As generative AI becomes increasingly embedded in educational tools, one of the most pressing questions for K–12 educators is how to ethically and effectively leverage it in assessment practices.

While the allure of AI-assisted grading is strong, particularly when teachers face overwhelming workloads, most districts and experts advise against allowing AI to make evaluative decisions about student performance. For example, in my own experience of experimenting by having Copilot grade against my assignment rubrics, it inflates grades significantly over my own assessment.

The risks around accuracy, bias, transparency, and student trust remain too high at present to utilize AI to actually grade student papers. Ruling out AI-generated grading does not mean ruling out AI in assessment, however. In fact, generative AI can play a powerful, responsible role in supporting teachers around the assessment cycle without replacing their professional judgment.

When used thoughtfully, AI enhances clarity, consistency, and efficiency while preserving the teacher’s expertise at the center.

Use AI to Design High-Quality Assessments, Not Score Them

Generative AI can help educators create assessments that better align with learning goals, state standards, and instructional strategies. Teachers can use AI to:

• Generate draft questions at varying levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy
• Propose performance tasks aligned to standards
• Write multiple-choice distractors that mirror common misconceptions
• Adapt existing assessments to different reading levels
• Suggest rubric criteria and indicator language (a personal favorite is rubric development)

The teacher remains the designer and editor, but generative AI accelerates early drafting. Teachers must then review and refine all items for accuracy, cultural relevance, age appropriateness, and alignment. AI is a brainstorming partner, not an author.

Use AI to Strengthen Rubrics and Calibration

AI can help educators articulate performance expectations more clearly, especially in subjective or skills-based areas like writing, science inquiry, or collaborative problem-solving. It can:

• Rewrite rubric descriptors in student-friendly language
• Suggest examples of “looks like/sounds like” for each level
• Compare two versions of a rubric to identify gaps or misalignments
• Provide calibration scenarios teachers can use in professional learning communities (PLCs).

AI should never analyze or score actual student work. Instead, it helps teachers refine their tools for making professional judgments. Occasionally, when I can’t find the correct constructive feedback for a student, I will ask AI to rephrase my feedback in a more positive and constructive way.

Use AI to Provide Feedback to Teachers, Not Students

Feedback to students must be authentic and contextualized. AI can support teachers as they craft feedback by helping:

• Rephrase teacher-written feedback more clearly or concisely (as mentioned above to provide a more positive spin)
• Provide sentence stems for various subject areas
• Suggest variations based on reading level or language needs
• Align feedback to rubric criteria

Teachers should not upload student writing for AI-driven feedback. Instead, AI improves teacher-generated feedback templates or clarity. As mentioned earlier, when I experimented with Copilot in a FERPA-compliant environment, Copilot significantly inflated the grades even based upon a strong rubric.

Use AI to Create Assessment Supports and Scaffolds

AI tools can help teachers build resources that support student success in assessments, such as:

• Graphic organizers for students to fully understand assignments
• Vocabulary lists can be developed from existing materials
• Checklists for self- or peer-review can be created for assignments

These supports can assist in supporting student understanding while reducing teacher workload.

Use AI to Analyze Trends in Teacher-Collected Data

As mentioned, generative AI should not evaluate individual student writing. However, it can help teachers see patterns in their own observations or assessment results. This includes asking AI to summarize common errors outlined in student papers or outline the common errors on quizzes and exams.

Historically, I would share exam summaries with students so they could see how they generally compared to the class as a whole. AI can be used to do that item analysis more efficiently. It can also be used to automatically look for any questions that everyone got correct or wrong, so the teacher can review to make it more challenging or effective in the future.

In this situation, teachers enter the results, not student work, allowing them to maintain control over evaluation.

Prioritize Transparency, Privacy, and Local Policy Compliance

AI cannot understand student intent, creativity, or growth. Nor can it reliably avoid bias or error. Teacher insight remains the most ethical and accurate way to assess student work.

When using AI to support assessment, teachers should:

• Follow district-approved tools and policies
• Avoid uploading identifiable student data into public AI systems (ensure FERPA compliance)
• Communicate clearly with families about how AI will be used

Conclusion

Generative AI can offer powerful opportunities to improve assessment design, clarity, scaffolding, and data analysis, without replacing teacher judgment. When used thoughtfully and transparently, AI strengthens both teaching and learning, supporting educators while maintaining trust and integrity.

School is back in full swing for many, with many exciting introductory activities, All About Me boards, and Get to Know You questionnaires. As we get more into carrying out lessons, teachers will also need ways to collect formative math assessment data to ensure that students are making progress, identify gaps in learning, and to gain an overall pulse on the classroom environment.

While Desmos is a popular digital tool for math teaching and learning, there are other tools and ways that can be used to capture math assessment data across various areas including algebra, economics, geometry, and statistics, to name a few. The great thing about many digital tools is the flexibility of use across content areas.

In a previous article we discussed leveraging technology to assess student learning, broadly focusing on infographics, mind mapping and demonstrations across content areas. In this article we discuss ways to use Plickers, polling, and QR codes and to capture real-time formative assessment data in math classrooms.

Plickers

As many schools have been altering cell phone and device policies, Plickers offers an opportunity for teachers to use a free online technology platform to create formative assessment questions, and allows for students to respond without the requirement of having to have a technology device. To learn more about how Plickers work, check out Plickers: How to Use It to Teach.

Plickers can be used to collect formative math assessment data when teaching arithmetic and algebra by having students select the correct solution to number problems and algebraic equations. It might be helpful to allow students to have a dry erase board or scratch paper to work through some of the problems, as both are low-tech options that would align well with the use of Plickers. When done with their work, students hold up the Plicker response card (looks similar to a QR Code) that matches their selected answer.

Plickers may be particularly useful in schools with limited or no broadband internet access, and the collected data will still be able to be accessed in the future for review.

Polls

As an alternative to a quiz, engaging poll questions could be asked during lessons to capture formative math assessment data. Many polling tools are available, with different features.

Slido is one option, which is seamlessly embedded into Google Slides presentations, while Kahoot! offers a more gamified experience. Regardless of the tool used, asking a variety of poll question types can help gather unique information on students’ learning. This means using multiple choice, open-ended, word cloud, and even the doodle features.

When creating a poll question, a teacher can insert images of household and community items and spaces, for example, and have students submit a poll response on what type of angle it closely represents. Using polls with graphs and tables while asking students questions about statistics (probability) and economics (supply and demand) content could encourage discussion, and help clarify their understanding of topics.

QR Codes

QR codes could be seen as more of a high-tech version of Plickers. Scanning a QR Code will require a device, but can also allow students to move around the classroom and work more independently or in teams.

QR codes can be used for simple and complex math word problems. For example, a gallery walk with QR codes could be placed around the classroom to encourage movement, and students can use the QR codes to solve the word problems. QR Codes scanned can take students to a prompt that could be on a platform into which students can type, such as Padlet or a Google Doc. In these platforms, students can work through the word problems, jot down notes, and develop the solution. You can also create a resource space for where QR codes lead to alternative questions (hints) that can support students in solving the word problem.

Whether you use Plickers, polls or QR codes, choose technology tools that you and your students have access to and that can help you gather, in real-time, formative assessment data, while making learning math an engaging and exciting experience.

• Leveraging Technology to Assess Student Learning
• Revising Lessons to Include AI

Wayground (formerly Quizizz) was once a quiz-only creation tool, like several others out there, but it's now so much more. This platform was built with educators and students as those intended to benefit from all its features and, as such, it's a fantastic tool to use in education.

Other similar options are out there, such as Quizlet and Kahoot!, but these are quiz-only systems that may be too limited for some teachers. Wayground takes the best of those and adds in the gamification, meme editing, and music picks to make this a more immersive experience for students.

Thanks to the new rebranding launch there are now also lots of AI tools and resources to help teach.

Wayground is already used by more than half the schools in the U.S. and in over 150 countries worldwide. This is thanks to a very intuitive system that looks great, in a minimalist way, and just makes learning more fun.

So is Wayground the ultimate quiz tool for your classroom?

What is Wayground?

Wayground is primarily an online-based quiz and teaching tool that operates like a gameshow. That means a question-and-answer platform that works across browsers and Chrome as well as iPhone and Android devices, with dedicated apps for both.

From a student's perspective, this makes learning more fun with game-based interactions and an ability to work through a quiz using their own devices. For teachers, there is a host of pre-built quizzes to pick from as well as the option to edit and create their own from scratch. Plus, with the added AI focus, the ability to personalize is now easier than ever.

Since students only need an access code, they don't need to sign-up for an account, making it super simple to access for everyone. In addition, their privacy and personal details can be kept be protected.

For teachers, this platform offers a large database of quiz options, and AI tools, so it's a simple-to-use tool that doesn't require a lot of time and effort. But since these can be edited, this can also provide a more in-depth and personalized offering for students and classes.

What's new in Wayground?

Since the rebrand, several updates have arrived including curriculum alignment to map resources to standards.

Lesson bundles are a helpful addition ideal for lesson planning.

AI can be used to work off a single file to makes multiple interactive formats.

Language support is wider now across all media.

VoyageMath is also new, offer middle school programs for individualized instruction.

How does Wayground work?

For teachers, a sign-up is required to start using Wayground. Basic details are required, and can be done using a school-based email address as well as a Google or Microsoft account. The particularly useful thing with this tool is that it offers some great integration across the likes of Edmodo, Google Classroom, and Remind.

Once an account is ready, teachers can access the database of quiz options, reporting choices and instructional resources can be searched and organized to make finding the ideal option a quick and easy process. You may discover that an already-created tool can serve your purpose just fine. Or you may want to edit and make a few changes to perfect the final version.

Creating a new resource is also an option, with single and multi-select multiple choice answer options. Teachers can input questions and answers manually if that's the easiest way to work, but there are rich media options, too. Add images to questions, or as answer options, and also customize feedback for students.

For example, you can incorporate a popular meme that students see based on the answer they give. While there are plenty to pick from, these can also be made by the teachers if desired.

Crucially, you can make adjustments using AI so there are more than 25 modifications that can accommodate each student's unique needs.

What are the best Wayground features?

The ability to take a quiz privately or as a class is a useful option. This allows teachers to assign individual quizzes suited to each student, or to work as a class, getting feedback on how the class is managing with a single subject across the group. The advantage of working in class is that everyone can see how their peers are doing. Equally, working solo can be ideal for those who prefer to be left alone, or for homework task setting.

Wayground offers a leaderboard, but this is something that teachers can choose to turn off if the competitive nature of that doesn't serve the students. The same can be said for question timers, which may help motivate some students but could be seen as unnecessary pressure for others – so being able to turn this on and off is a nice touch.

Also editable are the meme feedback and music options. With these on, the quiz can feel like a lot of fun and be very lively, or you can turn these off for a more studious experience.

One option allows students to see their results after they take the quiz, which is a helpful way to make sure they learn from any mistakes they may have made. They can also retake the quiz as a way to gamify it, seeing how many they can get right the second time around.

Teachers can email parents through the app with a detailed report that shows how the student is performing. These results are also helpful for teachers to see how students are struggling so as to decide what to work on next.

How much does Wayground cost?

Wayground is free to get started but keeps its pricing structure quite hidden on its homepage, except in the case of work-based options.

While you can use the free option, there is a $10 per month plan that is billed annually at $96. This gets you access to the Wayground Super library of quizzes and the ability to create unlimited quizzes and lessons. There is ad-free use with game themes, answer explanations, interactive videos, and more.

Wayground best tips and tricks

Spend time on search
It's important to spend time searching the database as more time here can result in a near-finished quiz, rather than the much longer process of making your own. Also the more you search, the better you become at using the platform. AI can help here as a jump-off point to find more.

Assess early
Start a class, or even a term, using a quiz that will assess how students are grasping a task or subject area. This can help tune how you teach the subject both on a class and teacher-to-student level.

Use parents
Send the results emails to parents and make sure students know that happens, perhaps monthly, so they can have another set of eyes on their efforts.

• New Teacher Starter Kit
• Best Tools for Teachers

Quizalize is a gamified platform that's designed to leverage quiz-style learning in the classroom.

This tool uses AI as a way to make quiz creation as straightforward as possible for educators. It also works to offer both group-based quiz options as well as individually tailored learning formats.

Since there is plenty of feedback for teachers, this can become a valuable tool for assessing progress. And since there is plenty of content already made and ready to go, this can be a powerful resource for teaching and learning.

This guide aims to explain all you need to know about Quizalize for your class.

What is Quizalize?

Quizalize is a quiz creation and execution tool. It uses AI and Google Forms integrations to make for a simple way to create quizzes. Crucially, it also gamifies the experience to make it as enthralling and engaging as possible for students.

Used by more than six million teachers and students, the company behind this says that it can offer a 25% increase in exam-pass rates as well as a 12% reduction in attainment gaps.

Since educators can use pre-built quiz options, and edit any as needed, it can make for a very simple way to build personalized learning and assessment materials for students.

Online games mean up to 100 players can compete together online, allowing this to be used beyond the class, too.

Since quiz integrations range to Google Classroom to Quizlet to ChatGPT, there are lots of ways to pull in current quiz options as well as making and sharing new ones.

How does Quizalize work?

Quizalize allows teachers to share quizzes using a code, right within Google Classroom if that's easiest. This then connects to a class set, so multiple quiz options are there for students to take.

Teachers have the options to give hints and tips on the quiz so students can get help as they progress, to foster working independently. Once completed, they are able to see their score and the correct answers, with a prompt to retake the quiz should they have missed any questions.

Feedback for teachers is helpful here as there is a lot of data displayed on their dashboard, which offers color-coded clarity on how students are doing on an individual level (although this is a feature reserved for the premium version of the system only).

What are the best Quizalize features?

Quizalize is primarily an assessment tool, testing students and getting an idea of their understanding. But it can also help to continue the learning journey with bespoke feedback – guiding a student with less than 50% to a review video, or one with 80% to a new quiz that addresses their weaker areas.

Gamification is a big part of the draw here, with lots of original games that can be played live and online for an immersive experience. These have 3D gaming world tasks that are interspersed with quiz questions that allow students to progress if they answer correctly. These can be played individually or by the whole class at once.

Thankfully, this platform is open so you can import quizzes already built from other places such as Google Forms or Quizlet. Only now you can gamify these to be even more appealing to students.

The AI smart quiz is a great feature. This uses the smarts of ChatGPT and generates questions built around grade levels, topics, learning standards, and more. Teachers can edit these, adding images, videos, and other elements, to enrich the learning experience.

How much does Quizalize cost?

There are several pricing options for Quizalize, including a free basic version of the offering.

The Basic plan, which is free, gets you three AI-generated quizzes per month, 10 saved puzzles, one class, up to 50 students can play live, 30 pieces of AI-generated feedback per month, and results analysis for the most recent quiz.

Go for the Lite plan, at $4.49/mo or $29.88/year (works out to $2.49/mo), and you get all the above plus four live classes, five activities and full reporting, access to all games, plus dedicated customer support.

The Premium tier, at $7.99/mo or $59.88/year (works out to $4.99/mo), gets you the above plus unlimited AI-generated quizzes, unlimited access to user-generated quizzes, unlimited saved quizzes, unlimited classes, and unlimited pieces of AI-generated feedback.

Quizalize best tips and tricks

Bulk learning
Move beyond assessment by adding images, videos, and links to enrich the learning experience of students further.

Enhance forms
Pull in your current Google Forms assessments and use the AI tool to enhance them more, in the program.

Game rewards
Use the mini games as a reward system to help keep students engaged and progressing with the testing side.

• New Teacher Starter Kit
• Best Tools for Teachers

Assessment is often connected with testing and exams, and is not often associated with being technology-infused. Moreover, students may become a bit nervous when they learn that they will be assessed, which may impact their performance.

The good thing about using technology for assessment purposes is that students have the chance to demonstrate their learning by using exciting tools. And students may not realize that they are being assessed, which has the potential for them to demonstrate their learning without the fear of failure.

While this list is not exhaustive, here are a few ideas for using technology to assess student learning.

Infographics

Our students are expected to take in a massive amount of information, and then summarize to teachers in succinct ways. Infographics are a digital tool perfect for sharing large amounts of information in small chunks, creatively. Dozens of free tools are available, such as Canva, Adobe Express, and Visme, which also have templates students can use to create their infographics.

For example, in social studies, you could have students illustrate the three branches of government or in a math class students can create an infographic that shows order of operations (for example PEMDAS- please excuse my dear aunt sally). Even with using templates, you can create parameters for how much content, words, if they are numbered, etc. are required for the infographic, while also avoiding stifling students’ creativity. And students can use the infographics as a formative assessment and study guide to prepare them for larger, end-of-unit summative assessments.

Mind Mapping and Diagrams

Brainstorming is an important skill that students may need to demonstrate. Or you may want to assess students’ ability to make connections to different pieces of information.

One brainstorming activity students can do using technology is mind mapping. A tool such as Popplet, especially for younger learners, would allow students to have one focal point in the center, and map out pieces that align. For example, in a science class, students can demonstrate their understanding of species by starting with “species” at the center of the mind map and then drawing up connections, such as types of species, the food chain, and habitats.

Students can also use a tool such as Lucidchart to make diagrams. For example, in the same science class, you may want to see that the students know the parts of the human body or in a history class students could create a hierarchical diagram of governmental officials.

Demonstrations and Connection

As an alternative to traditional presentations, using social technologies is a great way to integrate internet-based tools that students enjoy, while allowing them to demonstrate to you what they have learned.

For example, you could have students who are working on their public speaking skills in an ELA class (i.e. elevator speeches) use TikTok to get their point across effectively and succinctly. Fellow students may be more inclined to review their peers’ work if they are required to go to TikTok for a review, versus watching them live in class.

Tiktok can also be used for students to demonstrate their math skills. For example, in a geometry class students can use their bodies and props to show their teachers their understanding of different angles.

To show understanding of equivalences, Pinterest could be used. For example, if you want to determine if your students understand measurement equivalents, you could ask them to find pictures of different objects that have the same weight equivalence (i.e. a picture of a gallon of milk and a picture of two half gallons of milk).

I hope you see that assessment does not have to be mundane, only involving traditional tests and examinations. Leveraging technology to assess student learning is a viable option to bring the fun and excitement that students experienced as you engaged them in the lesson, while also showing you what they know.

This article is the final of three which has focused on using technology for all aspects of teaching and learning including, instruction, engagement, and assessment. To review more about the first two articles, check out Leveraging Technology to Support Lesson Creation and Instruction and Leveraging Technology to Better Engage Learners in Lessons.

Brisk is an AI assistant designed to help teachers save time and offer more bespoke lessons to students.

More and more AI tools are flooding the market with a focus on helping teachers or, in many cases, replacing their efforts. That's where this one stands out as it aims at supporting teacher efforts, rather than taking away their part.

Since Brisk is easy to setup and get started, and comes with a lot of support, it's suitable for pretty much any teacher who may want to try out AI. The company claims it can save more than 10 hours per week in teacher prep and marking time, so it could be worth a try.

What is Brisk?

Brisk is an AI teaching assistant tool that's designed to save teacher prep, marking, and general assessment time with useful automations.

The idea here is to take what a teacher would normally do, and automate all the administrative parts to work smarter not harder. As the company says: "The pressure to do more with less can be exhausting." And that's what it aims to alleviate.

As such, this is "trusted" by more than 20,000 districts, and is made by teachers for teachers, so it's specifically targeting tasks known to be tedious and, perhaps dreaded, by many educators.

Since this is all about being simple to use, and install, it should be something that most teachers can take advantage of right away. And with plenty of support it's a choice how deep you want to go into the rich offerings available here.

How does Brisk work?

Brisk is a Google Chrome extension, so it's quick and easy to install, for free, on your browser. As such this works on pretty much any laptop or desktop with Chrome installed -- and is ideally suited to Chromebooks.

Once installed, teachers can begin to use the AI to create presentations, quizzes, lesson plans, rubrics, interventions, etc., with more than 30 tools available.

Usefully, this can be setup to offer direct feedback to student submissions, including comments right into Google Docs in the paid version. By spending some time upfront selecting how you want the tool to work, it can save time later as the AI can do the assessments and feedback for you, in your style.

It's also possible to adjust levels to suit the age or abilities of individuals, making this a helpful way to support differentiated learning without taking additional time.

What are the best Brisk features?

Brisk has a great number of helpful tools and one that stands out is the interactivity it can offer. Using Youtube videos or online images and websites, you can setup interactive activities that allow students to learn and engage with materials that might otherwise just be made to watch or read.

Translation is another area in which this tool excels, allowing you to take text and have it translated to more than 30 different languages automatically. You can also adjust reading levels, so if you have a Google Doc, for example, you can change that to suit everyone in the class to meet them where they are for the right level of challenge.

Using rubrics, it's possible to have the AI help students grow based on their progress. This can support differentiated learning and offer the next steps after work is submitted so that they can continue to learn at a rate that's suitable for them.

Go premium and you get powerful features such as targeted learning, through which direct comments can be made into Google Docs that students submit. A selection of tools are also available to create standards-aligned lesson plans with ease.

How much does Brisk cost?

Brisk is free to download and use but there is also the option to pay for a premium version that offers more complex features.

The Free version of Brisk gets you the standard AI LLM, more than 23 tools to create, three feedback styles, the inspect writing tool, the text leveler tool, and 30+ languages supported.

Go for Educator Pro, at $99.99/year, and you get the turbo AI LLM, another feedback style, AI detection in the inspect writing tool, and slides upgrades.

The Schools & Districts version is available at a quote price, and that adds 10 more create tools, academic standards, admin dashboard at the district level, custom data privacy agreement, professional development, and dedicated customer support, plus advanced student insights and feedback.

Brisk best tips and tricks

Use the resources
Videos for teachers are there to help and they really work so put the time in to learn just how many ways this tool can serve you better.

Try for free
Use the free version to see how this could work for you before deciding if the premium features are worth the investment for your way of working.

Start here
The AI generated text can be a helpful starting point, even looking at its drawbacks as part of the learning experience as you go from there.

• New Teacher Starter Kit
• Best Tools for Teachers

SchoolAI is a teacher-approved generative AI system that's designed specifically for education.

While there are plenty of generative AI systems out there, what sets SchoolAI apart is that it's been designed to utilize tools specifically aimed at education resources.

