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Special Edition MAC e-News - Assessment Literacy - Spring 2016
Assessment Literacy Matters
Assessment understood, and done well, has the capacity to help students learn. Assessment misunderstood and executed poorly can hurt students’ capacity to learn. This reality alone should be enough to ignite our collective will to become assessment literate practitioners. A universal definition for assessment literacy will soon be published by the National Task Force on Assessment Education for Teachers. U.S. Secretary of Education, John King Jr., is talking about the use of Title funds to increase assessment literacy in the recently reauthorized Elementary and Secondary Education ACT (ESEA/ESSA). And, according to Rick Stiggins, founder of the Assessment Training Institute, “The MAC’s Assessment Literacy Standards (2015) have triggered a national movement promoting higher levels of educator competence in assessment for the sake of students’ academic well-being and overall school effectiveness.”
MAC’s Assessment Literacy Standards
A lack of understanding of assessment and the ways it serves the learning process and program improvement may result in poor practice, poorly conceived education policy, and use of public resources that do not contribute to improving educational outcomes for students. This lack of understanding can be remedied. We have the body of knowledge and research in education that supports appropriate and effective use of assessment practices and systems. Jim Popham, a noted expert on educational assessment, says, “Today, more than ever, education assessment plays a pivotal role in the education of students. That’s why educators—and everyone else who has an interest in education—need a dose of assessment literacy.”
In 2015, the MAC published Assessment Literacy Standards, which were developed, beginning in 2012, based on research and seminal work, and reviewed by national and state assessment experts. The Standards were created to help educators and others select the most suitable and sound approaches to assessment, more appropriately administer these assessments, and more effectively use and report assessment results. Written for students and their parents/guardians, teachers, building principals, central office administrators and policymakers, each set of Standards addresses important dispositions, knowledge and skills. The purpose of the Standards is driven by both the users and uses of assessment.
Support Assessment Literacy
The MAC is requesting organizations and individuals to formally support the Assessment Literacy Standards, which were designed to further quality, comprehensive, balanced assessment systems and practice. We are urging individuals to provide their name and a comment, and organizations to sign a resolution of support.

For additional information on Assessment Literacy, please visit our webpage.
Assessment Literacy Needs To Be THE Constant

The use of tests and assessment data for accountability purposes drives much of our current landscape in education. Negotiated rulemaking is presently in play for ESSA and considerations for new flexibility in state testing programs are being considered. Education Week is providing helpful updates on this process; national assessment experts are weighing in on current ideas and proposals. The MAC offers Criteria for Determining Michigan’s Statewide Assessments, which draws on the 2013 publication Principles for Creating an Effective Statewide Student Assessment System. Both MAC publications emphasize the use of principles of best practice in assessment and identify implications for consideration. For example, if we made assessment literate decisions we would emphatically call for construction and evaluation of tests according to the specific purpose for which the test will be used. This tenet is supported in the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (2014). Assessment literate practice would dictate that we adhere to this tenet. Michigan can be a leader in assessment literate practice and systems; together, let's commit to Assessment Literate practice as our constant.

Upcoming Events

The Deadline to apply is Friday, May 6, 2016.
The Formative Assessment for Michigan Educators (FAME) project. 

The Formative Assessment for Michigan Educators (FAME) project is entering its ninth year and is seeking interested educators who would like to lead a local learning team of teachers to explore, implement, and reflect on formative assessment practices in their classrooms. FAME coaches are not expected to be the local expert on the formative assessment process, rather FAME coaches are learners along with their learning team. More information on the FAME project and access to the online 2016–17 New FAME Coach application is available on the DAS Formative Assessment Process web page (www.michigan.gov/formativeassessment) under What’s New. If you have any questions, please contact Kimberly Young, MDE/DAS at youngk1@michigan.gov or 517-373-0988.

May 9, 2016, 3:30-5pm
Webinar: Using the MAEIA Assessments to Demonstrate Educator Effectiveness

We will be offering an online webinar on the use of MAEIA assessments to demonstrate educator effectiveness. The webinar will describe various ways in which the assessments can be used to measure change in student achievement. The MAEIA Project Team has created three different models for demonstrating educator effectiveness. One of these methods is included in each of the MAEIA assessments, and in some of the assessments, alternative prompts have been included. Register for the webinar at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FTMC8XS.

June 2016 – East Lansing, MI
K-12 Field Test Scoring Work Sessions

Arts teachers (Music, VA, Theatre, Dance) are needed to score field tested performance tasks and events, revise scoring tools and identify exemplars. Apply here.

Tuesday, June 21, 2016
CCSSO’s National Conference on Student Assessment Philadelphia, PA
Improving Assessment Literacy of Students, Parents, Educators and Policymakers

Widespread commitment to assessment literacy is necessary across every invested stakeholder group in education. Strategies to identify and use resources for the various stakeholders are needed; collaboration with groups representing parents, educators and policymakers is necessary to institute widespread commitment to assessment literacy. Resources, strategies and national ground breaking work will be referenced. Ed Roeber and Ellen Vorenkamp, (MAC Board) co-present with Rick Stiggins and Susan Brookhart. The MAC’s ALS will be referenced. http://www.ccsso.org/NCSA.html.
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