The issue of language in the math classroom is especially acute when it comes to word problems. When helping districts analyze their assessment data, it is almost inevitable that we will find struggles in standards related to word problems, especially 2-step word problems. In my experience,...
A piece of paper cannot assess. An assessment becomes formative when the information from that assessment is responded to. When a teacher uses the information from an assessment to impact instruction it becomes a formative assessment. When a teacher uses the information from an assessment to...
Forefront's "Global Cohorts" aggregate student performance data to create national benchmarks for math programs in our assessment catalog. We devote this post to a look back at each of the Global Cohort groups for Bridges in Mathematics, the BVSD Screeners, and Eureka Math in 2018-19....
The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation marks a critical point, not just because it triggered the development of state assessments, but because the legislation created a need for assessment data throughout the year. Leaders across the country realized that they did not want to...
The core of the PLC premise is that education communities must also be learning communities. As leaders and instigators of change, how do we recognize that learning? How do we see professional community growth? What are the characteristics of intelligent professional communities? The indicators range...
The switch to standards-based grading increases specificity and accuracy: focusing on performance rather than progress and correctness rather than process. The standards-based mindset sees that each student is complex with strengths and areas for growth even within a specific area of the curriculum. This need...
Schools can genuinely impact student learning outcomes and commit to real, sustainable change by eliminating quick fixes, embracing incremental change, amplifying classroom assessment information, and ensuring that assessments directly connect to instruction....
When you are thinking of accelerating instruction, consider instead the possibility of going deeper into grade-level standards: provide students meaningful opportunities to extend and deepen understanding. And also, think outside the standards. Enrich learning by exposing all students to interesting topics that lie beyond the...
How do we know when a student is "proficient"? Measured judgment, supported by ample evidence, leads to the most accurate and meaningful grades. However, keeping track of each student’s progress relative to every standard with traditional gradebooks and spreadsheets is a monumental task: it either...
We recently conducted an impact analysis using statewide standardized assessments to compare the performance of Forefront schools and districts to their peers. We discovered that district-wide implementations of Forefront were coupled with improved state test scores as much as three times the rate of improvement...