Building Educator Assessment Literacy (BEAL) workshops provide hands-on professional learning for K-12 educators and administrators to deepen their understanding of college- and career-ready standards by engaging with Smarter Balanced performance tasks. In BEAL professional learning experiences, educators have the opportunity to:
- Learn about the design of Smarter Balanced performance tasks and scoring rubrics,
- Reflect on what performance tasks ask students to know and do and how they align to the standards,
- Use evidence-based scoring strategies to collaboratively score actual student responses, and
- Identify meaningful teaching and learning experiences that can support students to master the standards measured by performance tasks.
BEAL workshops also provide opportunities for educators to develop a shared understanding of different types of assessments and their purposes in a comprehensive assessment system and to explore a variety of Smarter Balanced tools and resources that can support local assessment practice and classroom instruction.
If you are interested in BEAL workshops in an online format, please click here for more information.
“[BEAL] has made me a stronger, more effective teacher. [Because of BEAL], I understand the importance of performance assessment tasks in measuring student strengths and weaknesses [and how they can] . . . help drive instruction toward students’ needs.”
Virginia Day, Reading Specialist
Amherst Middle School, New Hampshire
“I would say that in my 25 years of teaching, participating in BEAL was one of the more meaningful experiences I’ve had. I did not feel like any of my time was wasted…It was probably one of the most thorough trainings I’ve been to in my career.”
Rena Wagner, Early Learning Specialist
Silver Falls School District, Oregon
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To learn more, contact the Center for Standards, Assessment, and Accountability at [email protected]