"The Common Core State Standards provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them. The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers. With American students fully prepared for the future, our communities will be best positioned to compete successfully in the global economy."
The Common Core State Standards resulted from the work led by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and the National Governors Association (NGA). These standards build on the foundation laid by states and are research- and evidence-based, aligned with college and career expectations, and are rigorous and internationally benchmarked. Elsewhere on this site, you will find parent "RoadMaps" for math and English Language Arts for Kindergarten through 8th grade.
For specific information for each subject, click on the appropriate folder and then click on the appropriate grade and subject. For more information on the Common Core work please visit: Common Core Standards
Assessment can be confusing and controversial. There are times when it seems like we are constantly testing students with a multitude of assessments. What exactly is the purpose of all the testing? It might be helpful to first remember that assessments have different purposes and the purpose determines how the results are used and who uses them. Essentially, there are three kinds of assessments:
Summative assessments: The purpose of a summative assessment is an assessment of learning that has taken place over an extended period of time. They are assessments designed to provide information to be used in making judgments about a student’s achievement at the end of a sequence of instruction. Summative assessments take place to determine if what was taught was actually learned. Examples might be a final exam, MEAP, ACT, SAT, MME, final/drafts, projects or any other assessment that usually is only given one time. It is an assessment OF learning.
Characteristics:
Are final products and/or performances to evaluate student achievement of standards within a grading period.
Interim assessments: These are defined as short-cycle summative assessments that take place periodically during the course of the school year (end-of-unit, quarterly, mid-term, etc.). Interim assessments are similar to summative assessments; they are used to gauge what students have learned after a given period of time.
Formative assessments: You will hear this term a lot at Corunna. A formative assessment helps our teachers know where our students are at any given point in time to help them determine where next to go with their instruction. They are assessments designed to provide direction for improvement and/or adjustment to a program for individual students or for a whole class, e.g. observation, quizzes, homework (usually), instructional questions, initial drafts/attempts. These assessments happen while learning is still underway, so instruction can be adjusted to increase its effectiveness. Formative assessment usually takes place many times during the course of the class/hour, and takes many shapes or forms. It can simply be defined as assessments FOR learning.
Characteristics:
Are student assignments that will help learners acquire skills to achieve standards.
Shall provide evidence of student progress.
Shall encourage risk taking.
Shall prepare students for summative assessments.
Universal Screeners: The primary purpose of a universal screener is twofold: 1) to see if our curriculum can measure up to nationwide standards, as at least 80% of our students should do well on these assessments and 2) to identify students who may be at risk for academic difficulties. One of the primary universal screeners we use at Corunna is AIMSweb. It focuses on target skills in ELA and math and is administered three times a year.
Teachers should focus mostly on formative assessments, because that’s most closely associated with what happens every day in the classroom. Here’s why: If we are using formative assessment regularly to drive our instruction and remediate as needed throughout a unit, then our summative assessment results will positively reflect the proactive instructional decisions we’ve made. Neither we nor our students will be surprised by the results of summative assessments at the end of a unit when there is monitoring and adjustment happening throughout a unit.
“It’s GREAT to be GOLD!”
Jamie Johnston
Curriculum Director
