three Rs to Increase Achievement: Relationships, Rigor, and Relevance

A118–119

Chris JakicicUsing the Data in a Balanced Assessment System to Plan Interventions and Extensions F180

Writing Quality Constructed-Response Items F180

Getting Started With Common Formative Assessments F180

Simplifying Assessment Design F180

Simplifying the Response by Using Student Work F180

Tom Schimmer

Holding Students Accountable Auditorium

Five Keys to Effective Feedback Auditorium

Repurposing Homework Auditorium

Assessing the Four Cs: Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, and Creativity

C146 C146

Jim SmithSolving the Data Puzzle: Types of Data, Timely Use, Informing Next Steps C146

3

Breakouts at a Glance

Presenter & TitleMonday, August 1 Tuesday, August 2

10:00–11:30 a.m. 12:30–2:00 p.m. 2:15–3:45 p.m. 9:45–11:15 a.m. 12:15–1:45 p.m.

Mandy StaletsStudent Investment and Engagement in the Formative Assessment Process C131

Make Your Grades Meaningful: Diving Into Standards-Based Reporting C131

Eric TwadellGet Set, Go! A Professional Learning Map for Implementing Standards-Based Grading and Reporting

C131

Beyond the Test: Assessment Practices That Work (and Those That Don’t) in a PLC C131

From Co-Blaboration to Collaboration: Utilizing Collaborative Protocols to Improve Student Learning

C131

Proficiency-Based Instruction Auditorium

Proficiency-Based Assessment: Process, Not Product Auditorium

Nicole Dimich VagleDesign in Five: Designing Meaningful Assessments F182

How to Critique and Revise Assessments F182

Analyzing Assessment Data to Plan Instruction F182

Writing Effective Multiple-Choice Items for Both Summative and Formative Purposes F182

Effective and Efficient Rubric Design and Use F182

Katie White

Self-Assessment With Young Children B120

Building Efficacy Through Self-Assessment: Investment, Not Compliance B120

Softening the Edges of Assessment: Assessment Processes That Honor the Whole Child

B120

Using Formative Assessment and Feedback to Nurture Strong Thinking Processes B120

How Changing One Thing Can Change Everything: Developing and Using a Learning Continuum

B120

Agenda is subject to change.

4

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Cassandra Erkens

Assessment at the CenterFor far too long and in far too many mediums, assessment has been misunderstood and misused. It’s time to set the record straight: Assessment must be the vehicle teachers use to build hope and efficacy on the pathway to achievement. This session establishes the context of assessment in a manner that promotes learning for teachers and students alike. Participants explore the assessment tenets necessary to create a learning-rich culture.

Instructional AgilityToo often, teachers feel their hands are tied by pacing guides, curricula that must be implemented with fidelity, testing that never seems to end, and grades that must be recorded weekly. However, letting go of such things would create inconsistencies and worse, inequity. The challenge is navigating classroom constructs with precision and flexibility.

Cassandra Erkens explores what it takes to become instructionally agile. In this session, participants deepen their understanding of constructs that guide classroom instruction. Cassandra helps them identify ways to generate instructionally sensitive data from classroom assessments.

Engineering Engaging ConversationsThe quality of formative data a teacher can generate during instruction is directly related to the quality of the questions the teacher asks and the classroom conversations it generates. This session explores two frameworks: one for creating engaging conversations and one for monitoring student engagement and learning.

Session participants explore a framework for generating engaging conversations and apply a framework for monitoring student engagement and learning.

Angela Freese Analyzing Math Standards for Assessment Planning

This session digs deeper into analyzing the standards process for math. Participants work through a process of determining what the standards actually ask students to do—to what cognitive level—and how to prioritize and map out those standards across academic action plans.

In this session, participants:• Dig deep to collaboratively determine the level of rigor required by the standard.• Explore what evidence is needed from students to ensure the appropriate depth of

knowledge and understanding of the standard.• Understand how to design assessment tools or tasks that accurately represent the learning

progression toward mastery of the standard.

