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https://dpdol.nwea.org/ws/growth/ii
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In many NWEA ® professional learning workshops, you'll use an interactive guide, a fillable PDF workbook that supports your learning. This wiki helps you learn how to access and use your interactive guide PDF on your digital device.

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https://padlet.com/

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6 ways the Learning Continuum can help teacher decision making #MAPtest

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The Learning Continuum can be a powerful tool and can help aid decision making inside and outside the classroom in these six meaningful ways.

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Six Ways The Learning Continuum Can Help Teacher Decision Making

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The content you are attempting to view has moved. The site map below should help you find what you are looking for.

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If you're seeing this message, it means we're having trouble loading external resources on our website.

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Use NWEA MAP Test scores to generate personalized study recommendations.

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Use NWEA MAP Test scores to generate personalized study recommendations

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MORE Practice with Data-to-Instruction

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ForTheTeachers.org

YourReadingPath.com

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Learning Targets

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https://nwea.adobeconnect.com/_a203290506/learningcontinuum/

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https://goo.gl/chA9Hf

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"It is well to cultivate a friendly feeling towards error, to treat it as a companion inseparable from our lives, as something having a purpose which it truly has." - Maria Montessori
These constructive quotes communicate that mistakes are desirable, which is a positive message and part of what we want students to learn. An appreciation of mistakes helps us overcome our fear of making them, enabling us to take risks. But we also want students to understand what kinds of mistakes are most useful and how to most learn from them.
Types of mistakes The stretch mistakes
Stretch mistakes happen when we're working to expand our current abilities. We're not trying to make these mistakes in that we're not trying to do something incorrectly, but instead, we're trying to do something that is beyond what we already can do without help, so we're bound to make some errors.

Stretch mistakes are positive. If we never made stretch mistakes, it would mean that we never truly challenged ourselves to learn new knowledge or skills.

Sometimes when we're stuck making and repeating the same stretch mistake, the issue may be that we're mindlessly going through the motions, rather than truly focusing on improving our abilities. Other times the root cause may be that our approach to learning is ineffective and we should try a different strategy to learn that new skill. Or it may be that what we're trying is too far beyond what we already know, and we're not yet ready to master that level of challenge. It is not a problem to test our boundaries and rate of growth, exploring how far and quickly we can progress. But if we feel stuck, one thing we can do is adjust the task, decreasing the level of challenge but still keeping it beyond what we already know. Our zone of proximal development (ZPD) is the zone slightly beyond what we already can do without help, which is a fruitful level of challenge for learning.

We want to make stretch mistakes! We want to do so not by trying to do things incorrectly, but by trying to do things that are challenging. When we make stretch mistakes we want to reflect, identify what we can learn, and then adjust our approach to practice, until we master the new level of ability. Then we want to identify a new area of challenge and continue stretching ourselves.
The aha-moment mistakes
Another positive type of mistake, but one that is harder to strive or plan for, is the aha-moment mistake. This happens when we achieve what we intend to do, but then realize that it was a mistake to do so because of some knowledge we lacked which is now becoming apparent. There are lots of examples of this, such as:

When we lack the content knowledge: e.g. not finding water, we try to extinguish a fire with alcohol, which we didn't realize is flammable.

When we find there is more nuance than we realized: e.g. in our painting, we color a sun near the horizon as yellow, and later notice that the sun does not always look yellow.

When we make incorrect assumptions: e.g. we try to help someone else, thinking that help is always welcome, but we find out that the person did not want help at that moment.

When we make systematic mistakes: e.g. a fellow educator observes us doing a lesson and later points out, with compelling back-up data, that we tend to call on Caucasian girls much more often than we do other students.

When we misremember: e.g. we call a friend for their birthday on the right date, but the wrong month.

We can gain more aha moments from mistakes by being reflective. We can ask ourselves What was unexpected? Why did that result occur? What went well and what didn't? Is there anything I could try differently next time? We can also ask people around us for information we may not be aware of, or for ideas for improvement.
The sloppy mistakes
Sloppy mistakes happen when we're doing something we already know how to do, but we do it incorrectly because we lose concentration. We all make sloppy mistakes occasionally because we're human. However, when we make too many of these mistakes, especially on a task that we intend to focus on at the time, it signals an opportunity to enhance our focus, processes, environment, or habits.

