Commissioner’s Update – August 28, 2014

Featured Dispatch

Smarter Balanced digital library of formative assessment tools passes 1K item mark

Members of Maine’s Digital Library State Network of Educators were among 80 educators from the Smarter Balanced participating states that convened July 14-17 for a marathon work session to review and evaluate resources submitted to the Digital Library. Marilyn Joyce of Brewer and  Sandra Cookson of RSU 87 along with Maine DOE specialist Morgan Dunton were on hand as the Digital Library count passed 1,000  items and kept climbing.

The Smarter Balanced Digital Library is a clearinghouse of instructional resources vetted by educators trained to recognized key criteria such as alignment to standards and elements of the formative assessment process. Each resource in the library underwent a rigorous review process. This peer-reviewed process included monitoring for essential elements as well as a quality criteria review.

During the four day work session, more than 600 items were approved through the review process raising the number of resources in the library to over 1200. That number is still climbing as the library preview period continues. The Digital Library preview will end on September 30 and is expected to go live later this fall. Specific details will be shared as soon as they are available.

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