Session Descriptions

= Keynote7

Angela Freese Analyzing Reading Standards for Assessment Planning

This session digs deeper into analyzing the standards process for ELA. Participants work through a process of determining what the standards actually ask students to do—to what cognitive level—and how to prioritize and map out those standards across academic action plans.

In this session, participants:• Dig deep to collaboratively determine the level of rigor required by the standard.• Explore what evidence is needed from students to ensure the appropriate depth of

knowledge and understanding of the standard.• Understand how to design assessment tools or tasks that accurately represent the learning

progression toward mastery of the standard.

Writing Rigorous Selected-Response ItemsSelected-response questions can provide quality information about student learning as part of summative and formative assessment practices. Participants learn tips to create and modify selected-response items at appropriate levels of rigor. They also learn to write answer choices that provide insight into a student’s level of understanding. By helping students develop the appropriate instructional response, teachers can move all students to proficiency and beyond.

Unstoppable Assessment: Using Evidence-Based Practices to Champion Student AchievementAssessment is often underutilized in driving our teaching and learning cycle because the focus on measurement and ranking takes away its true capacity to leverage the achievement of students and the pedagogical development of teachers. Using assessment as a tool to focus on students’ strengths and uncover misconceptions or gaps provides the opportunity to build students’ sense of efficacy, hope, and possibility to move forward in their learning. Participants receive templates and tools to enhance this work with their teams. Participants in this session:

• Explore methods and receive tools for seeking, gathering, discussing, and responding to evidence obtained from students about what they can do with what they’ve been taught.

• Utilize templates and processes for collaboratively engaging teams and students in this work.• Enhance the “systems design” approach to harmonize the curricular, instructional, and

assessment practices in teams, buildings, or districts.

Engaging the Three Rs to Increase Achievement: Relationships, Rigor, and RelevanceRelationships in the classroom are an essential gateway for promoting investment, ownership, and efficacy for students. Teachers rely on their ability to leverage those relationships to engage students on their learning pathway. How do educators create and utilize assessments that not only promote expected levels of rigor but also engage students in seeing the relevance of the content in their own lives? This session is designed to explore the harmony of relationships, rigor, and relevance in assessment design.

In this session, participants:• Explore the content and context of standards relative to assessment design.• Discuss and determine approaches for assessment design that heighten rigor and relevance.• Plan for student investment in learning through integration of 21st century skills.

Session Descriptions

8

Thomas R. Guskey

Beyond Assessment for Learning: Assessment That Improves LearningUsing assessments to improve student learning involves more than administering formative assessments. It requires teachers to make well-designed assessments an integral part of the instructional process. This presentation describes how teachers can develop clear learning targets, gather useful information on students’ performance, offer effective feedback to guide improvements in teaching and learning, and then accurately document students’ learning progress. Participants learn how to use classroom assessments as effective learning tools, how to integrate performance assessments with more traditional assessment methods, how to align assessment procedures with important learning goals, and how these procedures allow them to better meet the needs of diverse learners.

Chris Jakicic Using the Data in a Balanced Assessment System to Plan Interventions and Extensions

Many teachers feel they have plenty of data about their students, and yet still struggle with specific actions they can take to help students learn. In this session, Chris Jakicic focuses on why teachers need different types of assessment data (formative, common formative, benchmark, and summative) to make accurate decisions about what to do next for their students. Participants explore how an RTI system is made more powerful when schools use a variety of assessments to identify students who need intervention, to monitor progress, and to make sound decisions about curriculum, instruction, and pacing.

In this session, participants:• Learn the purpose of various assessments.• Understand how to use the right assessment data to provide the right level of response

for students.• Avoid the most common mistakes teachers make in examining assessment results.

Writing Quality Constructed-Response ItemsIf teachers are making decisions about what to do next in their classrooms based on the assessments they give students, how do they know the assessment items they’re writing are giving them the right information? Participants learn how to write constructed-response items that translate into better information about student learning. In particular, participants explore strategies for assessing more rigorous learning targets from the Common Core standards.

In this session, participants:• Become familiar with how to write better constructed-response questions that provide

teachers with accurate information about what students need next.• Explore ways to develop stimulus information to increase the rigor of an assessment item.• Learn how to use quality rubrics to score questions in a way that provides information to

the teacher, teacher team, and students.

