1

Volume 2, Number 1

Classroom 

Assessments:

A Driving Force to 

Improve Learning

Encouraging 

Discussions about 

Classroom 

Assessment

Building Teacher 

Assessment Capacity

Lessons Learned 

about Improving 

Assessment Capacity

Spotlight on 

Assessment in Early 

Childhood

A Creative Movement/

Mathematics Project 

at Bugg Elementary

A High School 

Assessment Project to 

Improve Learning

A Practical Classroom 

Assessment Course 

for Higher Education

Annual	Magazine

USA $12.00
2

Activity sites—we have worked at these sites on a continual 

basis to help build teacher assessment capacity.

North Carolina 

• Wake County Public School 

System—Raleigh: Collaborative 

assessment work site

• North Carolina State University in 

Raleigh—Collaborative work with 

Dr. Susan Butler to create a course 

for pre-service teacher education

• North Carolina Department of 

Public Instruction in Raleigh—Aid 

in assessment planning and 

facilitation of sessions for their 

Classroom Assessment Institutes 

• Polk County School District in 

Tryon—Senior Project Site

South Carolina

• South Carolina Department of 

Education—Columbia

Georgia

• McIntosh County Schools—Darien: 

Demonstration site

• University of Georgia—Athens: 

Demonstration site

• Northeast Georgia RESA—Athens: 

Assessment conference 

• Forsythe County Schools—

Planning for classroom 

assessment focus to 

implement 

standards

Florida

• Bay District Schools—Panama City: Year five of 

a classroom assessment initiative and in Phase II of 

assessment work that includes a research study on 

grading, reporting, and building district 

assessment policy

• Anchor School Project site with Collier County School 

District: To facilitate the creation of an electronic 

proficiency portfolio for migrant students

Alabama

• Mobile County Public School System—

Mobile: Demonstration site

• Crenshaw County Schools—

Luverne: Demonstration site

• Madison County School District—Assessment work 

building assessment teams; also, served as a field-test site 

for “Competent Assessment of Reading” module

Mississippi

• Delta State 

Districts—Cleveland: 

Demonstration site

• Quitman County School 

District—Marks: 

Demonstration site 

• Water Valley Elementary 

Schools—Water Valley: 

Electronic portfolio 

planning and designing

• Alcorn School District—

Corinth: Demonstration 

site

• Booneville: 

Demonstration site

• New Albany School 

District—New Albany: 

New pilot test site for 

CAR, “Competent 

Assessment of Reading,” 

module

of Assessment Activity
1

About the SERVE 

Organization

The District Perspective (Cont.)

Alcorn School District: Lessons 

Learned about Improving 

Assessment Capacity

2 

4 

6 

Classroom assessment is an ongoing process for 

continuous improvement that emphasizes learning 

for both students and teachers. But what does it mean 

for a teacher to be a “good” assessor? SERVE is 

trying to help teachers answer this question. This 

article describes efforts to define quality classroom 

assessment practices. The identified dimensions of 

“good” classroom assessment are presented as a selfassessment for use at the classroom or school level to 

help educators target areas needing attention.

9 The State Perspective

Encouraging Discussions 

about Classroom Assessment 

at the School Level

Many teachers only use classroom tests that are 

modeled after state assessments. In response, the 

North Carolina Department of Public Instruction 

produced a manual on Classroom Assessment: Linking 

Instruction and Assessment and an accompanying 

study guide to help educators understand that the 

“strategies most likely to result in long-term growth 

and learning of high quality will result from effective 

use of quality classroom assessments as an integral 

part of instruction.” In this article, the authors, 

Jeane Joyner and Jan Williamson, discuss efforts to 

disseminate these materials on classroom assessment 

to principals throughout the state. 

14

The District Perspective

Building Teacher 

Assessment Capacity

The Assessment, Accountability, and Standards 

program at SERVE has worked closely with 

nine districts interested in building teacher 

assessment capacity—specifically related to 

classroom assessment. This article describes the 

experiences of one Mississippi district in improving 

teacher assessment capacity.

25

The Alcorn School District in Corinth, Mississippi, 

has been a SERVE demonstration site for four years. 

Rienzi and Biggersville Elementary Schools were 

the initial schools involved in intensive training on 

assessment. Rienzi and Biggersville educators share 

their experiences.