Sometimes sloppy mistakes can be turned into aha moments. If we make a mistake because we're not focused on the task at hand, or we're too tired, or something distracted us, upon reflection we can gain aha-moments on how to improve, such as realizing we're better at certain tasks after a good night's sleep, or that if we silence our gadgets or close our doors we can focus better.
The high-stakes mistakes
Sometimes we don't want to make a mistake because it would be catastrophic. For example, in potentially dangerous situations we want to be safe. A big mistake from the person in charge of security in a nuclear power plant could lead to a nuclear disaster. We don't want a school bus driver to take a risk going too fast making a turn, or a student in that bus to blindfold the bus driver. In those cases, we want to put processes in place to minimize high-stakes mistakes. We also want to be clear with students about why we don't want the risk-taking behavior and experimentation in these situations, and how they're different from learning-oriented tasks.

Aside from life-threatening situations, we can sometimes consider performance situations to be high-stakes. For example, if going to a prestigious college is important to someone, taking the SAT could be a high-stakes event because the performance in that assessment has important ramifications. Or if a sports team has trained for years, working very hard to maximize growth, a championship final can be considered a high-stakes event. It is okay to see these events as performance events rather than as learning events, and to seek to minimize mistakes and maximize performance in these events. We're putting our best foot forward, trying to perform as best as we can. How we do in these events gives us information about how effective we have become through our hard work and effort. Of course, it is also ok to embed learning activities in high-stakes events that don't involve safety concerns. We can try something that is beyond what we already know and see how it works, as long as we realize that it may impact our performance (positively or negatively). And of course, we can always learn from these performance events by afterwards reflecting and discussing how things went, what we could do differently next time, and how we could adjust our practice.

In a high-stakes event, if we don't achieve our goal of a high test score or winning the championship, let's reflect on the progress we've made through time, on the approaches that have and haven't helped us grow, and on what we can do to grow more effectively. Then let's go back to spending most of our time practicing, challenging ourselves, and seeking stretch mistakes and learning from those mistakes. On the other hand, if we achieve our target score or win a championship, that's great. Let's celebrate the achievement and how much progress we've made. Then let's ask ourselves the same questions. Let's go back to spending most of our time practicing, challenging ourselves, and growing our abilities.

We're all fortunate to be able to enjoy growth and learning throughout life, no matter what our current level of ability is. Nobody can ever take that source of fulfillment away from us.
Let's be clear
Mistakes are not all created equal, and they are not always desirable. In addition, learning from mistakes is not all automatic. In order to learn from them the most we need to reflect on our errors and extract lessons from them.

If we're more precise in our own understanding of mistakes and in our communication with students, it will increase their understanding, buy-in, and efficacy as learners.

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Why Understanding These Four Types of Mistakes Can Help Us Learn | KQED

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"It is well to cultivate a friendly feeling towards error, to treat it as a companion inseparable from our lives, as something having a purpose which it truly has." - Maria Montessori These constructive quotes communicate that mistakes are desirable, which is a positive message and part of what we want students to learn.

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prolearningonline.nwea.org

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                                     CENTERS

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                                     CENTERS

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Growth in your state

MAP Growth and MAP Reading Fluency frequently meet the specific, rigorous criteria states set to support growth and skill mastery for every student. Use the dropdown menu to learn more about state-approved options from NWEA available in your area.

Co-creating solutions with state partners

We work alongside state leaders to develop assessment programs that are part of comprehensive systems. Our student-first solutions help our partners provide instructionally relevant information while producing trustworthy summative results for accountability purposes. We are guided by each state's unique goals with an emphasis on efficiency, coherence, utility, and opportunity.

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Co-creating solutions with state partners. We work alongside state leaders to develop assessment programs that are part of comprehensive systems.

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https://teach.mapnwea.org

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https://kahoot.it/

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http://support.nwea.org/khanrit

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https://newsela.com/

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It's time to improve literacy skills during social studies instruction and ensure that readers of all abilities have what they need to access grade-level social studies concepts.

Join us on Thursday, December 7 for a look at scaffolded materials that provide extra literacy support while building key social studies concepts and skills.

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Newsela | Content and assessment platform

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Content Aligned To National & State Standard, Flexible To Support Relevant Curriculum. Find the Perfect Piece Of Content For Lessons. Go beyond the book.

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https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CygTwWsoXfEhttps://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CygTwWsoXfE

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              INSTRUCTIONAL PLANNING TOOLS

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              INSTRUCTIONAL PLANNING TOOLS

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When I first started working with teachers on integrating formative instructional practices into their daily classroom practice, I noticed that many wanted to start with students self assessing and monitoring their learning progress. While that felt like a natural starting point, what they quickly discovered was that working first to develop high-quality learning targets and success criteria made it much easier for their students to self assess. So the teachers stepped back and worked on clarifying the learning for and with their learners, before moving forward with the other practices.