Session Descriptions

= Keynote9

Chris Jakicic Getting Started With Common Formative Assessments

Many call common formative assessments the “tipping point” in PLC practices that helps teams move from “collaboration lite” to true collaboration. This kind of change requires teacher leaders to plan carefully. In this session, participants start with the “why” behind common formative assessments, explore the difference between how teams use formative and summative data in their work, and examine ways to build a culture to support the collaborative practices around data sharing and learning together through student assessment. Participants also consider ways to effectively find time to write assessments and respond to the data gathered from them.

In this session, participants:• Learn the research behind formative and common formative assessments. • Understand how teacher leaders can accelerate the shift from a traditional culture to a

culture that ensures all students learn at high levels.

Simplifying Assessment DesignFormative and common formative assessments written, administered, and used by individual teachers and collaborative teams can have a significant impact on student achievement. This session helps participants avoid making common mistakes in assessment design that often lead to misusing data to respond to students. Participants learn how to unwrap standards into learning targets and how to write an assessment plan to get the right data back from their assessments.

In this session, participants:• Understand how unwrapping standards into learning targets improves the quality of

formative and common formative assessments.• Learn how to choose the right type of assessment to match the rigor of learning targets.• Understand how to create an assessment plan that leads to more valid and reliable

assessments.

Simplifying the Response by Using Student WorkIf formative and common formative assessments are designed to let teachers know how to respond to students who need additional help or who can benefit from enrichment, it is important that teachers understand how to use the results to make accurate decisions. Participants explore three specific strategies to analyze student work in order to plan accurate responses.

In this session, participants:• Understand how to use “pile and plan” to analyze student needs identified from

constructed-response questions.• Understand how to use error analysis to evaluate student needs identified from multiple-

choice questions.• Examine how to develop a learning progression around a learning target to understand

how students’ thinking can be accelerated.

Session Descriptions

10

Tom Schimmer

Grading From the Inside OutDeveloping a standards-based mindset is often overlooked, but an essential first step for long-term grading reform. Tom Schimmer outlines how to take a standards-based approach to grading, even when a traditional grading and reporting paradigm exists. This session examines the non-negotiable true north of grading for accuracy and thoroughly explores the three essential practices that are the cornerstone of a standards-based mindset.

In this session, participants:• Understand how to audit any grading practice accurately and confidently.• Explore the faulty logic behind many of our traditional grading practices.• Identify replacement routines that establish a standards-based mindset and approach to

grading, independent of any changes to school or district policy.

Holding Students AccountableThe need for students to be held accountable is often cited as a reason why some hesitate to implement more sound grading practices. Tom Schimmer focuses on the systems, structures, and routines that can redefine accountability and reshape a school’s culture. Rather than using zeros, late penalties, or any other punitive grading practice, participants discover that real accountability can be achieved without compromising the integrity of a student’s proficiency grade.

In this session, participants:• Identify the perils of punitive grading and resulting inaccuracies that compromise the

integrity of what is ultimately reported about student proficiency.• Understand an alternative, more productive definition of accountability within the context

of learning.• Explore the multiple systems required to create a culture of accountability that leaves

student optimism and hope intact.

Five Keys to Effective FeedbackWhile the research on feedback is rich and robust, success with effective feedback is often nuanced and contextual. Tom Schimmer highlights five key strategies and focal points to ensure feedback fulfills its promise to improve student performance. Balancing universal truths with necessary autonomy, teachers find the sweet spot within their feedback routines. Participants come to realize that providing effective feedback need not be overwhelming or time consuming. Effective feedback can accelerate and deepen the willingness to keep learning and establish an efficient pathway to proficiency.

In this session, participants:• Understand the universal truths and limitations of current research on feedback.• Understand the five key questions that can be used to audit feedback practices to ensure a

learning-centered foundation.• Explore effective and balanced feedback strategies that cause thinking and facilitate

students taking ownership over their own learning.