Early Childhood Perspective

Spotlight on Assessment in 

Early Childhood

This article provides an overview of the issue 

of school readiness assessment and describes an 

upcoming SERVE study on this topic.

An Elementary Perspective

A Creative Movement/

Mathematics Project at Bugg 

Elementary School 

28

The article describes how an integrated performance 

assessment was created and implemented with 

students at one of North Carolina’s A+ schools, Bugg 

Elementary School.

A High School Perspective 

A School-Level Assessment 33 Project to Improve Learning

Polk County High School has implemented a 

requirement that all seniors participate in a Senior 

Project experience as part of their English IV class. 

The Senior Project in Polk County has become a 

celebration at the end of each semester for the school 

and community. This article describes the start up 

and success of Senior Project at Polk County High 

School.

A Higher Education Perspective

A Practical Classroom 

Assessment Course for 

Higher Education

40

2000

Volume 2, Number 1

SERVE

Associated with the 

School of Education, 

University of North Carolina 

at Greensboro

Assessment HotSpots, produced 

through the efforts of SERVE’s 

Assessment, Accountability, and 

Standards program, features the 

work of educators in the 

Southeast and will be available 

on SERVE’s website, 

www.serve.org. For information 

on articles in this publication, 

contact Nancy McMunn at 

SERVE (nmcmunn@serve.org).

Edited by

Charles Ahearn, Director of 

Communications and Publications, 

SERVE

Donna Nalley, Project Director 

for Publications, SERVE

Corinda Marsh, Senior Program 

Specialist, SERVE

Christy Casbon, Assistant Program 

Specialist, SERVE

Designed by

Walter Thorner for SERVE

Cover Designed by

Richard Emond

Senior Graphic Designer, SERVE

The content of this publication 

does not necessarily reflect the 

views or policies of the Office 

of Educational Research and 

Improvement, U.S. Department 

of Education, nor does mention 

of trade names, commercial 

products, or organizations imply 

endorsement by the U.S. 

Government.

This document was produced 

with funding from the Office 

of Educational Research and 

Improvement, U.S. Department 

of Education, under contract no. 

RJ96006701.

This article describes a new course on classroom 

assessment developed by Dr. Susan Butler at North 

Carolina State University with help from SERVE. 

The course has been field tested, and a learner’s 

handbook and instructor’s manual are currently being 

written to outline coursework and make the course 

suitable for any institution of higher education. The 

course materials will be available soon. Check the 

SERVE website, www.serve.org/assessment/, for 

dissemination information. 

20

Acknowledgments

SERVE’s Perspective

Classroom Assessment: 

A Driving Force to 

Improve Learning
2

S

ERVE, directed by Dr. John 

R. Sanders, is an education 

organization with the 

mission to promote and support 

the continuous improvement of 

educational opportunities for all 

learners in the Southeast. The 

organization’s commitment to 

continuous improvement is 

manifest in a cycle that begins 

with research and best practice. 

Building on theory and craft 

knowledge, SERVE staff develop 

tools and processes designed 

to assist practitioners, to refine 

the organization’s delivery of 

technical assistance to schools 

and educational agencies, and, 

ultimately, to raise the level 

of student achievement in the 

region. Evaluation of the impact 

of these activities combined with 

input from affected stakeholders 

expands SERVE’s knowledge base 

and directs future research. 

This critical research-to-practice 

cycle is supported by an 

experienced staff strategically 

located throughout the region. 

This staff is highly skilled in 

providing needs-assessment 

services, conducting applied 

research in schools, and developing processes, products, and 

programs that inform educators 

and increase student achievement. In the last three years, 

SERVE staff members have 

provided technical assistance 

and training to more than 18,000 

teachers and administrators 

across the region and partnered 

with over 170 southeastern 

schools on research and 

development projects.

SERVE is governed by a board 

of directors that includes the 

governors, chief state school 

officers, educators, legislators, 

and private sector leaders 

from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, 

Mississippi, North Carolina, and 

South Carolina. 

At SERVE’s core is the Regional 

Educational Laboratory 

program. Funded by the U.S. 

