WestEd’s content and assessment experts are available to conduct standards-to-standards alignment studies, which provide: findings to meet rigorous evidence requirements, such as federal peer review guidelines; and key feedback that contributes to quality content standards. This service is available for a range of grade levels and content areas.
WestEd’s Item‐to‐Standards Alignment Studies
WestEd’s content and assessment experts are available to conduct curriculum-to-standards alignment studies, which provide: findings to meet rigorous evidence requirements, such as federal peer review guidelines; and key feedback that contributes to quality assessments. This service is available for a range of grade levels and content areas.
WestEd’s Curriculum‐to‐Standards Alignment Studies
WestEd’s content and assessment experts are available to conduct curriculum-to-standards alignment studies, which provide: findings on the alignment between local curricula and state content standards, and key feedback that contributes to quality standards-based curricula. This service is available for a range of grade levels and content areas.
Case Reviews: Implementing the Spirit of Formative Assessment
The following resource provides vignettes about teachers who are attempting to implement formative assessment in their schools. The two vignettes are from a study by Earl and Timperley (2014) that showcase examples from a secondary school mathematics department. The first case shows an example of a teacher implementing the “letter” of formative assessment. In the second case, the teacher is working to apply the “spirit” of formative assessment, as she challenges her mental models about teaching and learning.
‘Both and’ Literacy Instruction K-5: A Proposed Paradigm Shift for the Common Core State Standards ELA Classroom
This article proposes a language arts curriculum congruent to the new, English/language arts (ELA) college and career ready standards, particularly to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). The idea of behind “‘both and’ literacy instruction” is that all of the following elements are needed for students to form a coherent literacy experience:
Foundational literacy practices: alphabetic knowledge, phonological processing, vocabulary, fluency
Reading comprehension: the role of read alouds/shared reading of grade-level text, building knowledge, attending to syntax
High volume of reading: using the technique called Guided Reading with Accountable Independent Reading
The purpose of this article is “to help teachers determine which aspects fo their current practice are inherently aligned with the CCSS and which aspects of existing practices must be added to, adapted or shifted” (p. 1).
Mathematics Grade Level Considerations for High School
In contrast to the kindergarten through grade 8 Common Core State Standards for Mathematics, high school level standards are not grade-specific. Instead, the standards specify learning expectations upon graduation from high school. This presentation provides an introduction to grade-specific considerations for item and task development for the Smarter Balanced assessments. These include guidelines for the following:
appropriate grade-level and mathematics vocabulary
appropriate representation of numbers in items and tasks
grade appropriate contexts
item difficulty
grade-level specific assessment targets
The presentation is available in the following formats:
YouTube Video
SchoolTube Video