Session Descriptions

= Keynote11

Tom Schimmer Repurposing Homework

Few aspects of the school experience generate as many diverse perspectives as the topic of homework. This session focuses on repurposing homework as practice and how teachers can transform homework into a productive part of the instructional experience. Specifically, this session highlights reasons why grading homework can compromise the integrity of proficiency grades, questions teachers can use to audit their homework routines, and alternative homework strategies that increase student engagement and relevance.

In this session, participants:• Understand why grading homework contributes to inaccurate grades. • Identify ways in which homework can be utilized more productively by students and teachers.• Explore alternative, differentiated homework strategies that increase engagement,

relevance, and purpose.

Assessing the Four Cs: Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, and CreativityAs schools throughout North America continue to emphasize the development of the 4Cs (critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication), questions still swirl around accurately assessing and reporting student proficiency. How can we assess creativity without stifling it? Is assessing collaborative skills linked to or separate from the results of collaboration? Why is critical thinking the most important 21st century cross-curricular competency? How can competencies be merged with curricular standards?

In this session, participants:• Understand how the means and ends of education are in the process of switching places.• Understand why sound assessment practices and principles are universally applicable in

assessing cross-curricular competencies.• Compare and contrast assessing group work with assessing collaboration.• Compare and contrast assessing creativity and innovation with assessing creative

opportunities in assessment.

Jim Smith Solving the Data Puzzle: Types of Data, Timely Use, Informing Next Steps

Assessment results are often seen as the domain of administrators. In reality, data matter most in the classroom. Data inform teaching and help raise achievement while building students’ investment in their learning. Participants examine high-value assessment practices, learn how to best utilize their time and energy, and learn how to build next steps. The work of assessment does not end when the results are in; it has only just begun.

In this session, participants:• Apply the concept of a balanced assessment system in determining what data to collect

and how to use it effectively.• Synthesize multiple data points, both quantitative and qualitative, to inform instruction

and build student investment.• Acquire research-based answers to your questions to connect the pieces of what data to

use, how much is enough, when to collect, and what to do with it to ensure greater student achievement.

Session Descriptions

12

Mandy Stalets Student Investment and Engagement in the Formative Assessment Process

Formative assessment is one of the most powerful tools in the classroom. It has the power to overhaul the learning process and put the focus where it belongs—on learning! Through meaningful assessment design, actionable feedback, and building in time for reflection, students can become more invested and engaged in the learning process.

In this session, participants:• Learn ways to include students in the formative assessment process to make them more

reflective learners.• Learn how to use assessment practices to create a culture of learning.• Gain strategies to infuse assessment into daily instruction and use that assessment data to

drive instruction and impact student learning.

Make Your Grades Meaningful: Diving Into Standards-Based ReportingWhether or not a school or district has fully adopted standards-based grading and reporting, teachers can ensure the grades they report are accurate and meaningful by developing sound assessment practices, a balanced assessment system, and a standards-based mindset. With sound grading practices, educators have the ability to increase student hope, efficacy, and achievement, while delivering clear and accurate information about student proficiency to all educational stakeholders.

In this session, participants:• Learn how to implement standards-based grading and reporting independent of any

changes to a school or district policy.• Explore different grading methods, rubrics, and report cards in a standards-based grading

system.• Learn to report and organize assessment by standards in order to elicit evidence from

them, leading to more accuracy in assessment practices.

Eric Twadell

Proficiency-Based Learning and AssessmentThe old adage is true: “If you do what you have always done, you will get what you’ve always got.” The same can be said of traditional assessment practices. As understanding of assessment deepens, educators must think differently about how they can use assessment as an instructional practice. This keynote explores how Adlai E. Stevenson High School (“birthplace” of the PLC at Work™ process) has restructured and recultured assessment practices to focus on proficiency.

In this session, participants:• Explore the differences between traditional teaching and learning and teaching and

learning in a proficiency-based environment.• Learn the differences between traditional quizzes and tests and proficiency-based assessments.• Receive ideas on how to begin transitioning to a proficiency-based teaching and learning

environment.