What I've come to understand over time is that there are really three foundational formative instructional practices, with a fourth one woven inextricably throughout the three. Take a look at the graphic below. Notice the center calls out the classroom learning team, comprised of three members-the teacher, individual learners, and their peers. Each team member has a vital role to play in each of the identified practices. In their feedback model, Hattie and Timperley (2007) identified three questions:

If you look at the questions framing the graphic, you'll find similarity. These questions not only guide a feedback model, but also support the model for formative instruction.

From the research and from my experience supporting teachers in being more formative with their instruction, here are those three foundational practices, along with the fourth that is integral to each of the other three.

Clarifying Learning: The starting point is clarifying the learning. The members of the classroom learning team need to know what they are learning and how they will know when they have learned it. This practice is supported by the fourth practice, activating learners, because not only do teachers need to be clear on what is being taught and how they will know when students have learned it, but students (learners) need this clarity, as well. Teachers need to clarify the learning for themselves and with the learners. Allowing students opportunities to discuss and make sense of both learning targets or goals and the associated success criteria is key.

Eliciting Evidence: The How am I going? question comes up every day. Both teachers and learners need to elicit evidence of learning on an ongoing basis through a variety of methods to know where they are in relation to the target and what needs to happen next. Those next steps might involve modifications to planned instruction making teaching and the classroom more responsive. Next steps might also include students setting new goals or making different choices about what learning strategies to use. Here again students play an integral role in supporting themselves and each other as activated and engaged learners.

Providing Feedback: Feedback that moves learning forward, coupled with the opportunity to use the feedback, can raise student achievement by 37 percentile points, according to Debra Pickering. This means that if we use feedback focused on what students are learning (a.k.a. learning-focused feedback), we help them achieve more. One nice aspect of this idea of feedback that contains next-step information is that it can come from each member of the classroom learning team. Teachers provide learners feedback. Peers provide each other feedback. Learners learn to self assess and generate their own feedback. Learners also provide teachers feedback about their instruction every time evidence of learning is collected.

Activating Learners: By now you can see what an active role learners play in each of the foundational formative practices. When activated by teachers and the classroom culture of learning to serve as support for themselves and their peers, learners have new ways of looking at and processing the learning. Being a resource to their peers for instruction and feedback deepens student engagement with learning.
Next Steps to Consider

If you want more information about these practices or ideas about specific strategies and technology tools teachers can use in class to support each of the practices, pleased read 4 Formative Assessment Practices that Make a Difference in Classrooms-it's one of our most popular articles to date, and a great one to share with colleagues.

Consider which of these four practices is well represented in your classrooms or schools. What is most effective and helpful to both teachers and learners? Which practice might be one to work on this month? What support might be needed to adapt what you (or your staff) are currently doing or to try something new?

Share what is happening in your schools regarding each of these formative instructional practices with us on Twitter at #NWEAformative.

References
Hattie, John, and Helen Timperley. March 2007. "The Power of Feedback." Review of Educational Research 77 (1): pp. 81-112.

Kathy Dyer served as manager of innovation and learning for the Professional Learning team at NWEA. She has more than 25 years of experience in education, many spent designing and facilitating learning opportunities for educators. Coaching teachers and school leadership on getting better at what they do is her passion.

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Four Formative Instructional Practices that Drive Student Growth

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When I first started working with teachers on integrating formative instructional practices into their daily classroom practice, I noticed that many wanted to start with students self assessing and monitoring their learning progress. While that felt like a natural starting point, what they quickly discovered was that working first to develop high-quality learning targets and success criteria made it much easier for their students to self assess.

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https://vimeo.com/106982068

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https://vimeo.com/111867928

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https://vimeo.com/106982069

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Carol Ann Tomlinson

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Advanced Learners

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https://nwea.adobeconnect.com/learningtargets/

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Formative Assessment

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Writing Learning Targets

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R2 Center 4                 Flexible Grouping

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R2 Center 4                 Flexible Grouping

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https://dpdol.nwea.org/professional-development-surveys/

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https://www.nwea.org/blog/2013/22-easy-formative-assessment-techniques-for-measuring-student-learning

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Text Complexity

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MAP to Khan