That should mean teachers, and students, are able to create content using this platform without as much input -- or confusion -- as some more open systems might demand.

Used by millions of students and teachers worldwide, SchoolAI is a fast-growing platform that could save you time as a teacher or a student in class and beyond.

What is SchoolAI?

SchoolAI is a generative artificial intelligence system, so it can be used to create content for class. Thanks to FERPA, COPPA, and SOC 2 compliance, this is safely designed for use in schools.

The idea is to offer AI assistance to save time and effort in planning, for teachers, and in study for students. That includes the ability to tailor lesson plans, quizzes and worksheets, with features built in such as automatic alignment to standards.

Crucially, this works to personalize the experience in a way that should accommodate each student's learning style, with a more one-to-one support system, all without the usual time strains that might create.

How does SchoolAI work?

SchoolAI offers systems tailored to the needs of students and teachers. For teachers it's a way to generate learning content with automated assistance. For students it offers personalized chat bots and sidekicks to help with learning.

Spaces can be created in the system as a place to offer a specific focus on a learning area in which students can explore information, ask questions, and even chat directly with historical figures as if they were alive and available now.

Students can type in responses and questions or speak them for a more verbal interaction, if that's available where they are working. The bot can then ask questions and prompts that take students through a learning experience that feels more like a chat than a lesson.

Teachers can monitor student conversations and progress to track interactions and learning uptake on an individual basis.

Admin-focused tools are available for tracking progress, creating workspaces for documents, simplifying workflows, and more.

What are the best SchoolAI features?

SchoolAI uses AI to make learning a new experience in which students interact with a teacher-like bot that guides them through learning. Since teachers can edit these experiences, it can mean creating interactive lessons that students are able to visit and work through as and when they need or want.

The Coteacher bot offers a great way for teachers to build a virtual version of themselves that students can ask questions of and get answers instantly, covering the basics and saving time in the room.

The pre-built Spaces are very helpful. A student could select Amelia Earhart, for example, and chat with the bot as if really talking to the famous pilot herself. They are asked questions and given prompts to explore the historical experience as if they were directly interacting with her.

Usefully, there are lots of teacher-focused resources that help with guidance on how to use this AI in the class. Since there is a vast set of ways it can work, this allows for the creative freedom teachers can take advantage of to get the best out of the tool for their specific needs.

The Tl:dr (too long, didn't read) tool is a great way to simplify text into more digestible sizes. The ability to change tone to suit the particular student is available, ideal for varying ages and abilities. Plus, you can use this for translations or even to vary a text as needed to suit a certain audience.

How much does SchoolAI cost?

SchoolAI offers a free version as well as a premium system with more advanced resources.

The Free version gets you limited Spaces, a basic dashboard, basic AI image generation tools, limited Coteacher bots, and FERPA compliance.

Go for the Enterprise version, on a quote price basis, and you get unlimited spaces use, enhanced insights in dashboard controls, customization-enabled AI image generation, unlimited use of the Coteacher with GPT4-enabled abilities, LMS integrations, professional development, a dedicated partner success manager, in-app live support, and an enhanced privacy agreement.

SchoolAI best tips and tricks

Carve out your Coteacher
Invest in the creation of your Coteacher bot so it's able to deal with most student needs, saving you time in the room as questions get answered right away.

Be original
Use the AI's generative abilities to create original images and more for a fresh experience of learning in class.

Teach AI
Be sure to teach students about AI literacy and ethics, including how it works and its limitations, before they begin to use the tools.

• New Teacher Starter Kit
• Best Tools for Teachers

KnoPro is powered by NAF, which is a national education non-profit. While KnoPro itself is a CTE platform built to give students in-demand skills, it also offers companies solutions thanks to those student ideas.

Essentially, this is a place where companies with problems can set tasks for students to work on and solve -- getting valuable work experience in the process. In that way, it should be a win-win scenario and is likely why more than 120,000 U.S. high schools work with this system.

Businesses have real problems identified, while students gain real-world experience that's great for both college and work applications in the future.

This guide lays out all you need to know about KnoPro to see how it could work for your class.

What is KnoPro?

KnoPro is a CTE-friendly platform developed to help students work on real-world skills by solving problems of businesses that could use their help. By using a points-and-prizes system, it allows kids to feel invested in this way of learning and developing.

Thanks to partners working with the platform that include American Express, Fleischer Scholars, Lenovo, Merck, and others, it allows students to connect with real businesses. The result is that a student or group could come up with a solution to a problem that is genuinely used by actual companies -- a great line to add to the resume.

The system works using challenges to give it a competition feel but also to help break down sections on which for students to work. This can include setting tasks to individuals or groups as a way to help develop specific skills based on each task's demands.

How does KnoPro work?

KnoPro can be signed up for by individual students as long as they go to high school. They are then met with a selection of challenge topics to pick from where they can choose to work solo or in teams.

Teachers can also sign-up and search through the projects as well as monitor student progress and feedback as they go.

The system uses virtual mentors to provide feedback so students can work independently of teacher assistance, largely. They are then able to submit their work to earn points and potentially win cash prizes.

Non-major entry options are also available through which students can try out the Daily Skillbuilders, as these are called. These are designed to help build skills and also win prizes but on a smaller scale, generally only taking about 10-minutes or less to complete.

What are the best KnoPro features?

KnoPro is about as real-world as it gets. So despite being safely digital and accessible, students are able to affect change in actual business scenarios. This is a tremendously empowering experience for the students in and of itself.

The monitors who offer feedback are recruited from the major companies working with the platform. This means students are getting direct feedback as they might do in a future job, providing invaluable experience and skills.

The gamification of all this makes it super accessible in a non-frightening way -- which a straight-work task might otherwise mean. Students get points and have the potential to win those cash prizes, incentivizing it perfectly.

This is getting internship-style experience for students without costing them anything or requiring them to have to go anywhere. And thanks to the Daily Skillsbuilder challenges, there are prizes and points up for grabs on a regular basis.

KnoPro is for students age 13 and up only, so while teachers could work through problems with a younger class, they won't be able to sign up for their own working accounts.

How much does KnoPro cost?

KnoPro was created by NAF, the nonprofit, as a way to get work experience to more kids and as such it has done this for free. Students can win prize money but taking part does not cost them anything aside from their time and effort.

KnoPro best tips and tricks

Do daily
Get students into the habit of taking part by encouraging those daily challenges, for in class and on their own time.

Team up
Set groups so students can encourage and support each other while learning to get to grips with the process of how this all works.

Give prizes
Give your own class based prizes to help students feel like winners even if they don't win overall on the task.

• New Teacher Starter Kit
• Best Tools for Teachers

Plickers is a formative assessment tool designed to make the process as simple, quick, and easy for teachers as it should be.

This tool is already used by millions of teachers worldwide. This is thanks to an all-in solution that can be used on most iOS and Android smartphone devices with ease.

Since this works offline if needed and students use cards, no other devices or an internet connection are needed. This is designed to make accessibility as inclusive as possible, which is part of why it is so well-used by teachers internationally.

Being free to use makes Plickers even more appealing. This guide aims to explain what you need to know if you're considering Plickers for your class.

What is Plickers?

Plickers is an app-based polling tool that's designed to be used by teachers and students for formative assessment in class.

Usefully, this allows teachers to collect helpful data on student progress with an easy monitoring system. That can mean working on exit tickets, quick checks, or warm-ups to lessons, all within this framework.

This operates on a group scale so teachers can work through questions at scale with the class, while still keeping track of responses both in the moment and longer term.

How does Plickers work?

Plickers requires the teacher to use the app, perhaps on a smart device or, ideally, projected to a large display. They can pick questions from their own curated libraries or add questions as they go.

Teachers can print sets of Plickers cards for free, which range from the starter set of 40 to larger set of 63. Both are available in larger fonts and sizes. Cards, which all vary slightly, are also numbered 1-40 (or 1-63) as needed, so individual student answers can be identified and tracked.

Students are then all given cards that they present in different orientations to denote different responses to various questions. At this point these need to be scanned, using a smart device, which can be a bit of a pinch point if that doesn't go smoothly.

Teachers can project answers onto a screen automatically if desired. Crucially, responses are saved so that both students and teachers can see progress in that round of questioning.

What are the best Plickers features?

Plickers is very straight-forward to get to understand and use. It's super affordable since students don't even need devices to have their responses digitized.

The website offers helpful additions such as a scoresheet as well as question history reports, allowing teachers to track student progress over time.

Use of imagery is possible allowing for big picture-style question rounds, which can be an engaging way to get going before teaching a new subject while also assessing current knowledge.

This can be a useful polling tool as well as a question-and-assessment system. Thanks to the check-it-later assessment style, this is great for keeping track of all students without any issues of embarrassment based on giving back responses as you work along.

How much does Plickers cost?

Plickers is free to use but this is also a premium tier option for those teachers that want more.

The Free tier gets you all the features.

The Plickers Pro tier, at $71.88/year, has advanced content sharing and design allowing teachers to create Sets with unlimited questions, as well as collaboration to create with other Pro users.

Plickers best tips and tricks

Open up
Open a lesson or new subject using a set of questions to assess student knowledge before going further.

Mid-lesson
Use these questions mid-lesson as a way to refresh on what's been taught and also to keep students alert and focused.

Exit ticket
End with questions as a way to cement learning and see how students are taking in what's being taught.

• New Teacher Starter Kit
• Best Tools for Teachers

Generative AI tools have the potential to dramatically reshape how students approach their assignments. While AI can assist in various learning tasks, it presents challenges for educators, especially when students might use it to complete assignments with minimal original input. It then becomes critical for educators to design assessments that are not easily solvable by generative AI tools and foster higher-level thinking skills as represented by Bloom’s Taxonomy.

As instructors work through revising assessments to be resistant to generation by AI tools with little student input, they should consider the following principles:

• Incorporate personal experiences and local content into assignments
• Ask students for multi-modal deliverables
• Assess the developmental benchmarks for assignments and transition assignments further up Bloom’s Taxonomy
• Consider real-time and oral assignments

Let’s look at each in more depth.

4 Tips for Designing AI-Resistant Assessments

1. Build assignments that ask students to personalize their work, drawing from local context and/or personal experiences. These are both things with which generative AI tools often struggle, particularly tasks that require students to apply knowledge uniquely or in a nuanced context based on personal experiences or local realities.

To redesign this to be AI resistant, in a history assignment, for example, rather than asking students to write a generic essay on World War II, instructors can ask them to investigate the impact of World War II on their local community or a specific group of people in their region. This might involve going to local archives, interviewing elders in the community, or researching local newspapers.

Such assignments demand that students gather specific information that is not readily available to most AI tools. This can potentially better engage students as they consider the impact on their families and relatives as opposed to just looking at the overall picture.

2. Consider multimodal assessments that require students to use various forms of media to demonstrate their understanding. By incorporating multiple modes of expression, instructors can ensure that students engage with the content on deeper levels while minimizing the use of AI-generated responses, which are often text-based.

Currently, most generative AI tools struggle to combine text and graphics effectively. For a creative writing unit, students could be asked to develop a story that includes a traditional written assignment exploring a particular theme or character development. Ask for the student to include visual representations of key scenes or characters from their story, encouraging them to think about how imagery enhances storytelling.

One more step could be to have students record themselves reading their story aloud. Ask students to then explain why they used the tone, pacing, and inflections they did.

3. Consider process-oriented assessments that focus on evaluating students at multiple stages of their work rather than just the final product. Such benchmarks in the assessment process are helpful for students to reduce the risk of failure on large assignments by building checkpoints to ensure students are on track to success. This design encourages deeper engagement and understanding, as students are assessed on their ability to revise, reflect, and grow through the learning process. AI tools may assist with producing final outputs, but these cannot replicate a student's iterative thinking process.

For example, for a research project on the American Revolution, the instructor could break the task into several smaller steps. First, have students submit a proposal outlining their chosen aspect of the revolution and their planned sources. Then require a bibliography of planned sources, including a summary of sources and how each will be used in the paper. Then assess an outline, a first draft, and a final draft. If appropriate, an instructor can then ask the student to provide insights on why they made the changes they chose to make between drafts. These processes highlight student critical thinking skills and make it difficult to rely solely on generative AI tools.

4. Real-time assessments, such as live presentations, debates, or interactive in-class activities, provide students with opportunities to demonstrate their understanding and critical thinking at the moment. These strategies are AI-resistant, as students must actively engage with the material in real-time, showcasing their spontaneous thinking and problem-solving skills.

In a public speaking unit, students could deliver speeches based on prompts related to the texts studied in class. For example, they might be asked to argue which character from The Great Gatsby is most responsible for Gatsby’s downfall, providing evidence from the text to support their stance. This real-time assessment challenges students to think quickly, formulate a coherent argument, and articulate their thoughts clearly; skills that are not easily replicated by most generative AI tools.

A corollary to real-time assessment would be to provide for oral exams, either uniformly or randomly, which can allow instructors to assess student presentation skills as well as the subject matter. These also can be done via student self-recorded videos. A random assignment could be that each student will be asked to provide an oral response to one or more quizzes during the course. This would not require a major shift in assessments but would provide a potential safeguard to the use of generative AI.

If performance on the oral exam was significantly different than on the written assignment, perhaps a conversation with the student would be in order. Self-recorded videos can be implemented in any course format, including asynchronous ones.

One last reminder: Students should have clear guidelines for each assignment about if and how they can use generative AI tools.

Ultimately, designing AI-resistant assessments requires thoughtful strategies that promote critical thinking, creativity, and deep engagement. Though not all of these suggestions will work in all academic areas, the approaches outlined above ensure academic integrity and enhance student learning by pushing them to think critically, reflect deeply, and express their ideas across multiple formats.

• Designing AI-Enhanced Assignments for Deeper Learning
• 5 Key Policy Considerations for Regulating AI in Classrooms

Erin M. Carter, Ed.D., is a biology faculty member at Century College in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. Her research interests focus on digital equity and access, academic integrity, and online teaching methodologies. She earned her doctorate in education from Winona State University.

Joshua R. Eyler gives the U.S. grading system an “F” in his new book Failing Our Future: How Grades Harm Students, And What We Can Do About It. In it, which publishes on August 27, Eyler makes the case that grades hurt academic success and are helping to fuel the ongoing youth mental health crisis.

Eyler is director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching & Learning and an education professor at the University of Mississippi. I recently spoke with him about how he came to these conclusions and the alternative grading systems he’s studied that thousands of schools are already using.

Is It True Grades Aren’t Linked To Academic Success?

One of the main arguments in favor of grading is that it inspires students to do work, and without it, students wouldn’t have any motivation.

The research doesn’t really support this claim, Eyler says. In his book, he points to a 2021 meta-analysis of many previous studies looking at the impact of grading overall. The study compared three groups of students, one who received grades, a second group that received feedback but no grades, and a third group that received no grades or feedback. The study’s authors note: “Overall results indicated that grades positively influenced achievement but negatively influenced motivation compared to no feedback.”

Perhaps more significantly, students who received comments without grades saw increased achievement and motivation. “Compared to those who received comments, students receiving grades had poorer achievement and less optimal motivation,” the study’s authors conclude.

And this research is not an outlier. “That work really confirms research that has been around for decades showing the [negative] effect of grades on performance learning and motivation,” Eyler says. “It’s a continuous thread that we see through these investigations.”

Why Do Grades Seem To Decrease Achievement?

Education scientists often talk about intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation. Grades, most agree, are extrinsic motivators. “They're the prize, the candy, the reward that students get for following the rules and moving through the system,” Eyler says. “What we know about extrinsic motivators is that they are good for compliance. They work to get people to do things that they don't want to do. And so, yes, they can work to get students in seats, to get them to turn things in on time, to get them to participate.”

However, there’s a catch. “An extrinsic motivator can never guarantee that someone will learn just because they're forced to be in a classroom,” Eyler says. “Learning depends on intrinsic motivation which grades affect pretty negatively.”

Additionally, grades can often interfere with fundamental patterns of learning. “The natural way that we learn something from a scientific perspective is we try things out. We make a mistake. We get feedback on that, and then we try it again,” Eyler says. “This is a cycle that our brains are really built to go through as we learn new things and grades arrest that process before it can ever take place. So we get to the trying things out part, and then we get a stamp of how well we tried them out without the opportunity to benefit from the feedback and the trying again.”

Beyond academics, grades are consistently linked to stress and negative mental health in students, Eyler says.

But Isn't Doing Away With Grades Impossible?

Grades seem so engrained in our education system that even talking about a school without grades feels radical. But there are many that exist. More than 3,000 Montessori schools, including 500 public schools, are gradeless. Beyond these, many K-12 districts and colleges across the U.S. have embraced nontraditional grading systems, Eyler says.

“There are definitely some great models and examples of schools that don't have any grades, both at the K-12 and college level,” Eyler says. But he’s not advocating schools across the country pump the breaks on all grading. “I think a lot of this conversation is really trying to get from the traditional grading schemes that we're in now to reorienting students' relationship with grades by trying out some of the alternative grading models that people are using.”

Many school districts are moving toward standards-based grading, which is also referred to as competency or proficiency mastery grading. Other grading methods include portfolio grading, collaborative grading, and specifications grading.

“There’s lots of different ways people are experimenting with the kinds of evaluation that they’re using to release the pressure valve and put the emphasis back onto learning and less about the grade itself,” Eyler says.

What Role Can Technology Play In This Conversation?

Technology isn’t needed to move from traditional grading to another grading method but it can make it easier by allowing teachers to create multiple opportunities for success through their LMS or other tools.

Elyer points to a colleague at the University of Mississippi who offers an unlimited retake system on chemistry classes. To do this the professor created a vast dataset of questions. “She has all the possible problems in the LMS and it generates new exams kind of randomly pulling from that databank. So it saves time. It helps to automate the process,” he says.

Additionally, new software is being developed to translate mastery-grade transcripts into their traditional grade equivalents. Eyler says these later tools may be helpful but aren’t necessary because colleges can already evaluate non-traditional transcripts.

What Are The Biggest Grading Misconceptions?

Many proponents of traditional grades say that without grades there is no way to tell if students have learned, but that’s not true, Eyler says. “There's nothing inherent to a grade that is intrinsically connected to whether or not a student is learning something. We can give students that information through written or oral feedback just as easily as we can, in fact, better than we can, just by putting a 92 or a B- on something.”

He adds this idea is tied to another common misconception that grades are necessary to maintain rigor and academic standards. “That's not true, either, for many of the same reasons,” he says.

• Standards-Based Learning and Grading: Your 2024 Game Plan
• Flipped Learning Pioneer Examines Mastery Learning

The movement toward standards-based learning has been in motion for over 30 years, yet there is still widespread confusion about why this model is so valuable.

During a recent Tech & Learning roundtable webinar sponsored by Otus, a panel of K-12 leaders tackled the most pressing questions about standards-based learning and grading, and shared how to prepare to address it in the new school year.

Watch the full webinar on demand here.

Panelists included:

• Eddie Oakley, Learning Acceleration Specialist, Ohio Valley Educational Cooperative, Kentucky
• Kelly Ronnebeck, Associate Superintendent for Student Achievement, East Moline School District 37, Illinois
• Jay Meadows, Chief Executive Officer, Exemplars
• Barbara Geibel, First Grade Teacher, Mentor Lead, Salem School District, Wisconsin

What are the core principles of your district’s standards-based grading, and how do you implement and provide feedback to support these?

Kelly Ronnebeck: “We found that standards-based systems’ grading really focuses on student learning of the core content, not on engagement or the student’s effort. We really liked that, and we were able to show parents where their students were performing in relation to the standard. It really aligns more closely to what we’re doing in the classroom with our instructional practices, and provides a more specific, accurate, and more understandable description of what students are doing.”

Barbara Geibel: “Last year is when we started meeting as grade levels and going through all our standards, picking out our essential standards and the ones we thought were most important, and then started aligning our assessments and building our report cards from that.”

Jay Meadows: “Looking at it through the lens of a math teacher, I realized that our grading practices weren’t really asking our students to think about 21st-century real-world problems and how to solve those while developing 21st-century skills . . . The traditional report card wasn’t really [reflecting those skills]. I was giving students As and Bs on tests for procedural fluency that my phone can do now. So what should we be asking kids to do in our math classrooms? When we think about math a little bigger, beyond procedures and algorithms, and encourage problem-solving and critical thinking, it’s more engaging and in alignment with 21st-century needs.”

Eddie Oakley: “Focusing on the priority standards, and staying away from ‘the efforts’ and extra credit, really let us know where students are, and what they can and cannot do.”

What steps have you taken to align curriculum, assessments, and instruction to standards-based grading?

Geibel: “We worked together to make sure that our assessments were aligned to the state standards, and we used Otus to put that all in to make sure of the accountability and consistency so that we’re all on the same page . . . In the beginning, you have some who are leery about it – it’s something different, right?”

Ronnebeck: “Standards-based grading really helped us give true pictures to parents and teachers and students, especially since we have such a diverse population. It was a big shift, but our teachers were very excited about it because they felt that disconnect between what we were doing with instruction and matching that with a letter grade . . . We started the learning as a group, doing various book studies looking into standards-based grading, what is it, etc. And then from there, we had various curriculum committees working together, which had representation from all the different grade levels, so we were hearing all the voices across the district, which helped with the buy-in.”

Oakley: “We started with the end in mind. We built our summative assessments first, and then built toward the standards . . . Our district has built a portrait of a graduate, which tells every parent what a student should be able to do at the end of each grade level before going on to the next grade level. It took a lot of work all across the district, and featured a big committee with staff, teachers, community members, and parents. The profile features six pieces to it: global citizen, lifelong learner, inspired innovator, critical thinker, responsible collaborators, effective communicators. Each student in 5th, 8th, and 12th grade has to do a defense of learning to see if they can go across to the next grade level.”

Meadows: “When you start with your assessments, you can work backward. You can say, ‘If these are the expectations, the big ideas, then how can we learn to do that in my classrooms?’ And then that drives a lot of conversations in your PLCs and PD . . . So when you ask students to think about math beyond procedural fluency, it really increases the engagement levels of students. When students are given the freedom to solve a cool problem any way they want, it increases student engagement and freedom in the math classroom . . . So when you do that, you create a consistent set of expectations from K through high school that certain big ideas will be covered every year. And it can take three years for everyone to buy in and see math the same way, and that consistency is the key to standards-based learning. It takes time, but it’s a powerful journey.”

