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Learning About Assessment, Learning Through Assessment (1998) / Chapter Skim
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V. Supporting and Extending Professional Development
Pages 42-46

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From page 42...
... The experience reflected in this document, both of the authors and of those practitioners interviewed, suggests that assessment-focused staff development can be a powerful lever for change if it is done in a thorough fashion, and in combination with other supports for change. In particular, the success of an assessment-focused sta~development program in ejecting widespread changes in assessment practice depends on the systematic development of teacher expertise within a school or district around improved practice in assessment; the depth of support for assessment change that is expressed by district and building administrators and is expressed through the integration of assessment changes into other system efforts; the potential for the program to reach all the teachers in a building or all teachers in a district; and the depth of support and understanding in the community for the changes in assessment practice, demonstrated both by those citizens who have children in the schools and those who do not.
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From page 43...
... We never really thought about it before, what teacher leaders need to know about staff development, what techniques and strategies." Mathematics supervisor for large urban district in the west "I think a good approach is teachers mentoring teachers. You need to start with the mentor, provide the release time so that person comes to believe in it and is good at it, and then the qu~ckest way to get others involved is to have that person, the mentor, working with others." A teacher who is a veteran of portfolioscoring teams Our experience in assessment-focused groups makes us believe that expertise does not come without experimentation.
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From page 44...
... If you call teachers all together, and tell them you've got the greatest thing since sliced bread, it's an external push, and it's going to fail." Mathematics supervisor of large urban Midwestern district The words of these two interviewees, both large-district mathematics supervisors, speak volumes about the value of stepping aside and letting teacher expertise become the catalyst for the development of other teachers' expertise. Again, however, this kind of teacher leadership and change agency isn't self-activating nor is it self-supporting.
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From page 45...
... Ongoing communication with the public about changes in assessment practice is necessary, in order to develop a wide base of support among parents and other community members. Below, an administrator for the mathematics program in a large urban Midwestern district shares concerns about public awareness, understanding and support.
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Key Terms

  • assessment practice
  • lead teachers
  • classroom assessment
  • teacher leaders
  • staff development

  • mathematics supervisor
  • midwestern district
  • teacher expertise
  • urban midwestern
  • growing knowledge

  • assessment practices
  • teachers leading
  • urban district
  • shares concerns
  • supporting lead

  • teacher evaluation
  • thorough fashion
  • mathematics program
  • letting teacher
  • quoted earlier

  • speak volumes
  • teacher leadership
  • wide base
  • firmly convinced
  • change agency

  • ongoing communication
  • mathematics supervisors
  • teacher quoted
  • school building
  • practice depends


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