Department of Education’s 

Office of Educational Research 

and Improvement, SERVE is one 

of ten organizations providing 

services of the Regional 

Educational Laboratory 

program to all 50 states and 

territories. These Laboratories 

form a knowledge network, 

building a bank of information 

and resources shared nationally 

and disseminated regionally to 

improve student achievement 

locally. Besides the Lab, SERVE 

is the lead agency in the 

Southeast Eisenhower Regional 

Consortium for Mathematics 

and Science Education and the 

Southeast Initiatives Regional 

Technology in Education 

Consortium. SERVE also 

administers a subcontract for 

the Region IV Comprehensive 

Center and has additional 

funding from the Department 

to provide services in migrant 

education and to operate the 

National Center for Homeless 

Education.

Based on these funded efforts, 

SERVE has developed a 

portfolio of programs and 

initiatives that provides a 

spectrum of resources, 

services, and products for 

responding to local, regional, 
3

and national needs. Program 

areas include Assessment, 

Accountability, and Standards; 

Children, Families, and 

Communities; Education Policy; 

Improvement of Science and 

Mathematics Education; 

Education Leadership; School 

Development and Reform; and 

Technology in Learning. 

In addition to the program 

areas, the SERVE Evaluation 

Department supports the 

evaluation activities of the major 

grants and contracts and 

provides evaluation services to 

state and local education 

agencies in the region. The 

Technology Support Group 

provides SERVE staff and their 

constituents with systems, 

technical assistance, and 

software applications. Through 

its Communications and 

Publications Department, SERVE 

publishes a variety of studies, 

training materials, policy briefs, 

and program products. Through 

its programmatic, technology 

support, evaluation, and 

publishing activities, SERVE also 

provides contracted staff 

development and technical 

assistance in many areas of 

expertise to assist education 

agencies in achieving their 

school improvement goals. 

SERVE’s main office is at 

the University of North 

Carolina at Greensboro, with 

major staff groups located 

in Tallahassee, Florida, and 

Atlanta, Georgia. Unique 

among the ten Regional 

Educational Laboratories, 

SERVE maintains policy 

analysts at the state education 

agencies of each of the states 

in its region. These analysts 

act as SERVE’s primary liaisons 

to the state departments of 

education, providing researchbased policy services to statelevel education policymakers 

and informing SERVE about 

key educational issues and 

legislation.

SERVE

(main office)

P.O. Box 5367 

Greensboro, NC 27435 

800-755-3277 toll free

336-315-7400 voice 

336-315-7457 fax

SERVE

41 Marietta Street, NW

Suite 1110

Atlanta, GA 30303

800-659-3204 toll free

404-893-0100 voice

404-577-7812 fax

SERVE

1203 Governor’s 

Square Boulevard

Suite 400

Tallahassee, FL 32301

800-352-6001 toll free

850-671-6000 voice

850-671-6020 fax

John R. Sanders, Ed.D.

Executive Director

www.serve.org
4

Acknowledgments

SERVE also wishes to thank the following people who have offered their 

stories, guidance, and support in producing Volume II of Assessment HotSpots.

Linda Brooks

Educational Services, Inc.

Corinth, Mississippi 

Glyn Brown 

Early Childhood Specialist 

SERVE

Tallahassee, Florida

Susan Butler

North Carolina State University

Raleigh, North Carolina

Joan Certa-Moore

Bugg Elementary School

Raleigh, North Carolina

Michael Dunnivant

SERVE Consultant

Daytona Beach, Florida

Paula Egelson

Literacy Project Director

SERVE

Greensboro, North Carolina

Anne Jolly

Program Specialist, SERVE

Atlanta, Georgia

Jeane Joyner

North Carolina Department of 

Public Instruction

Raleigh, North Carolina

Wendy McColskey

Director of Assessment, 

Accountability, and Standards 

SERVE

Greensboro, North Carolina

Jean McFarland

Alcorn Public Schools

Corinth, Mississippi

Ken O’Connor

SERVE Consultant

Ontario, Canada

Mary Penta

Wake County Public 

School System

Raleigh, North Carolina

“To begin with the end in mind means to start with a clear understanding 

of your destination. It means to know where you are going so that you 

better understand where you are now so that the steps you take are always 

in the right direction.”