Oakley: “Assessments and instruction both need to be rigorous. And I told my students and teachers that the practice is going to be harder than the game. So taking tough assessments gives them the confidence when it’s time to take the state exams.”

How are you communicating to parents? Learning expectations, grading policies, etc.

Oakley: “It first started with getting the staff on board, and then went to families. I wrote letters to parents, and said, ‘When you were in school, grades were 70%, 80%, etc.,’ and I asked them to tell me what that meant. And they couldn’t tell me what it meant. Now with standards-based grading, their students can tell them what that means because they’ve mastered the standard . . . Now we’re using social media to get things out to students and parents.”

Geibel: “We’re just going to be starting it, so it’s been a lot of communication to start out. It’s starting with early grades first. This will be a breath of fresh air because it can show the parents exactly what their student does and does not know . . . By starting with K-2, they will move up through the grades to help with the adoption/switch.”

Ronnebeck: “It’s a very slow rollout. We started with our K-4 buildings, which are self-contained classrooms. We had a gentle start with traditional grades, but changed some other parts. We worked with the mindset at middle school the first year, but we’re also holding town hall meetings, sending home notes, flyers, social media, etc. We also had a short video at every event that scrolled through it over and over again, giving the highlights of standards-based grading . . . A lot of the communication has really happened through conversation, but with the students talking to their parents, but it’s also discussed in teacher conferences, which rolls into the instruction. So having those direct discussions with parents was really the game-changer. Change is scary!”

• Tech & Learning webinars

An anonymous high school teacher recently wrote to The New York Times ethicist column, asking if a teacher could ethically use AI to grade student work while actively prohibiting students' use of AI to submit their own work. To this teacher, doing so felt hypocritical.

The column’s author, Kwame Anthony Appiah, a philosophy professor at NYU, replied to the teacher that this mixed policy toward AI was ethical because the students need to practice writing while the teacher already knew how to grade. The real question, Appiah wrote, was whether AI grading tools could fairly grade students in a manner that helped them improve for the next assignment, like a skilled teacher.

As AI gets better and better, and more tools are available on the market, it’s an increasingly important question, as is a follow up: If AI tools can grade fairly and effectively, will students and teachers accept it?

AI Can Already Help With Assessments 

Deirdre Quarnstrom, Vice President of Education at Microsoft, says there’s a lot of interest in the question. “As I look across the industry, I think any potential task that an educator can do, there is organizations working on how to improve that, and how to make that better,” she says.

AI is already skilled enough at summarization to help teachers in the grading and assessment process, she says, by performing initial evaluations based on a set of instructions or prompts or criteria.

Michael Klymkowsky, a biology professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, is developing an AI tool that can help assess biology students' progress. Instead of grading, it’s designed to help inform teachers on where students are at with the material. However, he says it might already be able to do a better job at grading than humans in some instances, including a mega section for a course with grading done by time-strapped graduate assistants.

“Graduate students don't always have time to grade everything equally rigorously,” Klymkowsky says. He adds that adopting a system such as this might help teachers to not be as reluctant to assign short-answer questions because of the additional time traditionally needed for grading.

Whether or not school leaders would permit such a use openly, or if students would accept its use, is another question altogether.

AI Grading Obstacles and Concerns  

A recent pair of studies looking at AI assessments and writing found that AI wasn’t as good as skilled teachers, but was close and was probably better than overworked or inexperienced teachers at providing feedback.

Steve Graham, a co-author on both studies and professor at Arizona State University, says that a key to whether students and teachers become comfortable with AI-graded work are perceptions of its accuracies. “If you trust feedback from AI, then I think you're more likely to use it,” Graham says. One way to build that trust is through increased research and studies so its efficacy can be evaluated and best practices can be developed.

Still, it’s easy to imagine some teachers still being reluctant and students pushing back against poor AI-generated grades even though there is precedent for acceptance of machine-generated assessments. For example, state writing assessments are increasingly scored by computer programs less advanced than generative AI, Graham says. These tools don’t really analyze the writing, just the semantic and syntactic markers, while also assessing whether it's a match for good, quality writing.

“People were initially leery about that, but you're seeing that used more and more,” he says.

Although Graham believes AI grading and assessments overall can eventually help students learn and ease time constraints for teachers, he also stresses that we’ll need to always keep in mind the human element.

“The only reason I'd want feedback from AI is to make a paper better that I'm either writing for myself to explore something about me, or that I'm writing for other people to read,” he says. “The fear I have is that if we turn to algorithm-based feedback or feedback from ChatGPT, and we don't have other people reading our papers, well, what's the purpose here? And ultimately, we write for a purpose.”

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Formative assessments are crucial for educators to understand their students’ grasp of concepts and skills as they work their way through lessons. With this understanding, educators can better direct learners to spend more time practicing and gaining mastery of topics with which they struggle.

The following free assessment tools and apps are some of the best ones for gauging student progress at any point in the curriculum. Most make it easy to sign up for a free account with Google or other popular platforms. And although most of these tools are “freemium,” several are 100% free for educators. 

Best Free Formative Assessment Tools for Teachers 

Create Formative Assessments with an AI Chatbot
With one simple prompt template, teachers can create multiple formative assessments across the curriculum. To make your formative assessment even more specific, tailor prompts to your desired specifications. Tech & Learning’s Best Free AI Quiz Generators details the pros and cons of various chatbots when creating assessments. 

iCivics Assessments
The nonprofit iCivics platform is not only a free social studies lesson creation and planning tool but also a robust repository for formative assessments. Educators can simply create a free account, then click Teach >Tags>Assessments. Search for assessments filtered by grade level, type, standards, topic, and more. Each assessment is linked to lessons and extension activities.

NoRedInk
A complete literacy curriculum designed to help teachers foster strong writing skills, NoRedInk’s free account allows formative assessments covering a variety of topics, from clarity and style to SAT skills. Teachers can create classes and assign quizzes through the platform. 

Woolclap
A fun site for creating and sharing interactive presentations and quizzes of various types, including word clouds, multiple choice, polls, open-ended, and more. Although the free account only allows two questions per event/quiz, users can create unlimited events for up to 1,000 participants, and present real-time answers to the class.  

ASSISTments Formative Math Assessments
Created by middle school math teachers in 2003, ASSISTments is a nonprofit that provides a fully free math assessment platform dedicated to the idea that high-quality formative assessments are the key to learning. Features include integration with Canvas and Google Classroom, strong professional learning resources, and an educator community forum. Assessments are tied to Common Core State Standards. 

Nearpod
Highly popular with teachers, Nearpod lets users create original multimedia assessments or select from a 15,000+ library of pre-made interactive content. Choose from polls, multiple-choice, open-ended questions, draw-its, and gamified quizzes. Free silver plan provides 40 students per session, 100 mb storage, and access to formative assessment and interactive lessons. 

Pear Deck
Pear Deck, an add-on for Google Slides, allows educators to quickly create formative assessments from flexible templates, turning an ordinary slideshow into an interactive quiz. Free accounts provide lesson creation, Google and Microsoft integration, templates, and more.

PlayPosit
The web- and Chrome-based Playposit platform provides customizable interactive video assessments, helping teachers accurately gauge their students’ mastery of video-based content. Free Classroom Basic account includes templates, free premade content, and 100 free learner attempts per month.

Flip
This simple-to-use, powerful, and fully free learning tool allows teachers to initiate class discussions by posting videos. Students then create and post their own video response, adding enhancements such as emojis, stickers, and text. 

Formative
Educators upload their own learning content, which the platform automatically transforms into assessments, or choose from the outstanding Formative library. Students respond on their own devices via text or drawing, continuously updated in real time on the teacher’s screen. Free basic account for one teacher offers unlimited Formatives, real-time student response, basic grading tools, feedback, and Google Classroom integration. 

Padlet
Padlet’s seemingly simple framework— a blank digital “wall”—belies its robust capabilities in assessment, communication, and collaboration. Drag and drop almost any file type to the blank Padlet to share assessments, lessons, or presentations. Students respond with text, photos, or video. Free basic plan includes three Padlets at one time.

Socrative
This super-engaging platform allows teachers to create polls and gamified quizzes to assess student progress, with real-time results visible on screen. Socrative’s free plan permits one public room with up to 50 students, on-the-fly questions, and Space Race assessment.

Google Forms
One of the simplest and easiest ways to create and share formative assessments. Create video quizzes, multiple-choice, or short answer questions quickly. Link the Google Form to a Google Sheet in order to analyze responses. Before you share your quiz, be sure to check out 5 Ways to Prevent Cheating on Your Google Form Quiz.

Quizlet
Quizlet’s vast database of multimedia study sets includes a variety ideal for formative assessment, from flashcards to multiple-choice quizzes, to the asteroid game Gravity. Free for basic features; the premium Quizlet Plus account allows for customization and tracking student progress. 30-day free trial, then $35.99 annually for teachers.

Edpuzzle
Edpuzzle’s video-based learning and assessment platform helps educators turn one-way videos into interactive formative assessments. Upload videos from YouTube, TED, Vimeo, or your own computer, then add questions, links, or images to create meaningful evaluations. Free basic accounts for teachers and students allow interactive lesson creation, access to millions of videos, and storage space for 20 videos. 

• Best Sites for Creating Quizzes
• Gimkit: How to Use It for Teaching
• It’s Counterintuitive But Pretesting Consistently Works, Says Research

Pretesting, an education strategy in which teachers provide no-stakes quizzes to students before they’ve learned a topic, is earning high marks in cognitive research. 

During one study, a group of college students who took pretests before learning outperformed a separate group who only took post-tests. For the study, researchers conducted five experiments with 1,573 students and found that students who received a pre-lesson test or post-lesson test learned more than those that did not, and that those who received a pretest scored the highest on subsequent tests.

The study was published in The Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied and provides evidence in support of educators who give pretests, or practice questions, prior to the lesson. 

“Pretesting is not just as good – which, that in and of itself, is kind of surprising – but it's potentially even better than a technique that is much more established, which is taking practice tests after learning has occurred,” says Steven C. Pan, the lead author of the study and director of the Learning Sciences Laboratory at the National University of Singapore. 

Despite the benefits discovered in this and other recent studies, pretesting remains underutilized, Pan says. One reason that it isn’t more widely adopted is that students have a hard time believing that testing themselves on material they don’t know can help them. “The counterintuitive nature of pretesting is precisely why it is overlooked as a way to improve learning,” Pan says. 

Here’s what you need to know about pretesting and how these preconceptions about it can be overcome. 

Evidence In Support of Pretesting  

Pan has also been involved with other recent studies that demonstrate the potential positive outcomes of pretesting, also known as errorful generation. Pan was the lead author on a comprehensive review of existing research into pretesting. The review was published in September and found that “pretesting can benefit learning if there is an opportunity to study the correct answers afterward,” and “this prequestioning effect or pretesting effect has been successfully demonstrated with a variety of learning materials.”  

For one study, undergraduate students viewed an online lecture that was accompanied by pretesting or a control algebra problem-solving activity. Pretesting led to significantly less mind wandering and better final test performance than the control activity. 

Despite mounting evidence of its efficacy, pretesting remains largely overlooked. “Pretesting is still quite unknown, and even when teachers give questions in advance of a more formal lesson, they usually do so for diagnostic purposes rather than as a way to improve learning because that's the traditional use of pretests,” Pan says. 

For another paper, Pan and his colleagues conducted surveys of undergraduate students and instructors at three public universities in North America. They found that understanding of the potential for pretests was lacking. Many students were averse to making errors during learning and although many instructors welcomed the concept, few provided students with resources that facilitate errorful generation.

Implementing Pretesting in the Classroom  

Pan encourages educators to consider incorporating low- or no-stakes pretests into their classes. 

“It's a learning strategy that shows a lot of promise,” he says. “Instructors can use it with little fear that will have negative consequences and it will quite possibly have very positive consequences for student learning.” 

He adds, “It's a way to introduce a topic, it's a way to get students to potentially pay closer attention to a lesson.” 

Another advantage is that it’s a pedagogical strategy that is easy to implement, Pan says. A multitude of edtech tools are available for creating and sharing questions, from Google Forms to Quizizz and Quizlet to the quiz function that comes built into most learning management systems. Or you can go as low-tech as a pen and paper, handing out tests, or just putting the questions on the board and asking students to write out answers. 

Pretests Shouldn’t Be Stressful  

To add low-stakes pretests without adding stress, Pan advises letting students know that these tests are not something to worry about. “If the instructor has a very positive, encouraging attitude, they should say, ‘This is just an exercise related to the course material. Don't worry about failing or answering all these questions wrong. That's fine because you will learn the correct information afterward.’” 

Even though proponents of the strategy usually make such efforts, sometimes the conversation around pretesting gets incorrectly looped in with debates around high-stakes year-end testing and standardized tests, which is an entirely different conversation. 

“There are some statements out there that some educators make like, ‘Tests do not teach,’” he says. “That's not true, you actually learn a lot from tests. Tests actually change one's knowledge and understanding. Every time you recall information, or you try to generate the answer to a test question that in and of itself, influences learning.” 

• Best Free Formative Assessment Tools and Apps
• Best Sites for Creating Quizzes

Quizzes play an important role in the classroom as a means to quickly assess the progress of both individual students and entire classes. The results may be used to grade, to initiate a review of difficult topics, or to personalize instruction for students lagging behind.

These top online quiz-authoring platforms give teachers abundant choices in designing quizzes of every variety, from the handy multiple-choice to short-answer to matching. Most offer reports, an engaging interface, multimedia capability, automatic grading, and free basic or modestly-priced accounts. Four are fully free! All can help educators with this common, yet critical, task of rapid assessment. 

Freemium

Jotform
Jotform is an online form builder with a dedicated quiz-making section. Choose from among thousands of templates for topics ranging from math to geography to spelling. Each template consists of modules, which can easily be edited or deleted. To add more features, such as different types of questions, simply click on the desired element in the left panel. Assign and share your quiz using links and email. The free account allows five form types per month and 100 monthly submissions. 

Typeform
Typeform provides an easy signup process and the ability to import from Google Forms. Images, videos and multiple languages are accepted. Nice touch: The built-in accessibility tool checks accessibility with one click. Typeform’s free plan allows unlimited forms per month, but only ten responses.

ClassMarker
An easy-to-use platform for creating embeddable online quizzes, ClassMarker’s clear user manual and video tutorials make it simple for teachers to create, manage, and assign multimedia quizzes. Free basic plan for education allows 1,200 graded tests per year. In addition to the professional paid plans, there's also the option for a one-time purchase—great for occasional users!

EasyTestMaker
EasyTestMaker provides tools to generate a wide assortment of tests, including multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, matching, short answer, and true-or-false questions. The free basic account allows 25 tests, and has no ads. One minor annoyance is that the interface appears to allow premium features that are actually not available to free account users. Alas, no free trial is offered. 

Factile
What’s more fun than a Jeopardy-style online quiz game? Designed for both in-person and remote learning, Factile’s unique platform includes thousands of premade quiz-game templates. With the free basic account, users can create three quiz games, play with five teams, and access the library containing more than a million games. The modestly priced school account is integrated with Google Classroom and Remind and features beloved elements such as “thinking music” during timer countdown as well as the iconic buzzer mode.

Testmoz
This relatively simple site is easy to navigate and provides four types of quizzes, easy drag-n-drop question management, and quick sharing via URL. Automatic grading and a comprehensive results page allow teachers to quickly assess student progress. The free basic account allows up to 50 questions and 100 results per test, while the paid account unlocks all features for a modest $50 annually. Best of all, teachers qualify for a 50% discount; i.e., only $25/year.

GoConqr
Users can create a variety of multimedia sharable quizzes, including multiple choice, true-or-false, fill-in-the blank, and image labeling. Free basic plan plus three flexible paid options, from $10 to $30 annually. Nice touch: Option to purchase a three month premium access for only $4.95. 

ProProfs
One of the easiest ways to manage class assessments, ProProfs offers numerous templates and customizable features for building quizzes. The online tool also provides analytics to assess student progress and automatic grading. Free basic and paid accounts.

Quizalize
Packed with features such as standards-tagged quizzes, personalized learning tools, and a high-tech math editor for super challenging math quizzes. Quizalize also furnishes quizzes in ELA, languages, science, social studies, and current affairs. Free basic and paid accounts. 

Quizizz
Users create their own quizzes, or choose from millions of teacher-created quizzes in ELA, math, science, social studies, creative arts, computer skills, and CTE. Provides real-time results, automatic grading, and student performance reports. Integrated with Google Classroom. Free trials available. 

Socrative
A highly engaging platform, Socrative allows teachers to create gamified quizzes and polls to assess student progress. Watch results in real-time. Socrative’s free plan permits one public room with up to 50 students, on-the-fly questions, Space Race assessment, and alignment to state and Common Core standards. 

Premium

Classtime
Offering 11 types of digital quizzes for education, Classtime is a robust paid platform with an ample 60-day free trial (no credit card required). Easily sign up with email, Google, Microsoft, Clever, or social media accounts, then start adding questions, either your own or selected from the question bank. Tooltips help new users navigate the intuitive layout. Images, YouTube videos, and audio may be incorporated into your quiz. Nice touch: Optional solution explanations to help students better understand their grades. 

Exam.net
A paid site with a generous 75-day free trial for educators, Exam.net allows users to create and import quiz questions in these categories: Multiple choice, short answer, fill-in-the-blank, matching, free text, grid, and even via attachment. Useful features include auto marking, the ability for teachers to try out digital tests in advance and a built-in text to speech option on exams. A fine comprehensive exam platform. 

Gimkit
Gimkit’s game-based learning solution will feel like familiar fun to your students. Educators create quizzes for students, who can earn in-game cash with correct answers and invest the money in upgrades and power-ups. Affordable individual and institutional accounts. Educator accounts start with a 30-day free trial of Gimkit Pro. When the trial expires, purchase Gimkit Pro or move to the free Gimkit Basic.

Kahoot!
One of the most popular sites for gamifying a classroom, Kahoot! allows teachers to create quizzes and games that students access on their mobile or desktop devices. Not ready to create your own? Peruse the online quiz library for ideas. Integrates with Microsoft Teams. Free basic plan, pro, and premium.

Quizlet
More than just a quiz site, Quizlet also offers study guides, flashcards, and adaptive learning tools. Free basic account and very affordable $34 per year teacher account. 30-day free trial. 

Otus
A comprehensive solution for LMS and assessment through which teachers create quizzes and differentiate instruction. Designed from the ground up for K-12 instruction, Otus has won SIIA’s CODIE award and was named one of the Best for Back to School 2023 by Tech & Learning.

Free

Best Free AI Quiz Generators
Ready to dip your toe in the sea of artificial intelligence-driven quiz generators? Explore the best free options as evaluated by Tech & Learning and find out which platforms earned near-perfect marks. 

Microsoft Forms
A free tool that teachers can use to create quizzes, forms, and surveys, Microsoft Forms is readily available to users who are signed in to a Microsoft account. Within the clean interface, click on Quizzes and Assessments to preview and edit quizzes, which can be automatically scored. To customize quizzes, insert text, images, and videos. Then share via link, email invitation, QR code, or social media. Nice touch: With a single click, users can download forms in Excel. 

Google Forms
A user-friendly way for teachers to create embeddable, password-protected, and locked quizzes. Also offers real-time reporting. Before you get started, be sure to check out 5 Ways to Prevent Cheating on Your Google Form Quiz. Free. 

Hot Potatoes
With its bare-bones Web 1.0 interface, Hot Potatoes doesn’t make a splashy first impression. But this completely free online test generator is actually W3C Validated and HTML 5 compliant. Users create six types of browser-based quizzes with the bundled applications, which are downloaded and installed in less than a minute. Quiz files can then be uploaded to your school website, or shared with students to run on their desktops. While this isn’t the slickest platform, the price is right, and there’s an active Google user group discussing the best ways to use it. Try it yourself. Or, have your students use it to generate their own quizzes!

• Best Free Formative Assessment Tools and Apps
• What is Formative and How Can it Be Used to Teach? Tips & Tricks
• Best Free Plagiarism Checking Sites

Learnosity, an assessment technology company, recently entered the AI arena with a new tool powered in part by GPT-4 and designed to help create high-quality assessments for students. 

Proponents of AI in education generally point to test generation as the type of time-consuming administrative task that with proper oversight AI can do more efficiently than a human. Learnosity’s tool is designed to do just that by allowing test publishers to quickly create massive volumes of item banks as well as complete a task such as convert multiple-choice questions into more challenging contrast-and-compare questions or short-answer questions. 

AI can also help create many more responses to different student answers, all of which can enhance student learning, says Gavin Cooney, CEO & Co-Founder of Learnosity. 

What Is Learnosity’s GPT-4 Powered Test Generating Tool Good At? 

Instead of trying to replace human authors, Cooney says he and others at Learnosity began exploring the potential of AI test generators by asking, “Can I make an existing expert author 10 times more effective, and can they create more content, better content, more interactive content with better students feedback, and so on?'” he says. 

Until recently, AI technology wasn’t at a point it could do this, but GPT-4 advancements, along with other tools, now make it feasible. The idea is that an assessment can be richer and do more to enhance learning when it provides students with more detailed feedback, particularly when it comes to wrong answers/distractors. 

“It would be massively expensive and labor-intensive to write student feedback for every possible distracter all the way along, but now it's possible,” Gavin says.

What AI-Generated Questions Can Look Like in Practice 

When he spoke to Tech & Learning, Cooney had just returned from seeing Elton John perform at the Glastonbury Festival. This was (allegedly) the legendary performer's last concert in the United Kingdom, and if you were to ask students a multiple-choice question about where John performed his last United Kingdom concert, Cooney says you’d want a variety of plausible answers as well as good student feedback. 

“If the answers are Glastonbury, Coachella, Wembley Stadium, or Giant Stadium in New York, the idea is are they valid options?” he says. 

You’d also want to make sure each option provides detailed feedback to students and enhance student learning. For instance, it should respond, “Yes, he did play Glastonbury and it was broadcast,” he says. “No, he didn’t play Coachella. He never played Coachella, and Coachella is in California, and you should have looked at British things.” 

