Dynamic Classroom Assessment
Summary
Dynamic Classroom Assessment: Linking Mathematical Understanding to Instruction is a program designed to prepare staff development providers with a set of materials and training in the implementation of those materials to help teachers better assess what students know and can do so they can adjust their teaching and build on student needs. Developed by George Bright and Jeanne Joyner, the authors work directly with staff providers to develop techniques for using the print, software and video that comprise the professional development materials.
Available through ETA/Cuisenaire. Additional information at their website:
Available through ETA/Cuisenaire. Additional information at their website:
Complementary tools
Balanced Assessment in Mathematics: the professional development series
The series builds on a practice of professional development that focuses on teacher learning and shifts the curriculum and discourse of professional development away from simply giving teachers things to do in their classroom toward providing support for more reflective approaches to assessment and instruction.
Strategic applications
Provide professional development for and through performance assessment
This strategy takes assessment as the point of departure for professional development. There is growing evidence that assessment can be a site for teacher learning � about mathematics, about learning, about students� understanding, about best practices that combine assessment with instruction so that one serves the other and both contribute to student learning.
Give professional development more impact
This strategy involves designing a professional development program at the district level built on general principles that research suggests are key to influencing teachers' beliefs and reshaping their instructional practices.
Develop classroom 'assessment for learning'
Classroom assessment can make students' learning quicker and more robust, provided it is focused on performance, not just scores. 'Assessment for Learning' is an approach that develops students' self-diagnosis of their strengths and weaknesses through substantive feedback.
Use performance tasks for classroom instruction and assessment
This strategy focuses on providing teachers with a set of resources, experiences, and tools that can broaden the range of tasks they use to give students opportunities to show what they know and what they can do. The resources provide guidance to teachers on using and managing the assessments in their own classrooms.