–Steven R. Covey

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

Buck Preston

Polk County High School

Tryon, North Carolina

Patricia Schenck

Bay District Schools

Panama City, Florida

Catherine Scott-Little

Project Director for SERVEing 

Young Children, SERVE

Greensboro, North Carolina

Jean Williams

Deputy Director for Programs 

SERVE

Greensboro, North Carolina

Jan Williamson

SERVE Consultant and former 

North Carolina Department of 

Public Instruction employee

Raleigh, North Carolina
5

Overview of 

Publication

SERVE, as one of the ten federally funded 

regional educational laboratories, disseminates 

research-based knowledge that will help schools 

improve. But there are at least two kinds of knowledge 

to share. One kind is the typical, university-based, social 

science research. The other kind is craft or practitioner 

knowledge (educators writing about what they have done 

and what they have learned from what they have tried). 

This publication honors this second kind of knowledge. 

In it, we have asked educators who are involved in 

assessment reform at the district, school, and classroom 

level to share their experiences.

The need for assessment reform is twofold. Most states 

have revised their Curriculum Frameworks or State 

Standards Documents to reflect emerging national 

standards. For these new standards to be implemented 

in the classroom, teachers need opportunities to develop 

assessments that align with these standards. Secondly, 

student motivation is increasingly recognized as a key 

educational outcome. Traditional tests do not consistently 

engage students as active and intrinsically motivated 

learners. Assessment is increasingly seen as needing to 

be relevant to the real world and involve the student 

in a meaningful self-assessment process. If students are 

assigned “quality” work to do, they will more likely 

become quality workers and thinkers.

SERVE has an ongoing research and development project 

that supports volunteer demonstration districts in the 

process of assessment reform; SERVE also supports and 

values the assessment work of others in the region. 

The primary purpose of this publication, Assessment 

HotSpots, is to periodically capture and share the 

experiences and learning of these districts and others. 

As other districts read about their experiences, they 

may realize that focusing on assessment changes at the 

district level can be a meaningful tool and driving force 

in the restructuring process. 

Volume II, Assessment HotSpots

The following reviewers offered 

valuable feedback.

Internal Reviewers 

Mary Apodaca

Paula Egelson

Anne Jolly

Wendy McColskey

Richard Roberson

Nancy Verber

Jean Williams

External Reviewers

Susan Butler, 

SERVE Consultant

Michael Dunnivant, 

SERVE Consultant

Ken O’Connor, 

SERVE Consultant

Mary Penta, 

Wake County Public School System

Jan Williamson, 

SERVE Consultant

A special “thank you” to 

all the teachers at Rienzi 

Elementary School, Polk 

County High School, 

Quitman County School 

District, Bay District 

Schools, Bugg Elementary 

School, and Biggersville 

Elementary School for their 

hard work in assessment
6

SERVE’s Perspective

Classroom Assessment:

A Driving Force to 

Improve Learning

By Nancy McMunn, SERVE

During the last four years, 

 SERVE has collaborated 

with a number of districts in 

the Southeast to create districtwide professional development 

support systems for teachers 

as they explore how to assess 

student performance on critical 

learning targets (standards) at 

the school and classroom level. 

Since our southeastern states had 

all revised or developed their 

curriculum frameworks (student 

content standards) in the mid1990s, SERVE focused on 

helping teachers understand the 

role assessment plays in the 

classroom so that teachers would 

know how to align the standards 

(referred to as learning targets in 

some states) to assessments that 

would inform student learning 

related to the skill, concept, 

or knowledge addressed by the 

standard. With the learning 

target and assessment method 

specified, the type of instruction 

necessary to support student 

learning can be designed and 

implemented to create a powerful 

learning process. 

Teacher perception that 

classroom assessments must 

mimic state tests is a significant 

barrier when trying to help 

teachers explore assessment 

strategies that might lead to 

higher quality student work 

and greater motivation to learn. 