Cooney quickly adds this is a simple example and that multiple choice isn’t the most effective way to ask questions. However, it’s a quick example of the type of more detailed feedback AI can generate almost instantly.  

Advice For Educators on Using AI to Generate Tests  

Right now Learnosity’s tool is geared toward authors who create tests professionally, however, as more AI tools become available and easier to use, more and more educators may consider using one to help them create test questions. When educators do this, Cooney says it's important to focus on avoiding mere knowledge tests and instead focus on deeper learning, problem-solving, and critical thinking. 

“The example I gave you about where Elton John played is a knowledge test,” he says. “There’s a temptation to just make it knowledge-based stuff when it can be comprehension and understanding and application.” 

Beyond checking AI-generated questions for educational efficacy, educators need to be mindful of potential mistakes and cultural biases.  

“You need to check for inherent biases in there,” he says. “It could be a question about Christmas that doesn’t appeal to certain demographics. There’s norms that are fine for you in Massachusetts but not so fine for somebody in Texas or in Mexico, or in Ireland for that matter.” 

Ultimately, AI should not be left navigating student learning on its own and it’s best for educators to think of the tool as a copilot. “What we want them to do is be able to direct the AI very, very, closely,” Gavin says. “We're trying to offer review and edit as you go along.” 

To share your feedback and ideas on this article, consider joining our Tech & Learning online community here.

• ChatGPT and Other AI Tutors: Potential and Pitfalls
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Plagiarism is an age-old problem. 

The word, derived from the Latin plagiarius ("kidnapper"), dates back to 17th-century English. Much earlier than that, in the first century, the Roman poet Martial used “plagiarius” to castigate another poet whom he accused of appropriating his words. 

In our modern world, however, the ability of students to find and copy others’ work is greater than ever before. While there are a number of in-depth and effective paid solutions that allow educators to verify the originality of student work, there are only a few free solutions that are worth trying.  

We have compiled the best free online plagiarism checkers. Several share a very similar interface and ad profile, suggesting a common parent company. Regardless, all were able to reliably identify the plagiarized passages and identify a source.  

Best Free Plagiarism Checking Sites for Teachers 

SearchEngineReports.net Plagiarism Detector
No account is required to quickly upload documents or paste text (up to 1,000 words) in Search Engine Reports. Paid accounts from $10 to $60 monthly provide premium features and allow word counts of 35,000 to 210,000. 

Check Plagiarism
Check for plagiarism efficiently with this user-friendly site. Whether you want to scan a text or upload a file, this tool will search for any plagiarized content. Sign up for a free account to access a comprehensive report that includes sources and exact matches. Educators can run up to 200 plagiarism queries and receive grammar and SEO feedback. For additional features and unlimited checks, users can upgrade to a paid account.  

Dupli Checker
Dupli Checker furnishes a hassle-free plagiarism-checking experience. With no account needed, users can check for plagiarism once daily. To access unlimited plagiarism checks and additional features such as downloading Word or PDF plagiarism reports, create a free account. In addition to its plagiarism checking tools, Dupli Checker also provides a set of free, entertaining, and useful text and image tools such as the reverse text generator, favicon generator, and MD5 generator.

PapersOwl
While PapersOwl focuses mainly on essay writing, it also offers a free plagiarism-checking tool. Users can simply paste their essays or website content into the tool, or upload supported files such as .pdf, .doc, .docx, .txt, .rtf, and .odt files. Although the website allows students to pay for essays, it's worth noting that their plagiarism checker is genuinely free and can be used to validate the originality of any submitted work.

Plagiarism detector
Easily check for plagiarism without creating an account, then download the pdf report file at no charge. The site accommodates multiple languages, while allowing unlimited free checks of text up to 1,000 words. Flexible premium accounts are available on a weekly, month or yearly basis. 

Plagium
A fairly simple site in which users paste text of up to 1,000 characters and receive free Quick Search results. Easy to use and no account is required. Click on your results to see the matching text conveniently highlighted and presented side by side. Flexible paid plans range from $1 to $100, and support deeper searching and analysis. 

QueText
With a clean, well-designed interface, it’s a pleasure to use Quetext. After the first free search, you’ll need to create a free account. Unlike many other plagiarism sites, Quetext makes it easy to compare the free and pro offerings -- free accounts allow 2,500 words monthly, while the paid Pro account allows 100,000 words, plus deeper search capability. 

Small SEO Tools
Teachers can check for plagiarism in texts up to 1,000 words without creating an account. Accepted file types include: .tex, .txt, .doc, .docx, .odt, .pdf, and .rtf. This platform offers an array of other useful text tools, from word counter to text-to-speech generator to image-to-text generator. One of the most unusual is the English-to-English translation tool, which helps users convert American English to British English and vice-versa. Could come in handy if a friend says, “It’s brass monkeys out there, and now I need to spend a penny. Cor blimey, this day turned into a damp squib!”
 

• What is Plagiarism Checker X and How Can It Be Used to Teach? Tips & Tricks
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To share your feedback and ideas on this article, consider joining our Tech & Learning online community here

Wayground (formerly Quizizz) was once a quiz only creation tool, like several others out there, but it's now so much more. This platform was built with educators and students as those intended to benefit from all its features and, as such, it's a fantastic tool to use in education.

Other similar options are out there, such as Quizlet and Kahoot!, but these are quiz-only systems that may be too limited for some teachers. Wayground takes the best of those and adds in the gamification, meme editing, and music picks to make this a more immersive experience for students.

Thanks to the new rebranding launch there are now also lots of AI tools and resources to help teach.

Wayground is already used by more than half the schools in the U.S. and in over 150 countries worldwide. This is thanks to a very intuitive system that looks great, in a minimalist way, and just makes learning more fun.

So is Wayground the ultimate quiz tool for your classroom?

• New Teacher Starter Kit
• Best Tools for Teachers

What is Wayground?

Wayground is primarily an online-based quiz and teaching tool that operates like a gameshow. That means a question-and-answer platform that works across browsers and Chrome as well as iPhone and Android devices, with dedicated apps for both.

From a student's perspective, this makes learning more fun with game-based interactions and an ability to work through a quiz using their own devices. For teachers, there is a host of pre-built quizzes to pick from as well as the option to edit and create their own from scratch. Plus, with the added AI focus, the ability to personalize is now easier than ever.

Since students only need an access code, they don't need to sign-up for an account, making it super simple to access for everyone. In addition, their privacy and personal details can be kept be protected.

For teachers, this platform offers a large database of quiz options, and AI tools, so it's a simple-to-use tool that doesn't require a lot of time and effort. But since these can be edited, this can also provide a more in-depth and personalized offering for students and classes.

What's new in Wayground?

Since the rebrand several updates have arrived including curriculum alignment to map resources to standards.

Lesson bundles are a helpful addition ideal for lesson planning.

AI can be used to work off a single file to makes multiple interactive formats.

Language support is wider now across all media.

VoyageMath is also new, offer middle school programs for individualized instruction.

How does Wayground work?

For teachers, a sign-up is required to start using Wayground. Basic details are required, and can be done using a school-based email address as well as a Google or Microsoft account. The particularly useful thing with this tool is that it offers some great integration across the likes of Edmodo, Google Classroom, and Remind.

Once an account is ready, teachers can access the database of quiz options, reporting choices and instructional resources can be searched and organized to make finding the ideal option a quick and easy process. You may discover that an already-created tool can serve your purpose just fine. Or you may want to edit and make a few changes to perfect the final version.

Creating a new resource is also an option, with single and multi-select multiple choice answer options. Teachers can input questions and answers manually if that's the easiest way to work, but there are rich media options, too. Add images to questions, or as answer options, and also customize feedback for students.

For example, you can incorporate a popular meme that students see based on the answer they give. While there are plenty to pick from, these can also be made by the teachers if desired.

Crucially you can make adjustments using AI that mean over 25 modifications which can accommodate each student's need uniquely.

What are the best Wayground features?

The ability to take a quiz privately or as a class is a useful option. This allows teachers to assign individual quizzes suited to each student, or to work as a class, getting feedback on how the class is managing with a single subject across the group. The advantage of working in class is that everyone can see how their peers are doing. Equally, working solo can be ideal for those who prefer to be left alone, or for homework task setting.

Wayground offers a leaderboard, but this is something that teachers can choose to turn off if the competitive nature of that doesn't serve the students. The same can be said for question timers, which may help motivate some students but could be seen as unnecessary pressure for others – so being able to turn this on and off is a nice touch.

Also editable are the meme feedback and music options. With these on, the quiz can feel like a lot of fun and be very lively, or you can turn these off for a more studious experience.

One option allows students to see their results after they take the quiz, which is a helpful way to make sure they learn from any mistakes they may have made. They can also retake the quiz as a way to gamify it, seeing how many they can get right the second time around.

Teachers can email parents through the app with a detailed report that shows how the student is performing. These results are also helpful for teachers to see how students are struggling so as to decide what to work on next.

How much does Wayground cost?

Wayground is free to get started but keeps its pricing structure quite hidden on its homepage, except in the case of work-based options.

While you can use the free option, there is a $10 per month plan that is billed annually at $96. This gets you access to the Wayground Super library of quizzes and the ability to create unlimited quizzes and lessons. There is ad-free use with game themes, answer explanations, interactive videos, and more.

Wayground best tips and tricks

Spend time on search
It's important to spend time searching the database as more time here can result in a near-finished quiz, rather than the much longer process of making your own. Also the more you search, the better you become at using the platform. AI can help here as a jump-off point to find more.

Assess early
Start a class, or even a term, using a quiz that will assess how students are grasping a task or subject area. This can help tune how you teach the subject both on a class and teacher-to-student level.

Use parents
Send the results emails to parents and make sure students know that happens, perhaps monthly, so they can have another set of eyes on their efforts.

• New Teacher Starter Kit
• Best Tools for Teachers

Creating deeper learning with better assessments that cut beneath the surface was the topic of a recent Tech & Learning webinar. 

The talk was hosted by Dr. Kecia Ray and featured Vivian May, secondary instructional coach at Marion County Public Schools in Kentucky, and Kendell Hunter, a product marketing manager at Otus and a former classroom educator. 

The conversation included a discussion of how May’s district revamped its assessment process using modern tech tools in order to foster more learning that delved beneath surface. 

Watch the full video of the webinar on demand here. 

Key Takeaways  

Assessing Assessments 

During the pandemic, educators at the Marion County Public Schools realized there was a disconnect between the way students were scoring in their classes and the results they received on statewide assessments. “A lot of our teachers realized that students that were getting A’s [and] B’s in their classes were scoring novice and apprentice on our state assessment,” May said. “So we realized our assessments were not rigorous enough. We were teaching kids, but we were just surface teaching them, and then when we assessed them, we were just surface assessing them.” 

Understanding State Standards

To change this, leaders at Marion County Public Schools started a process of deconstructing state standards during professional development days. During these sessions educators: 

• Broke down Kentucky standards by identifying the verb, noun, vocabulary, and prerequisites 
• Looked at already created assessments to see if the question "matched" the standard. 
• Looked at the verbs -- are students displaying the ability to complete the standard?

Asking Questions That Dig Deeper 

This process resulted in more robust probing questions of various kinds. At this point technology became a vital part of the process and the district began using Otus to create new assessments. “What we loved about Otus was we can create any type of assessment. We can create a formative, we can create a summative, we can create a rubric,” May said. The questions also do not need to be text-based. “For example, we had a seventh-grade ELA where the standard was wanting them to match a type of media to an article. So I was able to upload a podcast on to Otus and then also uploaded a nonfiction article, and then our students were able to toggle between the two. Then it also has a question, which is very much what our state assessment looks like.” 

Processing Assessments Quicker Also Helps Schools Adjust Sooner 

Another key to strong assessments discussed during the webinar was speed, and when it comes to that, digital assessments far outpace more traditional methods. “That's really the beauty of a digital assessment,” Hunter said. “All of this data is generated as soon as students submit and what you can do is select an assessment and then view overall how students are performing on any of those standards that were on the assessment. So who's mastering? Who needs support?” 

Using Data From Assessments 

Of course, how a school uses the data generated by an assessment is key. “Once we created our assessment and made sure that our questions matched our standard, I could go in and I could link a standard to each question,” May said. 

Once teachers in Marion County Public Schools have given their assessments, May said that they can explore the data in a number of ways. “I start first looking at just a grade, and then I can filter down to each teacher and then I can filter it down to each period for that teacher. And then and I can filter it down to even demographics.” 

All of these data points can help give educators actionable insights about their students that they can use to adjust their teaching and strategies long term to ensure student success. 

• Tech & Learning Webinars

Formative is one of the stand-out assessment tools which allows teachers and students to work digitally and in real-time.

For those education institutions already using tools like Google Classroom or Clever, this platform can easily be integrated to make assessments very simple. That means keeping track of student progress, in real-time, is possible from one place.

It's also worth noting that Formative can be accessed from a variety of devices, as it is app and web based, meaning students and teachers can work both in the classroom as well as outside of class and even school hours.

So is Formative the right assessment tool for your school?

What is Formative?

Formative is an app and web-based assessment platform which can be used across a variety of devices by teachers and students -- all with updates live as they're happening.

All that means teachers can use this tool to check class, group, or individual progress both in the classroom and beyond. That makes this a valuable resource both for checking student uptake on learning and also as a way to see knowledge and mastery levels before embarking on a new subject teaching plan.

Useful tools make tracking students over time, or live, very easy with clear metrics showing how they're doing and -- importantly -- if there is an obvious area where they are struggling and need help.

There are a lot of digital assessment tools out there right now but Formative stands out with its ease of use, wide range of media types, and breadth of pre-made questions as well as freedom to work from scratch.

How does Formative work?

Formative requires the teacher to sign-up for an account to get started. Once this is done it can be access online or via an app for creating assessments and sharing them. Since this integrates with Google Classroom it can be an easy process to add student accounts. That said, they can work as guests but this makes longer term tracking not possible.

Once setup, teachers are able to quickly select from pre-made assessments that cover areas they may need, or use pre-written questions to build their own assessments -- or start from scratch. This makes for a wide variety of options that can vary based on how much time is available when creating that particular assessment.

Once built it's possible to share with students by sending out a URL, a QR code or by a class code -- all made easy when using Google Classroom or Clever which this is built to integrate with.

Students can then work on the assessments, either live in teacher-led scenarios, or student-led on their own time as needed. Teachers can then mark and feedback on work allowing students to progress, or not, in order to work towards mastery. All the data on students scores is then available to view by the teacher.

What are the best Formative features?

Formative is super simple to use and helpfully works across so many devices -- in the same way -- that students and teachers will find using it straight-forward no matter the device they're on. Everything is minimal, yet colorful and engaging.

There is a rich selection of ways for teachers and students to create and work within assessments. Beyond simple written questions and answers there is room for imagery, audio uploads, video submissions, number entry, URL sharing and even drawing using a touchscreen or mouse.

So, while multiple choice questions are easiest to assess, teachers have the freedom to use this tool as needed with a lot of liberty to get creative.

A student growth tracker is a useful addition which allows teachers to see, over time, how individual students are progressing by standard. This can be viewed, with other metrics, in the dashboard section which allows teachers to see student work and feedback assessments including grades, automatically or manually, as needed.

Teacher-paced mode is a useful way to work, in class, with students in a live way that lets students work through challenges with the assistance of a teacher available digitally and physically as needed -- ideal to spread attention more evenly across all levels of the class.

How much does Formative cost?

Formative offers a free option to allow teachers and students to get started with the tool but there are also more feature rich paid-for plans.

The Bronze level is free and gets you unlimited lessons, assignments and assessments, real-time student tracking, creation and managing of classrooms, plus basic integration and embedding.

Go for the Silver level, at $15 per month or $144 per year, and you get all the above plus advanced question types, grading and feedback tools, plus advanced assignment settings.

The Gold plan, priced on a quote basis, gets you all the silver features plus collaboration, unlimited data tracking, organization wide standard progress over time, results by demographics, SpED, ELL and more, common assessments, an organization wide private library, anti-cheating features, student accommodations, team management and reports, gold support and training, advanced LMS integration, SIS nightly syncs and more.

Formative best tips and tricks

Go graphical
Create image led assessments that let students interact visually by completing graphic organizers -- ideal for those less able when it comes to writing.

Auto retry
Only offer real feedback once students have achieved a certain level of mastery, being automatically asked to re-try until they reach mastery on their time.

Plan ahead
Use assessments at the start of class to see how each student understands a topic before deciding how to teach it and target students that need extra care.

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Edulastic is an online system designed for teachers to use as a way to monitor student progress by way of question-and-answer assessments. All that can be done right there within the platform.

The system is well developed and integrates with a number of other platforms to make adding this to a teacher's already busy list of tools simple. Everything is designed to be easy to use, with pre-designed questions and quizzes or the ability to create your own from scratch.

Teachers can use this to assess a milestone in quiz style, or as a way to enter homework assignments regularly. Either way it allows a broad overview, as well as drill-down detail, to see how the class and individual students are progressing. So is Edulastic for you?

What is Edulastic?

Edulastic is a web-based assessment tool that allows teachers to create or select questions-and-answer forms that can easily be assigned to students.

All the answers are available right away and, if you use multiple choice, can be automatically marked for ease too. With state standards supports and a host of built-in questions from professional providers, there are easy ways to get up and running right away.

More than 80,000 questions are available, which are all standards-aligned and can be found in 20,000+ pre-made assessments that are ready to go. Or you can develop original assessments from scratch as needed.

Everything can be easily shared using a link or with student names, which are already registered in the system.

How does Edulastic work?

Edulastic is easy to access and get using with a simple requirement of an email address and password to create an account. It is then possible to start using the system with all the free options, right away. 

More features are available in the paid-for version, however, most of the useful features are right there for free.

Teachers can upload a class roster to easily get all the students online using the system, or enter individual students to invite them to join one at a time, as needed.

It's then possible to start selecting or creating assignments right away. Pick from the 20,000 pre-made assessments or use the 80,000 questions to build your own. 

What are the best Edulastic features?

Edulastic is standards-aligned so all the questions and assessments are CCSS- and NGSS-aligned, with plenty more besides. 

The platforms features more than 30 interactive question types, including multiple choice, essay, drag-and-drop, and image labeling. Many of the questions have been created by the likes of Eureka Math and ETS, and will be recognizable by students as similar to those that they see on SBAC and PARCC tests. 

Since the results for each student are available right away it can be a great way to assess the class to see who may be struggling and could use extra assistance to keep progressing with the group. It's also great to look back and see those students who have progressed well through the year -- ideal when offering positive feedback.

Usefully, this system works well with Google Classroom and Canvas, making its integration into pre-existing school systems simple.

How much does Edulastic cost?

Edulastic is free to use but there are also paid versions available for teachers, schools and districts. 

Edulastic Free for the Teacher account and gets you all the main features.

Go for the Schools and Districts version -- charged at an individual rate -- and there is access to more in-depth data, standard reports, LMS integration, full-time support, growth and mastery measures, real-time data dashboard, an early warning system, state test scores and diagnostics, student subgroups, and more.

Edulastic best tips and tricks

Prep the class
Don't just use this for testing, try using Edulastic as a way to assess knowledge before starting on a new subject so you can assess where and how to begin.

Work in-class
Do the first assessment in the classroom with students so they can learn how to use the platform in an assistive, no-pressure situation.

Use rubrics
Try creating your own assessments that use a formative assessment rubric of your own so that you can better plan what you'll work on next.

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When the NAEP scores were recently released, it sparked a lot of online chatter. 

National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores, for those who aren’t aware, are referred to as the Nation's Report Card as these assess 4th- and 8th-grade students of participating districts in reading and math as well as history and geography. 

Below is a chart demonstrating the 4th-grade reading trend, losing 3 points in 2019. The 8th-grade chart for reading looks similar. 

Of Pandemics and Assessments — Digital Learning Collaborative

The math report card noted a 5-point drop and measured trends since 1990.  

Although these numbers might be viewed as startling, what may be more interesting is the number of students who took this 4th-grade math assessment, as the chart outlines below. 

In 2017, a similar story was written when the NAEP scores were released, and a three-point decline was reported from 2015. Concern for our overall achievement as a nation has been a topic of debate since the 1980s when we realized we were further behind than other less developed countries. Our effort to improve outcomes resulted in more testing and greater accountability. As we begin to challenge ‘norms’ and traditional models of education, what role should, if any, testing play?

Re-Examining Assessment  

One formal definition of a test score is "a summary of the evidence contained in an examinee's responses to the items of a test that are related to the construct or constructs being measured." 

Standardized tests are often used so that data may be analyzed efficiently, enabling schools to benchmark and evaluate student performance against representative samples. Additionally, standardized test scores can aid teachers in better understanding where the knowledge gaps are in a particular subject and grade level. School administrators use test data to better understand instruction by grade and subject and determine what professional development may be needed. 

In his recent book on reinventing education, From Reopen to Reinvent, Michael Horn challenges the purpose of test scores and offers other ways to measure student outcomes. He is not alone in this debate. As ESEA was reauthorized into ESSA, multiple measures were highlighted as a standard for measuring students' overall success. The Learning Policy Institute, led by Dr. Linda Darling Hammond, hosts a State Performance Assessment Community to explore different ways to measure achievement, specifically performance-based systems of assessment. 

As a nation, we are riddled with people highlighting the inadequacies of our education system. If we spent as much time building it up as we try to shut it down, we might have a world-famous education system. Perhaps now is the time to consider what is and is not working while determining why we are even doing some of the things we do daily or annually in education. Does standardized testing serve the need it once did, or is there another way of measuring student performance that is more timely and adaptive? Does NAEP provide a snapshot of the American education system or a snapshot of a few students who may or may not be in the public system? 

We don’t need to throw the baby out with the bathwater as we renew education in America, but we need to pull the plug and drain the dirty water. If we can be brave enough to ask the hard questions and take on the challenging work of renewal, we will build an educational opportunity for all children this country has never seen! 

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October marks several significant events. It is a month when fall is celebrated with festivals, pumpkins, spooky events, and open houses. It is also when educators and school leaders begin to feel a little settled with routine. They can dig deeper into teaching and instruction than teaching classroom management and establishing school culture. 

