Teachers today are more accountable for what goes on in their classrooms than ever before, write the authors of Assessment Matrix for Classroom Instruction: AMCI 2000, a set of training workbooks produced by NWREL's Region X Comprehensive Center. Standards-based education and assessment have focused the nation's attention on teachers and how well they prepare their students to master high standards and standardized tests.
"For many educators, this level of scrutiny can be a very scary reality," write coauthors R. Newton Hamilton and Mary Amanda Shoemaker.
To help teachers collect information about their students' progress, and to analyze and apply the data to improve instruction and student performance, the authors have created a six-point matrix. The matrix includes guiding questions for teachers to consider about curriculum alignment, assessments, instructional strategies, data analysis, goal setting, and intervention. It is meant to help teachers focus on essential measurable goals.
Informal classroom assessments, combined with statewide assessment results, can guide teachers' instructional strategies to help all students succeed, say the authors. AMCI 2000 poses these key questions to help teachers align their instruction with state and local standards:
AMCI2000 includes a Teacher's Handbook and Participant's Materials. A Trainer's Manual, for individuals who have completed one of the Comprehensive Center's trainer-of-trainers workshops, incorporates these two workbooks plus masters for overheads and step-by-step instructions for activities. Each workbook contains a list of resources for effective assessment and best instructional practices. The workbooks are free to individuals in the Center's region of Idaho, Oregon, Montana, Washington, and Wyoming.
For information about upcoming workshops, or to request a free copy of the publications, e-mail HamiltoN@nwrel.org or phone (503) 275-0652.
|
This document's URL is: Home | Up & Coming | Programs & Projects: NW Report | People | Products & Publications | Topics © 2001 Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory
Date of Last Update: 9/28/01 
|