The Maine Department of Education and the New England Secondary School Consortium (NESSC) hosted a webinar early this month featuring RSU 2’s collaborative efforts to assess student work in ways that are increasingly consistent. Courtney Belolan (Instructional Coach) and Matthew Shea (Coordinator of Student Achievement) set the context for their work by describing a culture of continuous improvement and collaboration that led to the district’s initial development and implementation of proficiency-based learning. Their district-wide content area K-12 curriculum teams are central to their work.
This year, each of these content area teams is focusing on the design and/or refinement of summative assessments. Using protocols and processes aligned with the School Reform Initiative’s principles for effective educator collaboration, teachers engage in conversations that lead to increased understanding of effective assessment design principles. The result is stronger, better aligned assessments (the cornerstone of proficiency-based learning) throughout the district which benefit students.
Webinar Materials:
- Webinar Recording
- RSU 2 Design Guide for Assessments
- RSU 2 Assessment Review Protocol
- Proficiency-Based Learning Simplified
- School Reform Initiative Protocol List
This webinar is the second webinar hosted by the Department and NESSC. The first webinar featured Noble High School’s Knight Time. For more information about the New England Secondary Schools Consortium and its League of Innovative Schools, contact Angela Hardy at ahardy@greatschoolspartnership.org. For more information about proficiency-based education, contact Maine DOE Proficiency-Based Education Specialist, Diana Doiron at diana.doiron@maine.gov.