This month also marks the beginning of the federal fiscal year, aligning to publishing district accountability standings. Accountability in and of itself can be a scary word to some, but it does help us measure progress in how we can fully educate the students we serve as a district and state. However, progress isn’t accomplished by every district or state. This is even more so as we live in the endemic of COVID. 

Accountability isn’t new to education. Horace Mann was the secretary of the Massachusetts state board of education in the 1830s and a staunch advocate for creating a publicly funded school system that would enable all children to attend for free and to be taught literacy, morals, and citizenship. He referred to this universal schooling plan as ‘common schools,’ and pushed that we needed to know that all students were equally prepared to be citizens as a nation. This created a great controversy during this time because one set of people didn’t want to pay for public schooling, and another didn’t believe that “universal” would mean all races of students. 

Over time the number of students enrolled grew from about 55% of children aged 5 to 14 to 78% by 1870. The public overcame their fear of the unknown and began embracing the concept of public school. 

It wasn’t until 1965 that the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, along with other significant federal legislation, began to define expectations and outline the accountability of public school systems. Today, the legislation is in its third iteration, the Every Student Succeeds Act. This legislation dictates to states receiving federal funding what they must do to receive the money. Many states rely on federal funding to offset the cost of educating their youth. Accountability is a large part of this legislation.

Overcoming Fear of Accountability 

Over the coming weeks, states will begin to post their results on public websites as ESSA requires. Parents and community members will begin to read these results without fully understanding the science and statistics behind the numbers. Many will call schools and teachers demanding answers, some will withdraw students from the schools, and others will petition governors for change. Fear will swell in communities that have lower-performing schools. Realtors will wonder if they can sell the houses in that school’s zone, business owners will wonder what impact it will have on their community, and community leaders will be fending off negative stories. 

If there is one thing to be learned from the history of education, it is that we are cyclical. Everything that was will come again. The ‘Common School’ movement was repeated in the early 21st century during the ‘Common Core’ movement, with similar results. Eventually, everyone settled into what they could be comfortable with. 

A similar cycle is repeating as a result of the pandemic. Much change occurred in our schools and we had a few years where accountability was waived.  

Schools should be the cornerstone of a community, and the school's success should be the community's responsibility, not just the families being served or the faculties being employed. Everyone within a community should care enough about their school to overcome failure because when this happens, we will have nothing to fear about our public schools. 

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Quizzes play an important role in the classroom as a means to quickly assess the progress of both individual students and entire classes. The results may be used to grade, to initiate a review of tricky topics, or to personalize instruction for lagging students.

These top online quiz-authoring platforms give teachers plenty of choices in designing quizzes of every variety, from the ubiquitous multiple-choice to short-answer to matching. Most offer reports, an engaging interface, multimedia capability, automatic grading, and free basic or modestly-priced accounts. Four are fully free. All can help educators with this simple yet critical task of speedy assessment. 

Best Quiz Creation Sites for Education

1. ClassMarker 
   An easy-to-use platform for creating embeddable online quizzes, Classmarker’s clear user manual and video tutorials make it simple for teachers to create, manage, and assign multimedia quizzes. Free basic plan for education allows 1,200 graded tests per year. In addition to the professional paid plans, there's also the option for a one-time purchase—great for occasional users!
   
   
2. EasyTestMaker 
   EasyTestMaker provides tools to generate a wide assortment of tests, including multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, matching, short answer, and true-or-false questions. Free basic account allows 25 tests. 
   
   
3. Factile
   What’s more fun than a Jeopardy-style online quiz game? Designed for both in-person and remote learning, Factile’s unique platform includes thousands of premade quiz-game templates. With the free basic account, users can create three quiz games, play with five teams, and access the library containing more than a million games. The modestly priced school account is integrated with Google Classroom and Remind and features beloved elements such as “thinking music” during timer countdown as well as the iconic buzzer mode.
   
   
4. Fyrebox
   It’s easy to sign up for free and start making quizzes right away with Fyrebox. Quiz types include open-ended, scenario, and two kinds of multiple choice. A noteworthy feature of this platform is the ability to create a test in a wide array of languages, from Español to Yoruba. Free basic account allows unlimited quizzes for up to 100 participants. 
   
   
5. Gimkit 
   Gimkit’s game-based learning solution will feel like familiar fun to your students. Educators create quizzes for students, who can earn in-game cash with correct answers and invest the money in upgrades and power-ups. Affordable individual and institutional accounts. Educator accounts start with a 30-day free trial of Gimkit Pro. When the trial expires, purchase Gimkit Pro or move to the free Gimkit Basic.
   
   
6. GoConqr
   Users can create a variety of multimedia sharable quizzes, including multiple choice, true-or-false, fill-in-the blank, and image labeling. Free basic plan plus three flexible paid options, from $10 to $30 annually. 
   
   
7. Google Forms
   A user-friendly way for teachers to create embeddable, password-protected, and locked quizzes. Also offers real-time reporting. Before you get started, be sure to check out 5 Ways to Prevent Cheating on Your Google Form Quiz. Free. 
   
   
8. GoToQuiz
   Ideal for teachers who prefer a simple, free online quiz and poll generator, GoToQuiz has three basic quiz templates and automatic scoring. Quizzes can be shared via a unique URL. 
   
   
9. Hot Potatoes
   With its bare-bones Web 1.0 interface, Hot Potatoes doesn’t make a splashy first impression. But this completely free online test generator is actually W3C Validated and HTML 5 compliant. Users create six types of browser-based quizzes with the bundled applications, which are downloaded and installed in less than a minute. Quiz files can then be uploaded to your school website, or shared with students to run on their desktops. While this isn’t the slickest platform, the price is right, and there’s an active Google user group discussing the best ways to use it. Try it yourself. Or, have your students use it to generate their own quizzes!
   
   
10. Kahoot
    One of the most popular sites for gamifying a classroom, Kahoot allows teachers to create quizzes and games that students access on their mobile or desktop devices. Not ready to create your own? Peruse the online quiz library for ideas. Integrates with Microsoft Teams. Free basic plan, pro, and premium.
    
    
11. Otus
    A comprehensive solution for LMS and assessment through which teachers create quizzes and differentiate instruction. Designed from the ground up for K-12 instruction, Otus has won SIIA’s CODIE award and was named one of the Best K-12 Learning Management Systems by Tech and Learning.
    
    
12. ProProfs
    One of the easiest ways to manage class assessments, ProProfs offers numerous templates and customizable features for building quizzes. The online tool also provides analytics to assess student progress and automatic grading. Free basic and paid accounts.
    
    
13. Quizalize
    Packed with features such as standards-tagged quizzes, personalized learning tools, and a high-tech math editor for super challenging math quizzes. Quizalize also furnishes quizzes in ELA, languages, science, social studies, and current affairs. Free basic and paid accounts. 
    
    
14. Quizizz
    Users create their own quizzes, or choose from millions of teacher-created quizzes in ELA, math, science, social studies, creative arts, computer skills, and CTE.  Provides real-time results, automatic grading, and student performance reports. Integrated with Google Classroom. Free trials available. 
    
    
15. Quizlet
    More than just a quiz site, Quizlet also offers study guides, flashcards, and adaptive learning tools. Free basic account and very affordable $34 per year teacher account. 
    
    
16. QuizSlides
    This deceptively simple site allows users to build quizzes from PowerPoint slides and export the results as a spreadsheet. QuizSlides’ easy-to-navigate platform supports four types of quizzes and features clear guidelines and examples. Includes several research-based quizzes designed to counter the element of luck inherent in multiple-choice quizzes. 
    
    
17. Socrative
    A highly engaging platform, Socrative allows teachers to create gamified quizzes and polls to assess student progress. Watch results in real-time. Socrative’s free plan permits one public room with up to 50 students, on-the-fly questions, and Space Race assessment.
    
    
18. Super Teacher Worksheets
    Educators can find worksheets, printables, games, and generators for quizzes covering dozens of topics in reading, math, grammar, spelling, science, and social studies. A fine option for those who prefer printouts to strictly digital tools. Affordable individual and school accounts. 
    
    
19. Testmoz 
    This relatively simple site provides four types of quizzes, easy drag-n-drop question management, and quick sharing via URL. Automatic grading and a comprehensive results page allow teachers to quickly assess student progress. Free basic account allows up to 50 questions and 100 results per test. Paid account unlocks all features for $50 annually. 
    
    
20. Triventy 
    Teachers create quizzes or select from the extensive quiz library, then invite students to join. Real- time anonymized results are displayed with each question. Free for education users.

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This summer, superintendents and central office teams are planning and preparing for school leaders, teachers, and students to return to a healthy and safe environment and they are also thinking about strategies to ensure all learning needs are met. Returning to a more normalized learning environment will no doubt be the priority for many districts this fall. 

This year also marks the task of measuring the impact the pandemic has on district achievement. With this in mind, there are two areas of focus that can aid in normalizing school and nurturing achievement. 

Meeting Social and Emotional Needs 

Districts recognize the stress this pandemic has on children and many are preparing teachers to recognize and support the social and emotional needs of learners as they return to school over the next few weeks. A focus on social-emotional learning helps students develop self-awareness, self-control, and interpersonal skills necessary for success in school and beyond. 

CASEL is a tremendous resource for SEL, with well defined competencies and resources for teachers to implement these competencies into their classroom practice. Harmony SEL is another organization that offers a no-cost solution to implementing the CASEL competencies. 

A key component of SEL is self-regulation and one way students can self-regulate is to become more aware of their progress in their own mastery. Formative assessment is an incredible tool to help students develop self-regulation for their learning practices.

Tending to the Assessment Gap 

Teaching and learning has been the focus for states and districts throughout the pandemic while assessment has received a pass due to the circumstances. However, assessment is the only way we can determine what students have mastered, so without authentic assessments we can’t be sure exactly what kind of learning loss exists. 

A recent study presented at the March Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education conference focused on “the assessment gap.” Author Joseph M. Woodside noted that this assessment gap actually limits the ability to accurately gauge impacts on learning loss. A very interesting and thoughtful reflection of where districts are as we return to schools this fall.  

Many districts will begin benchmark testing in the fall to see where students are in their learning pathway, but before it takes place, somewhere between October and December, teachers should be incorporating formative assessments into their daily practice. 

Formative assessments come in many forms. Educational software or digital curricula use these  to determine a student's completion of a particular learning pathway. Teachers also develop their own formative assessment to measure learners' progress and could easily use these assessment strategies to build self-awareness for the learner. Ultimately, the data collected from these types of assessments help inform the teacher’s design of learning activities and how best to introduce concepts to the students. Involving the learner in their own assessment review builds key SEL skills and helps inform them of their overall progress toward mastery. Not only do formative assessments provide data to inform instructional practices but these also help teachers and students better prepare for a benchmark assessment. Recalibrating the use of formative assessments as a learning and instructional tool can be very beneficial to both students and teachers in every grade level. 

To help teachers get started with formative assessment this school year, check out Kathy Dyer’s blog that highlights digital tools and apps useful for formative assessment. Another great resource is the National Council on Measurement in Education where there are a wide variety of resources from pre-assessment to feedback. And of course, Tech & Learning also offers a list of the best free formative assessment tools and apps. 

Learning has the chance to look and feel different this year. Helping students understand their place in their own learning is something we should each strive to do better. Focusing on SEL and assessment can be very complimentary and it can help grow today’s learners into resilient successful adults. 

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Asked about federally required standardized testing during his senate confirmation, Miguel Cardona said it’s important. 

“If we don’t assess where our students are and their level of performance, it’s going to be difficult for us to provide targeted support and resource allocation in the manner that can best support the closing of the gaps that have been exacerbated due to this pandemic,” he said.

As Secretary of Education, he has stood by those words, and testing has begun in many districts, although the department has also been considering requests for waivers from parents as well as states. The move has drawn criticism from educators and researchers who say there is no evidence the tests help, even in non-pandemic years. 

Standardized Tests Get a Failing Grade  

“Test-driven education reform is a faith-based policy, it is not an evidence-based policy,” says Robert Schaeffer, executive director of FairTest: the National Center for Fair and Open Testing. 

Jack Schneider, professor at UMass Lowell, spearheaded a letter to Cardona signed by 548 scholars and academic researchers urging the Education Department to reconsider its mandate to administer federally mandated standardized tests this spring. The testing “will exacerbate inequality and will produce flawed data,” the letter said. 

“What the research tells us about standardized testing is that there's a strong relationship between demographic variables like student race, family income, parental educational attainment, and students' standardized test scores,” says Schneider, who is also co-founder of the Massachusetts Consortium for Innovative Education Assessment. “School is not the primary influence on student academic achievement as measured by standardized test scores. Out-of-school factors play a greater role. And therefore the use of standardized tests to hold schools accountable doesn't make a tremendous amount of sense.” 

Andrew Ho, a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, says evidence that federal standardized testing helps student achievement is “limited and theoretical.” However, he adds that it makes sense that we would want to monitor student proficiency in math and reading, and perhaps even things such as their mental health at the national level. “All of these things, we believe, may not improve as much if we aren't measuring them, but we don't have much evidence that says that measuring has helped,” says Ho. 

Critics say that in addition to these failings, the tests help reinforce inequity and cycles of poverty by penalizing schools that serve low-income students and negatively influencing property values in certain communities. 

A New Standard for Standardized Tests 

“I see a place for testing if we had no stakes tests that told us where we need to deliver additional resources,” Schneider says. “Not only would we get more out of the tests, but we can also do less testing. Part of why we have to test every kid every year is because they're using these for high-stakes purposes. It's a part of the theory of change that posits that schools and educators are not working hard enough and what they need is to have their feet held to the fire. We've got 20 years of evidence that that isn't the case. Educators aren't hiding their best lesson plans and waiting for somebody to threaten them.” 

He adds, “Research suggests that if you got rid of the stakes, you would see less gaming. So you wouldn't see schools teaching to the test, you wouldn't see teachers doing endless test prep, you wouldn't see schools cheating.” 

The letter Schneider and others wrote to Cardona suggests using new assessment models provided by the Massachusetts Consortium for Innovative Education Assessment or the National Education Policy Center’s Schools of Opportunity. 

Similarly, FairTest advocates for significantly reducing the number of federally mandated tests, increased funding for alternative testing methods and having states rely on sampling to assess aggregate student progress. “If and when the federal education law comes up for reauthorization, which may be in the next Congress, that's what we'll be pushing for,” Schaeffer says. 

This Year’s Standardized Testing 

The decision to conduct this year’s standardized tests yet allow for waivers is particularly puzzling to many. 

“The Department of Education's reaction to state waiver requests, to say it's inconsistent is a significant understatement,” Schaeffer says. “It's hard to understand why the District of Columbia did get a full, comprehensive waiver, but they would not give a similar waiver to say, Michigan, where these schools are shut down in Detroit.” 

Significant questions about the accuracy of the tests abound, given the waivers and the uncertainty of the pandemic school year. “Will it be that we see more historically disadvantaged kids taking tests? We don't know,” Schneider says. “Will it be that we'll see kids who are more likely to be high achieving taking the test? We don't know.” 

Tests could also be demoralizing to students who have been through a lot since the pandemic began. “Kids did an amazing job of keeping the faith with regard to school,” he says. “It's an insult to them to say, ‘Welcome back to school. Here’s an extended period of standardized testing. Here is the most disengaging side of school.’” 

However, there are also those who argue standardized tests could be important this year. 

Ho is a critic of the way federally mandated standardized tests are generally given, but says this year’s low-stakes approach is similar to the type of testing for which he and others have long advocated. He also believes the assessments have the potential to do more good than in the past given that the American Rescue Act will provide the largest infusion of federal education funding in history.

“We have this opportunity to sort of say, ‘Hey look, you don't have to test,’ and yet for everyone who wants to test, they can contribute some understanding of where our needs are greatest so that we can allocate some of the hundreds of billions of dollars that we have,” he says. 

To make the data gathered this year valuable, Ho believes schools should use test scores from 2019 as a comparison point, though he admits this system won’t control for all the variables of this unusual testing year, especially if test turnout is low. “Our vision gets blurrier and blurrier the less testing we have, but in all cases, it is better than having the blur of nothing at all,” he says. 

But Ho is not advocating business as usual with federal standardized tests this year. “If we report test scores, as we usually do, we will be like the Titanic heading for an iceberg,” he says. 

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With the school year drawing to an end, finding the best way to effectively assess students in online and virtual classrooms is a challenge. Face-to-face classroom assessments are easily monitored and graded but how does that same effective assessment of learning take place in a remote environment?

Many colleges and universities use a variety of assessment tools and have found ways to lock students in so as to minimize cheating. How can these types of assessment tools be integrated into the K-12 online and virtual classrooms that were created as an alternative to or to be used in conjunction with face-to-face classrooms due the COVID-19 crisis?  

Most school systems were not equipped to integrate such assessment programs in the short time they had been given to prepare for the drastic changes in instruction.  Teachers had to be creative in how they would now assess their students, both formatively and summatively. 

Right tools for the job 

Teachers in Alabama’s Mobile County Public Schools have become creative in how they are assessing their students. Many are using tools that are free but also allow their students easy access to the programs.  

As the school system prepared to move to online learning, there were many things that had to be considered, such as whether all of the students had devices and home connectivity, what learning platform would the district use to deliver the online learning, and what training would be necessary for the teachers, students, and parents. As the new way of instruction began, the one question left to be answered was what tools would be used to assess learning.

Many different tools are available that allow teachers to assess their students, but there were a few that the district’s teachers were already using in face-to-face classrooms that would be easy to transition to their blended environments. Many of these allow the teacher to tag standards into the assessment, permitting them to see exactly what the students are mastering or if extra help is needed.

Quizizz is one assessment tool being used by teachers in the district, mostly for formative assessment. It features a game-style assessment that provides real-time data to the teachers on just what their students have mastered in their classrooms. Quizizz also offers premade quizzes that the teachers can edit and tag standards to, or teachers can create their own assessment. This tool also integrates with the district’s LMS, which is being used for remote learning. Teachers who are using this says that students like being assessed in a way that takes the pressure off the word “test” or “quiz” and allows them to make their best effort to master the content on the test or quiz.

Many teachers in the district also like Socrative as it allows them to monitor the students while they are testing. Teachers can set a start and end time for the students to test in their online classroom so they can monitor the exam. Used for formative and summative assessments, Socrative offers a quiz shop that has premade quizzes and offers a variety of questions that can be added, including open-ended ones. Teachers love this tool not only for its ease of use for both themselves and their students, but also for the data that is generated to determine the next steps in teaching and for the reports generated for parents. 

Because the district is using Schoology as its LMS, using Google Forms for assessment is also a tool of choice. Google tools seamlessly integrate into Schoology’s platform, and Google Forms offer teachers a way to assess their students using a variety of question types, all automatically scored (with the exception of open-ended questions). Having a tool that integrates into the LMS makes it easy for everyone to access and use as well.

Support with integrating technology tools for assessment 

With so many tools available to teachers, getting the right information is key. 

“PD and support are what we must provide to help teachers in this integration process,” says Michele Collier, MCPSS instructional technology coordinator. 

Understanding that a new way of learning requires a new way of assessing students can make the transition from a completely face-to-face learning environment to an online one a success.

Dr. Ursula Martin has been an educator for 18 years. She is currently a district level Technology Resource Teacher for the Mobile County Public Schools in Alabama.

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States will not have the authority to cancel federally mandated standardized exams this year but will have wide-ranging discretion in when, where, and how the tests are given, the U.S. Department of Education announced recently. 

The news came as part of a letter the department sent to Chief State School Officers, announcing a new guidance on assessing student learning during the pandemic.

What The Guidance Says  

“State assessment and accountability systems play an important role in advancing educational equity,” wrote Ian Rosenblum, acting assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education, in a letter to Chief State School Officers. “At the same time, it is clear that the pandemic requires significant flexibility for the 2020-2021 school year so that states can respond to the unique circumstances they are facing.” 

The flexibility described in the Education Department’s Guidance includes: 

• Extending the testing window and moving assessments to the summer or fall
• Giving the assessment remotely, where feasible 
• Shortening the state assessment to make testing more feasible to implement and prioritize in-person learning time

“We are not inviting blanket waivers of assessments,” Rosenblum wrote. “We also recognize that individual states may need additional assessment flexibility based on the specific circumstances across or within the state.” 

Schools will be able to request waivers from federal requirements of accountability. “This flexibility would explicitly include waiving the requirement that the Academic Achievement indicator be adjusted to account for a participation rate below 95 percent,” Rosenblum wrote. 

 Supporters Say:  

“The Covid-19 pandemic and associated school building closures have presented logistical challenges to giving assessments, and how states collect student learning data may look different this year,” said Carissa Moffat Miller, chief executive officer of the Council of Chief State School Officers, in a statement. “We appreciate that the Department will provide flexibility on how to administer statewide assessments and modify accountability systems as state leaders manage the continuing effects of the global pandemic. In addition, we are pleased that the Department has committed to working with states that may need additional flexibilities.” 

The National PTA recently released the results of a national survey of more than 1,500 parents or guardians of children in K-12 public schools. The survey found: 

• 52% favor end-of-year testing this spring to measure the impact of the pandemic on student learning 
• 60% are worried their child is behind and want more information on where their child is academically 
• 62% believe their child to be behind compared to a normal school year 
• 49% are worried their student will not be prepared for the next grade

Critics Say:  

“Standardized tests have never been valid or reliable measures of what students know and are able to do, and they are especially unreliable now,” said Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, criticizing the guidance in a statement. “We need to ensure that our students who have been hardest hit during the pandemic -- our Black, brown, rural, indigenous students, as well as those with special needs -- receive the support they need.” 

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten was also critical of the new guidelines. She praised the overall work the Biden administration has done in a statement, but said, “It is a frustrating turn to see the administration ask states to continue requiring assessments during this tumultuous school year. While its plan does offer the option for testing modifications and waivers for accountability requirements, which is a start, it misses a huge opportunity to really help our students by allowing the waiver of assessments and the substitution, instead, of locally developed, authentic assessments that could be used by educators and parents as a baseline for work this summer and next year.” 

She added, “As the educators in the classroom, we have always known that standardized tests are not the best way to measure a child’s development, nor do they particularly help kids or inform best practices for teaching and learning. That is especially true in these unprecedented times, when students and teachers alike are remaking the school experience in the most unlikely of circumstances.” 