Session Descriptions

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Session DescriptionsEric Twadell

Get Set, Go! A Professional Learning Map for Implementing Standards-Based Grading and ReportingStandards-based grading has often been cited as the “third rail of school reform.” And yet this is an important destination on the journey to becoming a professional learning community that embraces assessment and grading practices and supports student learning. This session provides participants with a road map for differentiating professional development for teachers and teams interested in implementing standards-based grading. In this session, participants:

• Gain an appreciation for utilizing a learning map to differentiate professional development.

• Explore challenges associated with traditional grading practices and reporting results.• Learn how to structure professional development and a learning map for teachers and

teams specifically focused on standards-based grading and reporting.

Beyond the Test: Assessment Practices That Work (and Those That Don’t) in a PLCThis session explores the use of effective formative assessment practices teachers and teams can use to provide them with more meaningful data and provide students with more helpful feedback. Participants explore examples and templates to facilitate effective formative assessment experiences for students. In this session, participants:

• Develop an understanding of assessment practices that do not support student learning.• Recognize effective formative assessment practices.• Explore examples of effective formative assessments and templates developed and used to

improve student learning and achievement.

From Co-Blaboration to Collaboration: Utilizing Collaborative Protocols to Improve Student LearningThis session explores protocols proven to be effective in helping teachers and teams enhance their ability to collaborate and, as a result, substantially impact student achievement.

This session focuses on:• Examples and resources that help teachers in professional learning communities

effectively work together as members of collaborative teams• The impact collaborative protocols have on student and teacher learning• Developing team agendas and protocols focused on student learning and achievement

Proficiency-Based InstructionAs educators implement proficiency-based assessment and grading strategies, they realize the traditional model of instruction must also change. The teacher as the sage on the stage simply cannot facilitate meaningful learning experiences for students in a proficiency-based learning environment. In this session, participants examine instructional design and delivery models that support proficiency-based assessment and grading and learn how to develop an instructional plan to support students in meeting expectations.

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Session DescriptionsEric Twadell

Proficiency-Based Assessment: Process, Not ProductWhile educators’ knowledge of effective assessment practice has grown in the past few years, the chasm of understanding between formative and summative practices has widened. Eric Twadell argues that assessments should have neither a formative nor summative purpose. Instead, they are experiences to help students meet and exceed proficiency expectations. In this session, participants:

• Create learning targets and develop and scale proficiency-based goals.• Make instructional shifts to ensure students reach proficiency expectations.• Build assessments that support student learning, serve instructional practice, and move

students toward proficiency.

Nicole Dimich Vagle Design in Five: Designing Meaningful Assessments

Assessments, when designed well, reflect student learning in meaningful ways. This session introduces an assessment design process called Design in 5 (Vagle, 2015). Participants dig into the five phases of designing high-quality formative or summative assessments. They learn how to choose standards, find learning goals, plan assessment methods, and communicate learning to ensure the most accurate information to describe student learning and levels of proficiency. Teachers and teams receive guidance in how to design or revise current assessments to more effectively guide instruction, involve students, and communicate learning. Tools and templates are offered to focus this work. These resources are useful to administrators and others who support teachers in facilitating quality assessment design conversations in their own contexts.

In this session, participants:• Learn a five-phase protocol to use to design or revise assessments for quality.• Apply tools to review and revise assessments to effectively guide instruction, involve

students, and communicate learning.• Describe ways to communicate assessment scores that reflect learning.

How to Critique and Revise AssessmentsThe design of assessments can be messy and meaningful work. The right protocol and template can point individuals and teams in a direction that produces high-quality assessment design. In this session, participants learn a process for critiquing and revising current assessments for precision (alignment to standards or learning progressions), cognitive level, and engagement.

In this session, participants:• Identify essential characteristics of assessment design.• Apply a protocol for critiquing assessments.

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Session DescriptionsNicole Dimich Vagle

Analyzing Assessment Data to Plan InstructionThere is significant power in looking at student work to effectively plan instruction and increase student learning. This session will offer a protocol to help teams effectively and efficiently examine student work to create instructional responses that improve achievement and increase assessment quality.

In this session, participants:• Identify effective types of student work to analyze for various purposes.• Learn and apply the protocol, “Pile, Stack, and Plan” to plan instruction.• Learn characteristics of effective instructional responses and interventions.