• Strategies for Assessing Students Remotely
• Screen Test: The Challenges of Special Needs Assessments During Remote and Hybrid Learning
• Addressing Learning Loss: Using Connected Assessments & LMS

“One of the most difficult tasks regarding remote learning is in the area of assessment,” says Cassie Gillespie, Special Education Middle School Teacher at Wolf Branch SD 113 in Swansea, Illinois. “Often, students’ IEP goals are based on social, emotional, or self-management needs that are school specific which makes it difficult, if not impossible, to record progress while students are in the home setting.”

Parents also have a lot on their plates, so many can be resistant to taking on the responsibility of charting a child’s progress or keeping anecdotal records in one or more areas that a teacher or aide might do, which makes it difficult for teachers and case managers to track any growth for that student. 

“Accurate academic assessment is also trying,” Gillespie says. “I have a few students diagnosed with ADHD, who have oral reading fluency goals to improve reading deficits. Because fluency includes elements of both speed and accuracy, when various home factors are not in the teacher’s control, the data that we are able to collect does not necessarily reflect growth/loss in the variables we are measuring.”

For example, a student’s loss of 18 words per minute could be because a TV was on in the other room, a cat jumped up on a table, or there was a poorly timed Amazon delivery. When it comes to remote formative and summative student assessments, there are just so many potential roadblocks beyond an educator’s control, says Gillespie.

Challenges Within the Referral System 

Recently, organizations such as the National Association of School Psychologists and the American Psychological Association have shared significant concerns with the continued use of standardized norm reference assessments once schools reopened. 

“We have to keep in mind that our students have faced circumstances that are unique to them during this global pandemic,” said Lauren Sullivan, Director of Evaluations and Eligibility at NYCDOE Special Education Office, during the “Completing Data Driven Assessments to Support LRE Recommendations” session of the recent NYC DOE “Beyond Access” virtual forum. “They have been through significant stressors and a change to remote learning for months—so are not represented in that normal sample. We call on psychologists to do what they're trained to do—to analyze, to consult, to think deeply and critically and ultimately to make connections using patterns of strengths and weaknesses to understand a student's learning profile in a comprehensive matter.” 

Watch the full session:

Comprehensive Data-Driven Assessment Approach 

The comprehensive data-driven assessment (CDA) is a mixed methodology approach, said Dr. Soye Zaid-Muhammad, NYC DOE school psychologist at P.S. 89. “It's not just the quantitative testing that we're used to, but also valuing the information that comes from our parents, from our providers in the community such as pediatricians and teachers,” said Zaid-Muhammad. “In the standardized model, we're lacking information from the people that spend the most time with the child. We can gain a great deal of information to spackle in the gaps from number-based data testing, just by asking the right questions.”

Zaid-Muhammad said that CDA is “not just a knee-jerk reaction to Covid-19, but an improvement in assessment practices I'm grateful we have.”

Ecological Framework 

“Historically, culturally, and linguistically, diverse students are not fairly represented in standardized assessments,” said Brenda Figueroa, NYC DOE bilingual school psychologist, during the presentation. 

Figueroa explained how she uses an ecological framework to be creative and look at the child holistically, which includes CDA. This collaborative approach provides the framework to systematically assess multilingual learners in a non-discriminatory manner, and includes relevant records, observations, parent/teacher/student interviews, the student’s social and medical history, and current and previous teacher reports. 

New flexible assessment forms include multiple rating scales. “We also collect sample classwork to analyze student academic performance across multiple years and include the acculturation rates,” Figueroa said. “This creates a data-driven hypothesis to develop culturally and linguistically appropriate interventions and recommendations.”

RTI Considerations, Post-Shutdown 

A response to intervention (RTI) is an academic intervention that provides early systematic and appropriately intensive instruction to children who are at risk or currently underperforming in comparison to same age peers, said Dr. Manal Zoabi, NYC DOE School Psychologist, who also acknowledged the importance of the student reengagement process during the pandemic, which caused unprecedented disruption. 

“Students, teachers, parents were tossed into a new reality that impacted everyone's education, but especially our struggling learners,” said Zoabi. 

Zoabi said clinicians must ask themselves multiple questions before we even considering special education referrals, including:

• Have students had the chance to reengage with school for an appropriate amount of time? This includes making meaningful social emotional connections with peers and teachers. 
• Have students who are considered for referral made some progress in certain academic areas over others, or no progress at all? 

“And perhaps most important to note in all of this is that anytime we do an in-person assessment, it really needs to be interpreted with caution due to the current circumstances,” said Zoabi. 

• NYC DOE Beyond Access Forum Provides Professional Development Around Inclusive and Individualized Education
• How to Use Assistive Technology During Remote and Blended Learning

If you are using Google Forms to give quizzes and tests in your classroom, you are likely aware that some students have figured out various ways to "game" forms to get a better grade. But you can stop cheating on Google Forms using some of these top tips.

While Google Forms can make a teacher's life easier, in offering a system that allows for quick creation of quizzes, it can also create an opportunity to cheat. That said, if you take the necessary precautions listed below, it's well worth using. For one thing, you can use a vast array of pre-written quizzes and templates, making it easier to set a quiz without taking up lots of prep time.

Want to learn more? Check out our feature, What is Google Forms and How Can It Be Used by Teachers?

Before we go into the ways to prevent cheating, be aware of the issue by looking below at some of the ways students try to cheat Google Forms:

1. Open a tab to look up answers
2. Preview your form before class to look up answers
3. Send questions to their friends
4. Share answers with friends
5. Take screenshots of your the quiz questions
6. View the HTML page source to find answers
7. Look at a friends screen to select answers
8. Right-click on words to check definitions and spelling
9. Share answers with classmates during passing time
10. Write down "cheats" on their hand or paper

• What is Google Forms and How Can It Be Used by Teachers?
• How to Stop Cheating in Remote Learning
• 10 Sites for Checking Plagiarism

5 Ways to Combat Cheating with Google Forms

1. Shuffle answer choices to block screen creepers

When asking a multiple choice question, click on the "snowman" at the bottom right to find the "shuffle option order" feature that will randomize the order of the answer choices in your question.

Shuffling answer choices will make it more difficult for "screen creepers" to copy answers from a classmate.

Note: Google Forms does have a "shuffle question order" feature, however using it can lead to issues. I recommend shuffling answers over shuffling questions.  

2. Use page sections to block assessment previews 

Add sections to your quiz to prevent students from previewing a form before class. This is a common problem if you post your quiz through Google Classroom to all of your sections early in the day. 

You can take this a step further by adding a "password" to your form to prevent students from moving ahead until you are ready. 

An easy way to do this is to collect their personal information (name/section) on the first page of the form, but require a password before they can access the quiz question. 

Set up a password by adding a short-answer question and using the data validation feature to require a specific number or phrase. 

Note: This is not a 100% secure solution and should not be used to protect sensitive information. 

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3. Use page breaks to create alternative assessment paths

Google Forms doesn't have a question bank feature to create different assessments for each student. However, you can create a similar experience by creating a branched form. 

First, add an ungraded multiple choice question in your quiz: “pick a number,” “pick a color,” etc. 

Next, set up 3 to 5 different sections to your quiz using the section feature mentioned in tip #2 above. Add as many questions as you like to each section.

Finally, add a "go-to" rule to direct students to a different section of the based on their response to the ungraded question that you added. 

4. Prevent cheating by asking better questions

Don't limit yourself to multiple choice questions. By broadening the types of questions you make it more difficult to cheat while at the same time better testing the students' knowledge. 

Consider options such as:

• Sequence questions - Use the checkbox grid question type to ask students to sequence or arrange items in a list.
• Matching questions - Use the multiple choice grid question type to create a matching question (great for vocabulary quizzes!)
• Reading Passage - Use the title/text element to add a short reading passage. 
• Video question - Have students watch a video and then answer questions about it (great for math and world language). 
• Image question - Images can be used as the question stem or question choices (great for science, math, social studies, and elementary students).
• Free response / short answer - If a student can answer all of the multiple choice questions correctly, but can't articulate 2 to 3 sentences on the same topic, then something is wrong.

5. Enable locked quiz mode

Locked quiz mode is one of many tools you have to protect the integrity of your assessments. When used in combination with the tips above, you have done your part to protect the integrity of your classroom quizzes. 

Locked mode prevents students from accessing external resources while taking a quiz. Their tabs, extensions, chrome apps, and screenshot functions will be disabled during the duration of the quiz. 

You can turn on this feature the settings page on your Google Form OR when assigned through Google Classroom.

If you use some/all of the tips listed above, you have done your part to protect the integrity of your assessments and encourage your students to practice academic honesty. 

There is no way to be certain that students can't cheat on an assessment. Ultimately, they are harming themselves and their academic growth. Our job is to encourage, instruct and train them to do their best and show good character, even when they have the opportunity to cheat.

• What is Google Forms and How Can It Be Used by Teachers?
• How to Stop Cheating in Remote Learning
• 10 Sites for Checking Plagiarism

Assessments can be particularly challenging in a remote learning environment. How can you verify that the students just aren’t Google searching everything? What if their parents are completing the projects for them? 

These and many other questions plagued educators in the spring (pardon the pun). While there is no easy answer for assessing students in a monitored setting, there are strategies that educators can use to make sure students are demonstrating their knowledge and understanding of their learning. 

Defining terms

Before we get into strategies let’s define a few terms that will affect the timing and type of assessments given remotely. Many of these strategies and terms apply with in-person assessments as well.  

Formative vs. Summative: Are you trying to check for understanding or just knowledge of material?

Googleable vs. Non-Googleable: Multiple choice, fact-based assessments can be easily searched online. Assessments that focus more on opinion, process, and student voice are harder to search with Google.

Synchronous vs. Asynchronous: Are you giving the assessment to the whole class at the same time or is it a long-term project? Synchronous assessments lend themselves to multiple-choice type tests whereas asynchronous are generally graded with a rubric in mind. 

What is the purpose of the assessment?

Assessments can also hold several different purposes based on student goals and outcomes. The graphic below defines three types. 

The biggest differentiator is whether or not the assessment is formative in nature (a continuous feedback loop) or summative (final outcome). Knowing these types and the corresponding definitions will help as we get into tools and strategies. 

Focus on feedback

Feedback is a major part of assessment as it allows students to make corrections and learn from their mistakes. Formative assessments generally involve feedback as part of the process for learning, either from the teacher or the student’s own self-reflection. It can also be done in either a synchronous or asynchronous environment, depending on purpose. 

Some things to focus on when providing feedback:

• Make sure it’s timely - Providing feedback weeks later doesn’t help the student learn and adjust at the moment of the assessment. 
• Keep it appropriate and reflective - Encourage students to reflect on their process and what they could do differently to improve. 
• Provide support - Allow opportunities for students to ask questions and grow. 
• Be honest - Students need to understand their mistakes to improve. 
• Medium matters - Giving critical feedback should be done with your own voice in an audio or video format if at all possible. Written feedback that is highly critical doesn’t allow for inflection and can be damaging to the trust and relationship with the student. 

Keeping in mind how you will provide feedback will help as you design your assessments for remote learning. 

Polling for feedback

Before we dive into formative assessments, using polls can be a great way to provide feedback in whole group settings. Polls can be done asynchronously, but generally are posted when you have a whole group on a video call. Some video conferencing platforms such as Zoom provide built-in polling features, or you can always supplement with tools such as Poll Everywhere, Mentimeter, Slido, or Answer Garden.

Synchronous formative assessment 

If the goal is immediate feedback and checking for understanding, giving an assessment synchronously over a video call is the route to go. 

Here are some of the advantages of using a synchronous assessment:

• Provide instant feedback - Students can adjust immediately based on feedback. 
• Adjust instruction based on student responses - Teachers can quickly adjust instruction based on how well students understand the content. 
• Just-in-time support and intervention - Students who are struggling with a concept can be provided support in real-time. 
• Help demonstrate student knowledge more than understanding 

While there are many tools out there that can help with this, some of the more popular choices include apps such as Kahoot!, Formative, Quizziz, Socrative, and Quizlet.

Gamified assessment

Some formative assessment tools such as Kahoot! and Quizlet Live add a competitive and time-based element that keeps students engaged and makes it harder for them to use Google for their answers. 

Besides these ‘trivia game’-like tools, there are now lots of different ways to do end-of-unit reviews in the form of a game show or even live bingo. A tool such as flippity.net gives teachers in GSuite districts the ability to edit a variety of interactive games with just a Google sheet. Using gamification as a tool for assessment gives teachers another strategy for assessing student understanding and keeps students engaged during synchronous remote learning.

Interactive presentations with embedded assessment 

One of the downsides of using formative assessment tools is that requiring students to log into various platforms can be time consuming and add a layer of technical challenges. Posting a link to the assessments in the LMS or video chat can help with this transition time, but embedding it in an interactive presentation can help keep students on the same page while teaching synchronously. 

Interactive presentation tools such as Nearpod and Pear Deck can keep your students on topic and allow you to send various polls and formative assessments to check for understanding. Both of these tools also allow for a student-paced asynchronous component so that if a student misses the video call or has connectivity issues, they can catch up on their own and still give the teacher what they need.  

Asynchronous remote assessment 

Many teachers only have a limited amount of time with their students in a synchronous video call. Using that time for teaching, discussions, and feedback means that you may not have enough data to truly assess student understanding. Providing asynchronous assessments can mean a little more work, but it can provide a wider range of data points that a multiple choice quiz doesn’t provide. 

Some advantages to designing and providing asynchronous assessment:

• Flexible time to process - Rather than having to think and respond on the fly, students have more time to research and process to build their understanding. 
• Not as internet dependent - One of the challenges of giving synchronous assessment is that not every student has the same level of at-home access and may miss parts of a quiz or video call due to connectivity issues. Asynchronous assessments can be done on the student’s pace and are less bandwidth dependent. 
• Built-in reflection time - Research shows that learning is more internalized when students have an opportunity to reflect on what they have done. 
• More focused on the process - Learning is a process more than a product. Having high-quality asynchronous assessments provide teachers insight on what a student is thinking. 
• Help demonstrate understanding more than knowledge 

When choosing the tools for asynchronous assessment, teachers need to focus on those that give students an opportunity to explain their thinking and provide their voice and reflection.

Asynchronous feedback via Learning Management System (LMS) 

Most LMS platforms provide ways for students to submit drafts and gather feedback from teachers and/or their peers. In an asynchronous environment, teachers can utilize built-in tools to give directions, set expectations in a rubric, and provide direct feedback as students check in throughout the process.

Some LMS platforms offer portfolio options that can provide for both the student and teacher a long-term view of progress and growth. Using these features can be cumbersome or limited depending on the LMS, so teachers may need additional tools to provide and catalog asynchronous assessments. 

Tools that provide voice, process, and reflection 

While an LMS can give a space for voice, process, and reflection, it can also quickly be overloaded with announcements, discussion boards, and assignment postings. Having a tool or tools to use specifically for asynchronous assessment can help streamline the process. 

Here are a few platforms that teachers gravitate toward for this purpose:

Flipgrid - A teacher favorite as either an exit-ticket or for just having students share their voice to a question or issue. Flipgrid now also comes with built-in white boarding so that students can record an annotation of their thinking when they respond. 

Book Creator - Now available on any device, Book Creator gives students a chance to have a running interactive journal to document their learning by recording their voice or capturing a hand-drawn picture. Teachers can see their students on a virtual bookshelf to check their progress.

SeeSaw - An LMS-type system that is geared toward younger students. It offers a powerful set of tools for teachers to record verbal feedback for students to hear. 

Bulb Digital Portfolios - An eportfolio tool that gives students space to set goals, reflect, and document their own learning processes. 

Final checklist for remote assessment

As teachers analyze the learning to assess this year, in either a remote or in-person setting, there are a multitude of tools and strategies to help with this process. 

Some final things to consider prior to delivering a remote assessment:

• Will the assessment be synchronous or asynchronous? 
• Are you checking for understanding or knowledge? 
• Can students reflect on the learning process? 
• Do students have an opportunity to explain their thinking? 

The answers to these questions will help guide educators as they design assessments in the most flexible way heading into what promises to be a very different fall semester of school. 

Note: This article was also given as a presentation that can be viewed here and the links and slides accessed here.

• Best Practices Around Virtual Professional Development
• Fact-Checking Sites for Students

How can you prepare for the next school year when there are so many unknowns? During this recent Tech & Learning Lunch ‘n Learn leadership webinar, Dr. Kecia Ray talked with district thought leaders about how they collect actionable data that can be used to support back-to-school planning.  

Click here to see the on-demand version

Key takeaways

Keeping it simple. When students and staff were sent home in March due to the pandemic, tracking student performance remotely was yet another unexpected challenge for leaders in Anne Arundel County Public Schools (Maryland). “We wanted to partner with teachers--I didn’t want to be another thing to learn,” said Anna Harding, Accountability Data Administrator. Staff was already using PowerSchool’s Performance Matters platform, so content and assessments were able to be implemented with very little staff training required to assess data. Harding and her team created accountability office hours and were able to provide how-to documents for staff through the platform portal. “We’re not shoving online assessments down anyone’s throats,” Harding said. “We’re just here ready to support them when they’re ready.”

Maintaining focus. By continuing to collect data, educators were able to see which kids were engaging and who needed help. Data collected in Spring will help inform the district for Fall, said Harding, who anticipates needing lots of data, including diagnostic assessments, to create a holistic picture of each student. “There’s no point in collecting it if you’re not doing anything with it,” she said. “Simply putting data in pretty charts does nothing. If we’re not using the data to impact students, then we’ve lost our vision.”

Seeing the bigger picture. “There’s always a story behind the data, but the data gives you a quick insight,” said Marnie Stockman, Education Solutions Director for PowerSchool. Stockman shared her story from her time as an assistant principal during which she worked with a high school student who had initially struggled in high school. By having access to his lifetime assessments data, she could see he had excelled in elementary school and dropped in middle school, so she knew he had the intelligence to excel. They then worked together to get him back on track and eventually graduate. 

Lunch 'n Learn with Tech & Learning 

This report is part of Tech & Learning's District Leadership Lunch ‘n Learn Roundtable series, hosted by Dr. Kecia Ray. In this series, districts from across the U.S. share their strategic plans, the challenges they are facing, and the creative solutions they are using to support students and teachers. Access previous webinars and register for our upcoming events here. 

More from T&L: Lunch 'n Learn roundtable recaps 

• Collaborating with IT and Instruction to Ensure Continuous Instruction in Any Learning Environment
• Using Data to Prepare for Back to School
• T&L Webinars

With millions of educators and students involved in our great national remote learning experiment, companies are listening to teachers' feedback about how to improve their digital learning platforms. 

One such company, Curriculum Associates, has recently added new features to i-Ready to meet emerging educator needs during school closures and beyond. These features include a new instructional report for educators as well as new reading comprehension lessons for middle school students. Currently, the i-Ready program serves over eight million users nationwide and approximately 25 percent of all K–8 students across all 50 states. 

“We are always listening to our educators and working to improve our programs to meet their evolving needs, especially in challenging times like these with extended school closures,” said Rob Waldron, CEO of Curriculum Associates. “We expedited the launch of our new i-Ready features to further support our educators during remote teaching so they have all the resources needed to continue to deliver timely, data-driven, personalized learning in the most efficient way possible.” 

i-Ready’s new Personalized Instruction by Lesson report for classes and groups allows teachers to view student performance on recently completed lessons and status of lessons in progress. This simplifies grouping students by pinpointing those working at similar levels in a domain, as well as identifying where students are struggling, to help facilitate timely intervention. 

New reading comprehension lessons focused on connecting ideas in complex passages will also be added to i-Ready to engage middle school students in critical thinking. Lessons for Grade 6 are now available, and lessons for Grades 7 and 8 are coming soon. Additional i-Ready features and resources will also be available this summer to support student learning in the upcoming school year. 

i-Ready was recently recognized as a 2020 CODiE Award finalist by the Software & Information Industry Association. It was recognized in the Best Formative Student Assessment Solution category of the Education Technology awards for its ability to identify the learning gaps and standards students have not yet achieved and its ability to assess and help close those gaps to improve student achievement. 

In addition to the CODiE Awards, i-Ready was also recently recognized by the 2020 EdTech Awards as a finalist in the Personalized Learning Solution category. 

About i-Ready

i-Ready supports differentiated instruction for K–12 teachers and students, combining assessments and insights with individualized instruction in reading and mathematics. 

The Diagnostic provides educators with actionable criterion-referenced and normative data to create individualized lessons. Teachers administer the Diagnostic at the beginning of the school year to chart a course for their instruction and to personalize i‑Ready instructional paths. A midyear and end-of-year Diagnostic helps students and teachers measure growth and have data chats. Teacher-led and online instruction continues throughout the year to help students address their learning gaps and access grade-level learning.

To learn more about i-Ready, visit CurriculumAssociates.com/i-Ready.

Having the ability to create online tests and quizzes is a key aspect of remote learning. Fortunately, there are numerous apps. sites, and online resources available that allow for customized creation. Here are some of the best.

20 Sites for Creating a Quiz 

Answer Pad - A student response system that also allows educators to quiz students to assess learning in real-time.

ClassMarker - A secure, easy-to-use platform ideal for creating embeddable quizzes, similar to ProProfs. The paid version offers more options for users.

EasyTestMaker - EasyTestMaker provides tools to generate a wide assortment of tests, including the ability to specially format tests and insert instructions.

Gimkit - A game-based remote and self-paced learning solution that also allows educators to create quizzes for students.  

Google Docs (forms) - A user-friendly way for teachers to create tests and quizzes that can easily be embedded. Also offers real-time reporting.

GoToQuiz - A very simple site for creating a quiz that generates a unique URL for users.

involve.me - Helps users build quizzes that include a variety of features such as images and timers. 

Kahoot - One of the most popular sites for gamifying a classroom and creating fun educational quizzes for the whole class.

Otus - An innovative all-in-one mobile learning solution in which teachers can create quizzes to assess learning and differentiate instruction.

ProProfs - Offers numerous templates and customizable features for building quizzes. The paid version offers tools such as student tracking, analytics, and privacy settings.

Quibblo - A fun, social media-friendly site that allows quizzes to be rated, shared with others, and embedded.

Quiz Game Master - A nice little platform that allows users to build quizzes that can be turned into online games.

Quizizz - Ideal for creating multi user quizzes that provide real-time results. 

Quizlet - A popular site that covers a variety of subjects that also offers study guides, flashcards, and practice tests.

QuizPedia - A platform that allows students to create the tests and take control of learning by researching the answers.

QuizSlides - Users can build quizzes from PowerPoint slides and import results into a spreadsheet.

QuizStar - Offers quiz-building features such as multimedia elements and multilingual options.

Super Teacher Worksheets - Educators can find worksheets, printables, and generators for quizzes in a multitude of subjects.

Testmoz - A user-friendly site that offers four question types and generates unique URLs for easy distribution.

Triventy - Supports the creation of collaborative classroom quizzes.

• Strategies for Assessing Students Remotely
• The Challenges of Special Needs Assessments During Remote and Hybrid Learning

David Kapuler is an educational consultant with more than 10 years of experience working in the K-12 environment. For more information about his work, contact him at dkapuler@gmail.com and read his blog at cyber-kap.blogspot.com

No doubt about it, teaching remotely from your home office or kitchen counter is much harder than facing a room full of kids. Using a video link, such as Zoom, can help. 

Google Meet, however, goes a step or two further with extra security and functionalities such as the ability to add in auto-graded quizzes. Regardless of if it’s to teach the history of the Iroquois Confederation, the parts of speech, or how radioactive decay works, a variety of lessons can be presented over video with Meet.

Here’s how to make the most of the service.

1. Setting up Google Meet

Unlike Zoom, if you have a Gmail or Google Classroom account, you have access to Google Meet, but it’s easier if your school already uses the Classroom apps. If not, you can easily set it up. If you want, Meet can get you a domain name and URL for your class to use as its webpage, but it costs $12 per year, plus $12 per month after a two-week trial. 

• What is Google Classroom?
• Google Classroom Review 2020
• Google Classroom for Teachers: A How To Guide
• Best Zoom Shortcuts for Teachers

2.  Starting a class call using Google Meet 

To get a Meet-based remote class going, start at either Video Call, Phone Call, or Message. You can use a contact group to send it to everyone at once, or just contact a single student for a one-on-one lesson. Alternatively, a scheduled video class can be set up via a Calendar entry with a specific day and time. 

3. Keeping students out of Google Meet until you’re ready 

As is the case with Zoom video lessons, you only want to allow students to join after you’ve started the video call. If you use a nickname for the lesson (such as “What is Pi?”) students can neither enter before you nor stay online after you end the session. Start at the 9-dot Google apps icon in the upper right, select Meet and tap to “Join or Start a Meeting.” At this point, the lesson can begin on your terms. 

4. Making automatic assessments using Google Meet

One of the bonuses of using Google Classroom and Meet together is the ability to create self-graded quizzes.

• Begin at the Classwork tab at the top of the Classroom page;
• Tap Create;
• Pick the type of test you want, such as a multiple-choice quiz;
• Put in a title and instructions, and click on Blank Quiz;
• Add your questions one at a time using the Add option feature;
• When done, go to the Answer key link at the bottom to proof, indicate the correct answers, and add point scoring.

5. Integrating a document camera

This is one of the easiest ways to augment your remote teaching style to make it feel closer to a traditional classroom. As the name implies, a document camera lets you add physical items to your lesson, from a map to a petri dish. As with Zoom, you need to manually select the document camera to connect it to the video stream. Once you’ve established a video link, click on the three-dot settings icon in the lower right of the Meet screen. Then, click on Video at the top. Finally, an option to select the camera and its video stream should appear on screen after a second or two. 

6. Taking attendance 

The latest Chrome browser add-on can take virtual attendance of your video lessons. To start, you’ll need to download and install the Chrome Meet Attendance extension that is provided for free by Claycodes.org. It adds a section in the upper right of the Meet screen above where the class participants are listed. If you click to turn on the horizontal switch, it will record who is present on a time-stamped Google Sheets document. Note: It can record that your students are online but it can’t tell whether they’re paying attention--that’s up to you. 

Who: Kirsten Johnson, Director of Social Work Services, LCSW 

Where: Dover Area School District in Dover, PA 

When I was hired by Dover Area Schools for the 2017-2018 school year, I was given the freedom and support of the administration to implement a curriculum for social and emotional learning (SEL). While our schools have become adept at managing behavioral issues and PBIS systems, staff did not have a common vision of what SEL competency looked like or how to teach those skills the same way we teach academic skills. 

I was looking for a mechanism to get something into the hands of the teachers, so while they were learning what SEL competencies were, they would also have a tool to measure those competencies and apply it directly to teaching in the classroom. 

We chose DESSA. It is an easy-to-use, web-based tool that assesses SEL competence; specifically Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness, Relationship Skills, and Decision Making. Teachers are asked to rate students three times each year. I see the assessment as a form of intervention for our teachers. While they are assessing, they are becoming attuned to what the competencies are and how to determine what additional instruction students need. DESSA provides a rating that is used to determine exactly which lessons students need to meet their SEL learning needs. 

The DESSA assessment allows us to target certain classrooms and specific skills—like how to broaden emotional vocabulary, understand the body cues to different emotions, or how to self-manage when students are having uncomfortable emotions. We also teach students how to feel empathy, interpret the feelings of other people, problem solving, and working as a team. The reason we selected DESSA is that it allowed us to target different classrooms and different student subsets in a way we had not been able to do before.

Increasing Growth in SEL Skills Development

Initially, we targeted grades K-2. We added third grade this year. There is a marked decrease in the number of students who need intervention across our four elementary schools. Using DESSA to measure our progress, we are able to drill down to see the decreasing need for intervention. We also see an increase in SEL growth across the district. Our teachers readily adopted DESSA because it is quick and easy to use, and didn’t require a heavy lift on their part. 

However, the challenge is finding time for teachers to build this into their day. Building administrators are providing structure for this to happen. One way we’ve done this is to ensure that instructional materials are easy to pick up and run with. While DESSA provides the assessment, the lessons that we select, based on the data, are from Sanford Harmony. There is a strong alignment between outcomes from DESSA and Sanford Harmony lessons. The lessons are free and web-based. They are quality materials and it’s been a user-friendly curriculum for our teachers.

School and Student Outcomes

We also use Responsive Classroom as the foundation of our classrooms. This is a student-centered social and emotional learning approach to teaching and classroom management. It is the combination of DESSA, Sanford Harmony, and Responsive Classroom that is making such a difference in our schools. These three programs working together, as well as providing our teachers professional development about trauma-informed classrooms, have completely shifted our teachers’ perspectives. The classrooms are warmer—creating community. It’s really beautiful to see. Kids are relating to each other differently and notice when their peers are absent. Teachers describe student behavior in a new way, and teachers feel empowered to help their students manage. 

It is our philosophy that teaching these skills holistically in elementary grades provides an immunization for students’ older selves, protecting against mental health challenges, risk taking behavior, and a myriad of other risk factors. Continuing to bring resources to them is how we’re going to protect our students in future years. We have the privilege of providing students a warm, nurturing, safe place for them to be. The influence we have on a child is immense and an awesome responsibility.

Technology Used

• DESSA
• Sanford Harmony

The Archdiocese of Chicago has adopted Curriculum Associates’ i-Ready Diagnostic for Grades K–2. The Archdiocese will implement the online program as a formative assessment for both reading and mathematics starting in the 2020–2021 school year.  

The implementation of i-Ready Diagnostic across Grades K–2 comes after a multiyear pilot of the program. During the 2018–2019 school year, the Archdiocese of Chicago used the program in 15 schools and then expanded to 81 schools during the 2019–2020 school year. 

The Diagnostic provides educators with actionable criterion-referenced and normative data. Teachers administer the Diagnostic at the beginning of the school year to chart a course for their instruction and to personalize i‑Ready instructional paths. A midyear and end-of-year Diagnostic helps students and teachers measure growth and have data chats. Teacher-led and online instruction continues throughout the year to help students address their learning gaps and access grade-level learning. 

To learn more about i-Ready, visit i-Ready.com/Empower.

Instant answers plus explanations outweigh cheating concerns

Pros: Links to explanations and resources can really aid student understanding and provide valuable learning opportunities when teachers aren't accessible.

Cons: There's no guarantee kids are going to use this app to learn; some will just want quick answers.

Bottom Line: Used wisely, this reference tool has the capacity to amplify learning and aid students on their own time and terms.

[The Thinking and Creativity That Goes Into Game Design]

Read more 

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education

Quizlet

Flexible study aid supports learning at home, at school, and on the go

Pros: From personal study sessions to game show-style competition, Quizlet adapts to your situation.

Cons: May require extra teacher supervision/moderation; user-generated content isn't always reliable or appropriate.

Bottom Line: A quality study tool for learning and memorizing facts; extensions to support higher-level thinking would be a nice addition.

Read more 

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education

National Geographic Learning has partnered with not-for-profit assessment organization NWEA to help teachers assess student proficiency and personalize learning paths across K-12 reading instruction. NWEA assessments will be integrated with National Geographic Learning’s Panorama reading program, giving teachers insight into what each student knows and how they can differentiate instruction.  

Starting this fall, the MAP Growth assessment from NWEA will be administered as a benchmark test and then paired with National Geographic Learning’s skill lessons to give teachers the ability to use the MAP Growth results to create customized assignments for students. Educators will have access to progress reports up to four times a year to offer ways to close achievement gaps.  

National Geographic Learning’s Panorama reading program uses fiction and National Geographic nonfiction, as well interactive text and video, to help students learn how to read science and social studies content. 

For more information, visit NGL.Cengage.com/panorama.

Changing our perspective on assessments can take them from a time-consuming necessity to a useful resource to provide pathways to a better future in academia. Scary evaluations are a thing of the past. In a school atmosphere where evaluations are seen as roadmaps for successful learning, teachers and students both win. 

Building a positive culture of assessment is the key to success for both students and teachers. Tech tools alone cannot transform your data culture, but the right knowledge and strong leadership can. We’ve found that schools and districts are most successful if they possess these five common traits.  

1. A broad definition of assessment

The word ‘assessment’ should not be a substitute for the word ‘test’ or ‘grade’. When teachers, schools, and districts broaden their overall definition of what an assessment can be, teachers are able to get a more complete sense of what a student has learned and where there is still room for improvement. These don’t need to be limited to benchmarking, check-points, or end-of-level tests, and not all assessments factor into a student’s gradebook. Whether it be performance-based evaluations, rubrics, or even a one-on-one conversation about frustrations and successes, think of an assessment as any time you allow a student to demonstrate what they know and don’t know. 

2. Assessments aren’t feared by teachers and students

When the statistics come back and the data doesn’t show perfect scores or off-the-charts comprehension, many instinctively assume the data is “bad” and shy away from acknowledging what it can illuminate. All data is good data. Even numbers that reflect a less-than-ideal outcome offer an opportunity to improve and address specific student needs. Just as we tell students, take every opportunity to apply what you’ve learned. 

Students shouldn’t be afraid to take assessments either. Often, students fall into the trap of seeing every evaluation as a grade that tells them how well they’ve prepared or how “smart” they are. Instead of seeing low scores or numbers and thinking “I can’t do that,” teachers work with students to identify additional learning opportunities and help them reframe the way they see assessments to say, “I can’t do that yet! But I will learn.” Evaluations are opportunities for growth and challenge, rather than a harbinger of doom and gloom. 

Teachers should have an understanding that no matter where students are in their learning process, the results of assessments are tools to guide further instruction and evaluate the efficacy of their own teaching. The ultimate goal is to refine programs to best benefit the students and meet them where they are. When students see assessments as ways to show off what they know rather than exposing where they fall short, they’ll be more likely to approach them with a positive outlook geared toward learning and addressing their own knowledge gaps. 

3. Student data are evaluated as a team

Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) empower teachers with the knowledge and tools to best evaluate student data as a team.  From sharing experiences to exchanging resources for growth, teachers making use of PLCs to broaden their own perspectives and create a culture of collaboration. Joining forces with other experienced professionals often paves the way for a more robust program of evaluation (rather than creating competition as some may worry). 

No educator is an island. Sharing resources and delivering common assessments on a school- or district-wide scale forms a solid foundation of consistent data and allows teachers to get new eyes on data. Working together, teachers and administrators can collaborate on instructional strategies to create a space for conversations that have a real impact on student learning. 

4. Real-time data are leveraged to address student needs

See evaluations as a tool for constructive feedback on all levels to address students’ needs. Many successful teachers use the ITS model: Identify student levels of understanding; Target students for intervention; Self-evaluate your own instruction and efficacy. Breaking down assessment data allows teachers to see the full picture of a student’s understanding on an individualized level. First, find the students that have room for improvement and target their weak spots for extra attention. Then, take the critical step of understanding how you can improve instruction as a teacher. 

5. Data are used to differentiate learning and instruction on an individual basis

If we solicit data from student evaluations, we have a moral obligation to use that data to benefit those students. For example, benchmark data is integrated in the formative process. One example of a technological tool that helps make the most of student data is Instructure’s MasteryConnect. This product has a Benchmark Compare feature that allows educators to have a side-by-side view of students’ formative and benchmark assessment data, allowing them to identify important patterns and trends in student levels of understanding to inform their instruction. 

Whichever assessment practice model you use—be it Response to Intervention (RTI), multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS), or any other— these five common traits in schools and districts can help achieve a positive culture around assessments.  

Trenton Goble is the VP of K12 Learning at Instructure 

Trenton left his position as an elementary school principal in January 2012 to become MasteryConnect’s Chief Academic Officer and Co-Founder. He now serves as VP of K-12 learning at Instructure. During Trenton’s 19-year career as an educator, he taught various grade levels, served as an Assistant Principal, and spent 11 years working as an Elementary School Principal. Trenton holds an M.Ed in Instructional Technology from Utah State University, and he designed the Mastery Leadership Institute to support school and district leaders in implementing successful data strategies and cultures. 

Welcome to my first post of the New Year! In fact, the year starts out with two amazing conferences … FETC and then TCEA. I am on my way to one of my favorites, FETC which happens to be in Miami Beach, Florida this year. It will be back in Orlando in 2021.  Presently I am close to 30,000 feet in the air flying from Indiana to Florida. It is a perfect time to write a blog since the wifi is down, but my creativity is up. It provides a perfect time to address the idea of Creativity in education (one of those 4C’s). If you liked my last posts on Collaboration and Critical Thinking (click links), then you are sure to like this post. It is filled with thoughts on Creativity including “I can” statement(s), classroom attributes, and assessment rubrics. I hope you enjoy and find the time to pass this along via email or a tweet. Thanks for being one of my nearly 30,000 readers a month and growing (Spread the Word… it is encouraging). Remember you can follow me on Twitter at @mjgormans. I look forward to learning from you! Enjoy the read, and what I know will be a creative journey!

Note: I will be at FETC in Miami, Florida all week. I thought this would be a great post to start my coverage of an amazing conference. Creativity continues this week with a STEAM post (with lots of links) and thoughts from Keynote Dan Pink. If you are at the conference, feel free to look me up with a PM at Twitter (@mjgormans) or email (mjgormans@gmail.com). I would love to talk with you about amazing PD I can provide at your school or conference this year! Check out my Booking Page and please share and subscribe to this Blog. Now… let’s get creative!

Creativity: Facilitating and Assessing the 21st Century Skills in Education

“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” – Albert Einstein

The idea of Creativity really is at the base of our culture. It seems it is one of those processes that machines still depend on humans to make happen. This idea of difficult machine reproduction with regards to Creativity, makes Creativity one of those growing skills for career opportunities. It seems that machines and automation have been able to replace so many services supplied by humans, but creativity is still one attribute that humans seem to have the upper hand on. It is for this reason that education must nurture and facilitate Creativity in students. A classroom that promotes Creativity puts students at the center of learning. Student inquiry is promoted and often used to engage and promote a passion for learning. Students are provided learning opportunities that promote problem solving that is often initiated by the students. In a Creative classroom culture, students are encouraged to think outside the box while connecting real world authenticity to important content standards. They are encouraged to use their creativity to deal with real world situations. Students’ thoughts and ideas are honored and perseverance through an iterative cycle is encouraged. In many ways, students become practitioners of real-world careers.

How does this happen? The teacher must be intentional and guide students. There still must be moments following student exploration where the teacher provides or facilitates explanation. Concurrently, teachers must make sure that their lessons go beyond Bloom’s remembering and understanding. This demands an elaboration that promotes connections and transfer of encouraging student Creativity!  Often, this practice can be seen in STEM and PBL classrooms. It is exciting to see students discuss, debate, question, and build as they conquer the standards.

Welcome to the resources! I think it is important to define and promote Creativity though its various attributes. It must be intentional with appropriate scaffolds in place. I hope you find the resources below helpful. Taking the journey toward student Creativity is a wonderful and rewarding journey for you and your students. Start out taking a few steps with a rubric, a student reflection, or a small lesson. Before you know it your students will take you the rest of the way.  Please enjoy the resources below and be sure to share with others!

Ten Reasons to Promote Creativity in the Classroom

• Provides students the opportunity to own the process and internalize their learning.
• Facilitates critical thinking by pushing students to look at and invent possibilities.
• Allows students to take risks that can support thinking that is “out of the box”
• Supports the design process that can be incorporated in all disciplines and supports STEM thinking.
• Encourages students to visualize their thinking and important concepts in content and connections between multiple content and real-world concepts.
• Allows for the progression from surface learning, to deeper learning, to a final transfer of learning that in return supports authentic and new understanding.
• Provides opportunity for unique, thoughtful, and powerful communication
• Supports possibility thinking and a growth mindset that comes up with hidden, original, and unique possibilities.
• Provides important avenues of collaboration that allow for active listening, persuasion, healthy discourse, multiple viewpoints, and needed empathy.
• Builds a balance between the logical and sequential thought processes, allowing for intellectual growth of the whole mind.

Ten Ways to Facilitate Student Creativity in the Classroom and School

• Intentionally go beyond remembering and understanding with Blooms (The standards often force teachers to get students ready for the test… which means we miss analyzing, applying, synthesizing, and most of all Creating.)
• Emphasize the verbs in the standards. (It is the verbs that allow students to do. When they are doing… Creativity can flow.)
• Provide students with a Creativity Thinking rubric. (Have them look at the rubric before an activity that demands Creativity, and once again when they are finished)
• Make assessment of Creativity an ongoing effort. (While the teacher can assess, have students assess themselves. Self assessment can be powerful)
• Concentrate on specific indicators in a rubric. (There are various indicators such as; thinking outside the box, risk taking, originality, questioning, empathy toward others, growth mindset, innovation, and design thinking. Concentrate on just one indicator while doing a lesson. There can even be an exit ticket reflection)
• Start a lesson out… with Creativity. ( You can turn Bloom’s upside down. Find out how having students Create can lead to analyzing, synthesizing, understanding, and remembering, while opening with some wonderful  engagement.)
• Post a Creative Thinking Poster in the room. (This poster could be a copy of a rubric or even a list of “I Can Statements”. Point it out before a creative thinking activity.
• Make Creativity part of your formative  and summative assessment.  (Move around the room, talk to groups and students, stop the whole group to make adjustments.)
• Find ways to bring a Makers’ Culture to the classroom. (So many schools are building a Makers Space. Perhaps we need to build a Makers’ Culture that happens in any space leading to Creativity and innovation.)
• Plan for a school wide emphasis. (A culture that builds Creativity is usually bigger then one classroom. Schools and classrooms that practice student owned/centered learning promote Creativity. Develop school-wide vocabulary, posters, and initiatives.)

Keep in mind that learning actually has three transitions. These include Surface Learning, Deeper Learning, and Transfer of Learning. They are all necessary if we are to engage students in authentic learning that provides real understanding. Surface Learning builds the foundation while the Deeper Learning provides rigor and important meta-cognition. When students begin to Transfer the Learning to experiences in the real world situations we begin to see Creativity become an important factor. This is a big reason for success that is found in PBL and STEM.

I have been mentioning rubrics and assessment tools through out this post. To me, these are essential in building that culture of Creativity in the classroom. I want to provide you with some great resources that will give your some powerful tools to assess the skill of Creativity.  Keep in mind that students can also self assess and journal using prompts from a Creativity Rubric.

Ten Resources to Help with Assessment and Facilitation of Creativity

Habits of Mind – I think this is an awesome place to help teachers facilitate and assess critical thinking and more. Check out the free resources page which even has some wonderful posters. One of my favorites is the rubrics found on this research page. Decide on spending some time because there are a lot of great resources.

PBLWorks – The number one place for PBL in the world is at PBLWorks. You may know it as the BUCK Institute or BIE. I am fortunate to be part of their National Faculty which is probably why I rank it as number one. I encourage you to visit their site for everything PBL.  This link brings you to the resource area where you will discover some amazing  rubrics. One provides for the idea of Creativity in a PBL Unit. You will find rubrics for grade bands K-2, 3-5, and 6-12. This really is a great place to start. You will need to sign up to be a member of PBLWorks. This is a wonderful idea, after-all it is free!

Microsoft Innovative Learning – This  website contains some powerful rubrics for assessing the 21st Century skills. The link will bring you to a PDF file with Critical Thinking rubrics you can use tomorrow for any grade level. Check out this two page document defining the 4 C’s and a movie giving you even more of an explanation.

New Tech School – This amazing PBL group of schools provide some wonderful Learning Rubrics in their free area.  Here you will find an interesting collection of rubrics that assesses student learning in multiple areas. These are sure to get you off and started.

AACU Creative Value Rubric – The VALUE rubrics were developed by teams of faculty experts representing colleges and universities across the United States through a process that examined many existing campus rubrics and related documents for each learning outcome and incorporated additional feedback from faculty.

Project Zero – The Creativity Module helps students develop their capacity to think creatively and to see the creativity embedded in things and ideas around them. Challenges of creativity are everywhere in daily life–wherever it is important to think of new ways of doing things, to look at things through new eyes, to go beyond conventional ways of thinking, to stretch beyond the obvious.

Destination Imagination – Destination Imagination (DI) is a volunteer-led nonprofit organization whose purpose is to inspire and equip students to become the next generation of innovators and leaders.

CRE8Iowa Instant Challenges – Great way to great Creative Energy flowing. Instant Challenges published by Students for a Creative Iowa are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Please provide appropriate credit if you share any of these Instant Challenges on your Web site or blog.