Writing Effective Multiple-Choice Items for Both Summative and Formative PurposesLearn how to recognize and write meaningful multiple-choice items at various cognitive levels. When written well and used effectively, selected-response questions can provide quality information to describe student learning. The use of these types of items in instruction can be powerful in helping students achieve at high levels. Teachers and teams will find these ideas applicable to designing assessments and creating engaging instruction.

In this session, participants:• Identify key characteristics of multiple choice items.• Apply tools and templates to write effective multiple choice items.• Learn ways to use multiple choice items formatively.

Effective and Efficient Rubric Design and UseEffective rubrics offer both students and teachers descriptions of the quality of student work and progress toward achievement of standards. Rubrics can be used both formatively and summatively. In this session, we explore the design and use of rubrics that are effective, efficient, and meaningful.

In this session, participants:• Identify key characteristics of quality rubrics.• Learn how to design rubrics.• Learn how to use rubrics formatively and summatively.

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Session DescriptionsKatie White

Self-Assessment With Young ChildrenStrong self-assessment in classrooms leads to investment and growth for learners through co-constructed learning experiences that precisely address student needs. But what do teachers do when learners are just beginning their learning journeys and may not have yet refined the skill of self-assessment? They must build the sub-skills that provide the foundation for student ownership as they move through the system.

This session invites educators to:• Discover a language of self-assessment that honors the developmental nature of young

learners.• Explore sub-skills of self-assessment.• Build lessons that invite students to practice these skills in a safe, caring, and student-

focused early learning environment.

Building Efficacy Through Self-Assessment: Investment, Not ComplianceStrong self-assessment in classrooms leads to investment and growth for learners through co-constructed learning experiences that precisely address student needs. This session explores the power self-assessment has to nurture hope and efficacy in learners. By empowering students to be in charge of their own learning stories, educators can support the development of learners who are confident and capable. When teachers deeply understand the destination themselves, they can comfortably walk alongside students as they take ownership of their own growth.

This session invites educators to:• Explore ways to encourage students to share responsibility for their own academic and

behavioral outcomes through strong self-assessment and goal-setting.• Explore sub-skills of self-assessment.• Practice root-cause analysis of self-assessment scenarios and plan steps to build strong

self-assessment in multiple contexts.

Softening the Edges of Assessment: Assessment Processes That Honor the Whole ChildSometimes, despite teachers’ best intentions and dedicated work, assessment practices can become “hard” for both them and their students. They recognize this when assessment just doesn’t work quite the way they hoped or when it feels like they are working harder than their students in the lived-out classroom experiences. This session explores the concept of the whole child and how assessment design can work toward “softening the edges” for both teachers and learners.

This session invites educators to:• Explore the concept of the whole child in relation to assessment design.• Experience examples of “hard and soft edges” of assessment.• Apply the concept of “softening the edges” to various assessment scenarios.

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Session DescriptionsKatie White

Using Formative Assessment and Feedback to Nurture Strong Thinking ProcessesThe partnership between formative assessment and feedback flourishes when it improves learning outcomes for students along with their ability to apply strong thinking processes to future learning experiences. This is the sweet spot of assessment. When teachers connect strong assessment criteria to thinking processes that develop stronger learning products, they ultimately invite students to hold responsibility for their own growth over time.

This session invites educators to:• Explore observations, reflection, and thinking processes as critical pieces of the formative

assessment and feedback cycle.• Engage in a simulation and reflect on the implications for learners.• Apply the use of specific feedback criteria and thinking processes in personal contexts.

How Changing One Thing Can Change Everything: Developing and Using a Learning ContinuumWhen educators are trying to impact and enhance student learner outcomes, it is hard to know where to start! Learning is incredibly complex, and each piece of the process holds a vital role in the success of the learner. However, sometimes changing one single aspect of how educators approach the teaching and learning cycle can impact everything else for both them and their learners.

This session invites educators to:• Explore the story of a young learner and her shifting investment in her own learning

journey.• Create a learning continuum in a practical and personal context.• Utilize the continuum to enhance assessment design in personal teaching contexts.

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