Imagination Foundation – This a wonderful site to find ideas and projects that students will enjoy as they turn on their Creativity.

Edutopia Creativity – Check out this section of Edutopia for some amazing articles to plant seeds of Creativity in you school or classroom. Enjoy the possibilities.

I Can Statements for Creativity

• I can practice originality by creating and generating my own ideas for any given situation or task.
• I can practice my own sense of curiosity while exploring, researching, and building.
• I can explain my own ideas and concepts and interpret new concepts I learn.
• I can analyze, extend, change, and assess my own ideas, and ideas from others for possibilities and accuracy.
• I can invite opportunities to explore, reflect, create, and rigorously come up with solutions.
• I can not only find answers, but also take my answers and create new questions.
• I can take risks and accept failure as I search for solutions and answers.
• I can practice empathy, understanding, and resolve in my working with others.
• I can use my visualization and imagination to think outside the box while integrating multiple possibilities and answers.
• I can use a design process to answer problems both simple and complex.

cross-posted at 21centuryedtech.wordpress.com

Michael Gorman oversees one-to-one laptop programs and digital professional development for Southwest Allen County Schools near Fort Wayne, Indiana. He is a consultant for Discovery Education, ISTE, My Big Campus, and November Learning and is on the National Faculty for The Buck Institute for Education. His awards include district Teacher of the Year, Indiana STEM Educator of the Year and Microsoft’s 365 Global Education Hero. Read more at 21centuryedtech.wordpress.com.

Innovative educators understand that there is more to learning than processed worksheets and tests. That's why real-world tasks and assessments are finally making it out of just the elite schools and are becoming more prevalent in mainstream education. 

At the Tech & Learning Leadership Summit experts in the area of technology and education came together to discuss a variety of topics including how technology supports bringing real learning experiences to the classroom. 

G.R.A.S.P.S. Model

One model popular among attendees was one adapted from Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe.  It is called GRASPS, which is an acronym standing for:

G: Goal

• Provide a statement of the task. Establish the goal, problem, challenge, or obstacle in the task.
• Possible sentence starters:
• Your task is to… The goal is to… The problem or challenge is… The obstacle to overcome is…

R: Role

• Define the role of the students in the task. State the job of the students for the task.
• Possible sentence starters:
• You are… You have been asked to… Your job is…

A: Audience

• Identify the target audience within the context of the scenario. Example audiences might include a client or committee. 
• Possible sentence starters:
• Your clients are… The target audience is… You need to convince…

S: Situation

• Set the context of the scenario. Explain the situation.
• Possible sentence starters:
• The context you find yourself in is… The challenge involves dealing with…

P: Products or Performances

• Clarify what the students will create and why they will create it,
• Possible sentence starters:
• You will create a … in order to… You need to develop a … so that 

S: Standards

• Provide students with a clear picture of success. Identify specific standards for success. Issue rubrics to the students or develop them with the student.
• Possible sentence starters:
• Your performance needs to… Your work will be judged by… Your product must meet the following standards… A successful result will… 

Note that it is unnecessary to use all or even any of the sentence starters. You can replace a prompt with your own. These are provided to help the learning designer think about the task. Generally one sentence starter can be used to write 

cross posted at The Innovative Educator 

Lisa Nielsen (@InnovativeEdu) has worked as a public-school educator and administrator since 1997. She is a prolific writer best known for her award-winning blog, The Innovative Educator. Nielsen is the author of several booksand her writing has been featured in media outlets such as The New York Times,The Wall Street Journal, Tech&Learning, and T.H.E. Journal.   

Upgrading Network Infrastructure Ensures Reliable Connectivity for Testing and Learning

Duval County Public Schools (DCPS) serves the urban, suburban, and rural areas of Jacksonville, Florida. The effects of the DCPS aging network were interfering with schools’ teaching and state testing. Network unreliability was caused by older products incapable of handling the amount of traffic needed to keep a robust connection. Because the equipment had not been updated for more than a decade, DCPS was losing instruction and testing time to failing network connections.

The district had to continually ask the state for time extensions to complete state testing due to their failing systems. If the testing window is lost, so are the benefits from the state testing. The delay in the testing data hampered instruction. The unreliable backup connection also became a problem when DCPS decided to move its analog phone system to VoIP systems. The old networking equipment couldn’t handle the volume of traffic passing through the primary or secondary wired lines either.

The district chose Cradlepoint’s NetCloud Service for branch by deploying a branch performance router. This allowed DCPS to deploy the VoIP phone system and update its network for pervasive connectivity throughout the district. The service also includes cloud management, 24x7 support, and a limited lifetime warranty. The district can now rely on Cradlepoint’s wired line failover solution. DCPS can automatically send traffic through the wired link if the wired connection fails—ensuring constant connectivity for teaching and learning.

The Cradlepoint solution has saved the DCPS IT team time and effort because the network has significantly fewer issues to troubleshoot. The NetCloud Manager software allows them to manage all the devices from a single location. And as the district responds to the need for greater student security and safety, they are interested in Cradlepoint’s NetCloud Service for support of mobile assets like video to see attendance on the bus and to capture any safety incidents.

“Cradlepoint has already proven themselves with their branch services, so the decision on what products to include as funding becomes available is easy and stress-free,” said Stephen McLaughlin, supervisor of network operations.

Technology Used

Cradlepoint NetCloud Manager

Like all Texas districts, Beaumont aligns its instruction and assessments based on student performance on the state’s STAAR (State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness) tests. All K–8 students are screened using Renaissance Star Assessments in reading, math, or early literacy three times each year. Using the screening data, students are placed in the best place for their needs and receive targeted tutorials based on their domain scores.

Beaumont has been using a scripted data-driven instruction (DDI) protocol for several years to guide conversations in their PLCs. For example, all fourth grade math teachers meet and discuss student data together. They script out the approach and instructional delivery to ensure student mastery for the following week. Identifying exact resources to use and how the goals are to be accomplished, teachers leave with a specific plan to achieve learning goals. 

The district uses Accelerated Reader to monitor independent reading, support the self-selection of leveled reading material, and foster a growth mindset. The students also use the data to monitor their own progress. Each student has a data folder where they graph their work in reading, math, and writing every one-to-two weeks. This practice helps students invest in their own academic success. 

Beaumont also uses a social and emotional learning (SEL) curriculum to help build relationships with students. These personal connections provide students the emotional stability they need to focus on learning. The district has implemented the free Sanford Harmony curriculum in every K–5 classroom. Each day students model practices and have conversations that tie back to the goals they have set for themselves. SEL fosters a family environment that gives students tools to manage their behavior and to feel secure and ready to learn. 

To increase access to books at home, the district purchased the My-on Digital Library with thousands of digital books. The platform can be accessed via smartphone, laptop, iPad, Kindle, Fire HD, or desktop computer. To help provide this technology, the district received a grant to provide Chromebooks, Kindle Fire HDs, and WiFi devices for parents to check out from school. 

The weekly data review in addition to the SEL curriculum, facilitated by the appropriate technology, ensures that Beaumont students stay on track to achieve their learning goals.

Technology Used

Renaissance Star Assessments

Accelerated Reader

My-on Digital Library

I believe that Critical Thinking is the spark that begins the process of authentic learning. Before going further, we must first develop an idea of what learning is… and what learning is not.  So many times we hear our students say, “Why am I learning this?” The reason they ask is because they have not really experienced the full spectrum of learning, and because of this are actually not learning to a full rewarding  extent! We might say they are being exposed to surface learning and not authentic (real) learning. The act of authentic learning is actually an exciting and engaging concept. It allows students to see real meaning and begin to construct their own knowledge.  Critical Thinking is core to learning. It is rewarding, engaging, and life long. Without critical thinking students are left to a universe of concepts and memorization.  Yes… over twelve years of mediocrity! When educators employ critical thinking in their classrooms, a whole new world of understanding is opened up.   What are some reasons to facilitate critical thinking with our students? Let me begin:

Ten Reasons For Student Critical Thinking in the classroom

1. Allows for necessary inquiry that makes learning exciting
2. Provides a method to go beyond memorization to promote understanding.
3. Allows students to visualize thoughts, concepts, theories, models & possibilities.
4. Promotes curriculum standards, trans-disciplinary ideas & real world connections.
5. Encourages a classroom culture of collaboration that promotes deeper thinking.
6. Builds skills of problem solving, making implications, & determining consequences.
7. Facilitates goal setting, promotion of process, and perseverance to achieve.
8. Teaches self reflection and critique, and the ability to listen to others’ thoughts.
9. Encourages point of view  while developing persuasive skills.
10. Guides interpretation while developing a skill to infer and draw conclusions.

I am excited by the spark that critical thinking ignites to support real and authentic learning in the classroom. I often wonder how much time students spend in the process of critical thinking in the classroom. I ask you to reflect on your typical school day. Are your students spending time in area of surface learning , or are they plunging into the engaging culture of deeper (real) learning?  At the same time … how are you assessing your students? So many times as educators, we are bound by the standards, and we forget the importance of promoting that critical thinking process that makes our standards come alive with understanding. A culture of critical thinking is not automatic, though with intentional planning  it can become a reality. Like the other 21st century skills, it must be built and continuously facilitated. Let’s take a look at how, we as educators, can do this.

Ten Ways to Facilitate Student Critical Thinking in the Classroom and School

1. Design Critical Thinking Activities. (This might include mind mapping, making thinking visible, Socratic discussions, meta-cognitive mind stretches, Build an inquiry wall with students and talk about the process of thinking”
2. Provide time for students to collaborate. (Collaboration can be the button that starts critical thinking. It provides group thinking that builds on the standards. Have students work together while solving multi-step and higher order thinking problems. Sometimes this might mean slow down to increase the learning.)
3. Provide students with a Critical Thinking rubric. (Have them look at the rubric before a critical thinking activity, and once again when they are finished)
4. Make assessment of Critical Thinking an ongoing effort. (While the teacher can assess, have students assess themselves. Self assessment can be powerful)
5. Concentrate on specific indicators in a rubric. (There are various indicators such as; provides inquiry, answers questions, builds an argument etc. Concentrate on just one indicator while doing a lesson. There can even be an exit ticket reflection)
6. Integrate the idea of Critical Thinking in any lesson. ( Do not teach this skill in isolation. How does is work with a lesson, stem activity, project built, etc. What does Critical Thinking look like in the online or blended environment? Think of online discussions.)
7. Post a Critical Thinking Poster in the room. (This poster could be a copy of a rubric or even a list of “I Can Statements”. Point it out before a critical thinking activity.
8. Make Critical Thinking part of your formative  and summative assessment.  (Move around the room, talk to groups and students, stop the whole group to make adjustments.)
9. Point out Critical Thinking found in the content standards. (Be aware that content standards often have words like; infer, debate, conclude, solve, prioritize, compare and contrast, hypothesize, and research. Critical Thinking has always been part of the standards. Show your students Bloom’s Taxonomy and post in the room. Where are they in their learning?
10. Plan for a school wide emphasis. (A culture that builds Critical Thinking is usually bigger then one classroom. Develop school-wide vocabulary, posters, and initiatives.)

I keep talking about the idea of surface learning and deeper learning. This can best be seen in  Bloom’s Taxonomy. Often we start with Remembering.  This might be essential in providing students the map to the further areas of Bloom’s. Of course, we then find the idea of Understanding. This is where I believe critical thinking begins. Sometimes we need to critically think in order to understand. In fact, you might be this doing right now. I believe that too much time might be spent in Remembering, which is why students get a false idea of what learning really is. As we look at the rest of Bloom’s ( Apply, Analyze, Evaluate, and Create) we can see the deeper learning take place. and even steps toward the transfer and internalization of the learning. Some educators even tip Bloom’s upside down, stating that the Creating at the top will build an understanding. This must be done with careful facilitation and intentional scaffold to make sure there is some surface learning. After-all, Critical Thinking will need this to build on.

I have been mentioning rubrics and assessment tools through out this post. To me, these are essential in building that culture of critical thinking in the classroom. I want to provide you with some great resources that will give your some powerful tools to assess the skill of Critical Thinking.  Keep in mind that students can also self assess and journal using prompts from a Critical Thinking Rubric.

Seven Resources to Help with Assessment and Facilitation of Critical Thinking

1. Habits of Mind – I think this is an awesome place to help teachers facilitate and assess critical thinking and more. Check out the free resources page which even has some wonderful posters. One of my favorites is the rubrics found on this research page. Decide on spending some time because there are a lot of great resources.
2. PBLWorks – The number one place for PBL in the world is at PBLWorks. You may know it as the BUCK Institute or BIE. I am fortunate to be part of their National Faculty which is probably why I rank it as number one. I encourage you to visit their site for everything PBL.  This link brings you to the resource area where you will discover some amazing  rubrics to facilitate Critical Thinking. You will find rubrics for grade bands K-2, 3-5, and 6-12. This really is a great place to start. You will need to sign up to be a member of PBLWorks. This is a wonderful idea, after-all it is free!
3. Microsoft Innovative Learning – This  website contains some powerful rubrics for assessing the 21st Century skills. The link will bring you to a PDF file with Critical Thinking rubrics you can use tomorrow for any grade level. Check out this two page document defining the 4 C’s and a movie giving you even more of an explanation.
4. New Tech School – This amazing PBL group of schools provide some wonderful Learning Rubrics in their free area.  Here you will find an interesting collection of rubrics that assesses student learning in multiple areas. These are sure to get you off and started.
5. Foundation for Critical Thinking –  Check out this amazing page to help give you descriptors.
6. Project Zero – While it is not necessarily assessment based, you will find some powerful routines for making thinking visible. As you conduct these types of activities you will find yourself doing some wonderful formative assessment of critical thinking.
7. Education Week – Take a look at this resource that provides some great reasoning and some interesting links that provide a glimpse of critical thinking in the classroom.

Critical Thinking “I Can Statements”

As you can see, I believe that Critical Thinking is key to PBL, STEM, and Deeper Learning. It improves Communication and Collaboration, while promoting Creativity.  I believe every student should have these following “I Can Statements” as part of their learning experience. Feel free to copy and use in your classroom. Perhaps this is a great starting place as you promote collaborative and powerful learning culture!

• I can not only answer questions, but can also think of new questions to ask 
• I can take time to see what I am thinking to promote even better understanding 
• I can attempt to see other peoples’ thinking while explaining my own 
• I can look at a problem and determine needed steps to find a solution 
• I can use proper collaboration skills to work with others productively to build solutions 
• I can set a goal, design a plan, and persevere to accomplish the goal. 
• I can map out strategies and processes that shows the action involved in a task. 
• I can define and show my understanding of a concept, model, theory, or process. 
• I can take time to reflect and productively critique my work and the work of others 
• I can understand, observe, draw inferences, hypothesize and see implications.

cross-posted at 21centuryedtech.wordpress.com

Michael Gorman oversees one-to-one laptop programs and digital professional development for Southwest Allen County Schools near Fort Wayne, Indiana. He is a consultant for Discovery Education, ISTE, My Big Campus, and November Learning and is on the National Faculty for The Buck Institute for Education. His awards include district Teacher of the Year, Indiana STEM Educator of the Year and Microsoft’s 365 Global Education Hero. Read more at 21centuryedtech.wordpress.com.

I believe that collaboration is a major key to learning. I feel that learning in the group is so much more powerful and productive then learning in isolation.  To hear students talk with each other as they cite important learning standards is exciting to see.  What are some reasons to see our students collaborate? Let me begin:

Ten Reasons For Student Collaboration in the Classroom

• Teach students how to collaborate. (This might include a fishbowl or providing indicators on a rubric, or a good video clip.)
• Provide time for students to collaborate. (Scaffold the collaboration if needed by bringing in questions and idea at various times.)
• Provide students with a collaboration rubric. (Have them look at the rubric before collaborating, and once again when they are finished)
• Make assessment of collaboration an ongoing effort. (While the teacher can assess, have students assess themselves. Self assessment can be powerful)
• Concentrate on specific indicators in a rubric. (There are various indicators such as; provides thoughts, gives feedback, etc. Concentrate on just one indicator while doing a lesson. There can even be an exit ticket reflection)
• Integrate the idea of Collaboration in any lesson. ( Do not teach this skill in isolation. How does is work with a lesson, stem activity, project built, etc. What does collaboration look like in the online or blended environment?)
• Post a Collaboration Poster in the room. (This poster could be a copy of a rubric or even a list of “I Can Statements”. Point it out before collaborating.
• Make Collaboration part of your formative assessment . (Move around the room, talk to groups and students, stop the whole group to make adjustments.)
• Point out Collaboration found in the content standards. (Be aware that content standards often have words like; discuss, come to agreement, debate,  and explain. Collaboration has always been part of the standards.
• Plan for a school wide emphasis. (A culture that build collaboration is usually bigger then one classroom. Develop school-wide vocabulary, posters, and initiatives.)

While I am excited by collaboration in the classroom I am often greeted by educators that remind me that their students do not know how to collaborate. I often ask if their students have ever been taught to collaborate. So many times as educators, we are so bound by the standards, we forget the importance of building a collaborative culture. Great student collaboration does not just happen. It must be built and continuously facilitated. Let’s take a look at how, we as educators, can do this.

Ten Ways to Facilitate Student Collaboration in the Classroom and School

• Teach students how to collaborate. (This might include a fishbowl or providing indicators on a rubric, or a good video clip.)
• Provide time for students to collaborate. (Scaffold the collaboration if needed by bringing in questions and idea at various times.)
• Provide students with a collaboration rubric. (Have them look at the rubric before collaborating, and once again when they are finished)
• Make assessment of collaboration an ongoing effort. (While the teacher can assess, have students assess themselves. Self assessment can be powerful)
• Concentrate on specific indicators in a rubric. (There are various indicators such as; provides thoughts, gives feedback, etc. Concentrate on just one indicator while doing a lesson. There can even be an exit ticket reflection)
• Integrate the idea of Collaboration in any lesson. ( Do not teach this skill in isolation. How does is work with a lesson, stem activity, project built, etc. What does collaboration look like in the online or blended environment?)
• Post a Collaboration Poster in the room. (This poster could be a copy of a rubric or even a list of “I Can Statements”. Point it out before collaborating.
• Make Collaboration part of your formative assessment . (Move around the room, talk to groups and students, stop the whole group to make adjustments.)
• Point out Collaboration found in the content standards. (Be aware that content standards often have words like; discuss, come to agreement, debate,  and explain. Collaboration has always been part of the standards.
• Plan for a school wide emphasis. (A culture that build collaboration is usually bigger then one classroom. Develop school-wide vocabulary, posters, and initiatives.)

I have been mentioning rubrics and assessment tools through out this post. To me, these are essential in building that culture of collaboration in the classroom. I want to provide you with some great resources that will give your some powerful tools to assess the skill of Collaboration.  Keep in mind that students can also self assess and journal using prompts from a Collaboration Rubric.

Three Resources to Help with Assessment of Collaboration

PBLWorks – The number one place for PBL in the world is at PBLWorks. You may know it as the BUCK Institute or BIE. I am fortunate to be part of their National Faculty which is probably why I rank it as number one. I encourage you to visit their site for everything PBL.  This link brings you to the resource area where you will discover some amazing  rubrics to facilitate Collaboration. You will find rubrics for grade bands K-2, 3-5, and 6-12. This really is a great place to start. You will need to sign up to be a member of PBLWorks. This is a wonderful idea, after-all it is free!

Microsoft Innovative Learning – This  website contains some powerful rubrics for assessing the 21st Century skills. The link will bring you to a PDF file with  Collaboration rubrics you can use tomorrow for any grade level. Check out this two page document defining the 4 C’s and a movie giving you even more of an explanation.

New Tech School – This amazing PBL group of schools provide some wonderful Collaboration Rubrics in their free area. These are sure to get you off and started.

Collaboration “I Can Statements”

As you can see, I believe that collaboration is key to PBL, STEM, and Deeper Learning. It improves Communication and Critical Thinking, while promoting Creativity.  I believe every student should have these following “I Can Statements” as part of their learning experience. Feel free to copy and use in your classroom. Perhaps this is a great starting place as you promote collaborative and powerful learning culture!

I can share equal responsibility in a group
I can value opinions of others
I can work with others in a positive manner
I can compromise with individuals and the entire group
I can use active listening
I can practice empathy
I can take time to think about what others saying
I can work with a group to determine best tools, resources, and methods
I can work independently inside and outside the group
I can value the various strengths, skills, and abilities of all group members

cross-posted at 21centuryedtech.wordpress.com

Michael Gorman oversees one-to-one laptop programs and digital professional development for Southwest Allen County Schools near Fort Wayne, Indiana. He is a consultant for Discovery Education, ISTE, My Big Campus, and November Learning and is on the National Faculty for The Buck Institute for Education. His awards include district Teacher of the Year, Indiana STEM Educator of the Year and Microsoft’s 365 Global Education Hero. Read more at 21centuryedtech.wordpress.com.

Renaissance® today announced that it has acquired Schoolzilla, a company known for its data-driven dashboards that integrate multiple sources of student data, including attendance, suspensions, course grades, and more. By adding student learning data from Renaissance’s assessment, literacy, and math programs to Schoolzilla’s dashboards, school and district leaders can gain the insights needed to evaluate trends in student attendance and achievement.

Schoolzilla’s dashboards enable education leaders to track daily progress toward goals around metrics such as chronic absence, grades, assessment growth, and college readiness. The customizable dashboards can aggregate data from over 135 education data sources, including student information systems, assessments (including interim, formative, and state assessments), behavior management systems, and more. Data can be viewed either for the current academic term or longitudinally to compare growth within grade levels and across years. 

Classroom educators can also use Schoolzilla dashboards to understand how groups of students, as well as individual students, are doing on these same metrics and then pinpoint opportunities to strengthen teaching and learning.

Schoolzilla customers will continue to receive the support and service they have come to expect and love from the company. 

Slido

Increase student buy-in with interactive polls and Q&A sessions

Pros: The clean design and variety of polling options make it a great tool for student engagement and classroom discussion.

Cons: Most of the classroom-centric features are available only with a paid plan, and polls must be reset one at a time.

Bottom Line: Engaging classroom response platform offers teachers and students real-time feedback opportunities.

Read more 

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education