Due to external pressures, many 

teachers consider alternative 

methods of assessments to be 

add-on activities, which create 

extra work for them. Because 

of concerns about preparing 

Broadly defined, 

classroom assessment is 

an ongoing process 

through which teachers 

and students interact 

to promote greater 

learning. The 

assessment process 

involves using a range 

of strategies to make 

decisions regarding 

instruction and 

gathering information 

about student 

performance or 

behavior in order to 

diagnose students’ 

problems, monitor their 

progress, and give 

feedback for 

improvement. The 

classroom assessment 

process also involves 

using multiple methods 

of obtaining student 

information through a 

variety of assessment 

strategies such as 

written tests, 

interviews, 

observations, and 

performance tasks.

See the Self-Diagnostic 

Growth Plan on 

Classroom Assessment 

inserted in this 

magazine.

The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction supports the continued development of quality 

teaching and classroom assessment as vehicles to prepare students to master rigorous content 

and performance standards as well as do well on accountability measures. We believe that the 

strategies most likely to result in long-term growth and learning of high quality will result from 

effective use of quality classroom assessments as an integral part of instruction. Additionally, strong 

classroom assessment engages students in self-assessment and greater ownership over learning. 

(From Classroom Assessment: Linking Instruction and Assessment )
7

students for state tests, teachers 

often say they cannot consider 

alternative assessments, which 

offer opportunities for students 

to work on “real-life” problems. 

Teachers report that they cannot 

afford to spend two or three 

weeks on special units or 

projects because these 

assignments take too much time 

away from preparing for state 

tests. Some abandon alternative 

assessment methods such as 

portfolios, extended projects, 

written research, oral 

presentations, performance tasks, 

teamwork, or exhibitions in order 

to repetitively cover the tested 

material and to help students 

develop test-taking skills. 

The excerpt below from a high 

school English teacher shows 

that this problem of narrowing 

instruction to improve test scores 

is not unique to our country.

In the summer of 1998, I spent 

several weeks in China teaching 

oral English skills to Chinese 

English teachers. The class they 

loved most was the methodology 

class, where I taught them many 

different ways to open up and 

practice speaking English rather 

than just writing translations 

from Chinese to English. While 

many Chinese students can read 

and write English, very few 

can fluently speak the language, 

and a language that cannot 

be spoken is rarely beneficial 

in today’s world. Recently, I 

received a letter from one 

classroom assessment, the 

district has developed draft 

guidelines that provide teachers 

and others with a vision of 

quality classroom assessment. 

Bay District has outlined the 

following specific goals for 

classroom assessment:

1. The primary purpose of 

assessment is to improve 

learning for all students.

2. Assessment is aligned 

to standards.

3. Assessment is a process that 

is reflective of quality.

4. Grading is fair, consistent, 

and meaningful.

5. Communication with 

stakeholders is timely, 

appropriate to the audience, 

and aligned to standards.

6. Roles and responsibilities 

are clearly defined, 

communicated, and 

understood by all 

stakeholders.

Each goal is further subdivided 

into principles that explain why 

the goal is valued and guidelines 

that explain how the goal would 

be implemented. For example, 

under Goal 4 are three principles 

and ten guidelines. Goal 4, 

Guideline 4.2 states that teachers 

inform students about grading 

teacher who responded to my 

inquiry as to how the oral 

exercises were going. “Oh, my 

dear Mrs. Thompson,” she 

replied, “I must tell you that 

the Chinese national exam has 

no oral English part, and as I 

must prepare my students for this 

important test, I do not use the 

oral exercises in my classroom. 

However, should they add an 

oral component to the test, I will 

use your ideas.”

Narrowing the curriculum is an 

unintended consequence of 

high-stakes testing, and some 

state, district, and school leaders 

in our region are doing what 

they can to help teachers 

interpret the demands of highstakes tests in ways that do not 

short-change students. 

Leadership in schools and 

districts is critical to expanding 

the use of classroom assessment 

practices that promote learning. 

An example of how leaders 

can help define what quality 

classroom assessment should 

look like is currently being 

developed and piloted in one 

of SERVE’s research and 

development sites, Bay District 

Schools in Florida. In addition 

to sustained, focused workshops 

on curriculum alignment and 

If you would like more information about the process of 

developing district assessment guidelines, contact Patricia 

Schenck, Bay District Schools, Panama City, Florida, 

schenpm@mail.bay.k12.fl.us; Ken O’Connor, Assess for 

Success Consulting, kenoc@aol.com; or Nancy McMunn at 

SERVE, nmcmunn@serve.org. 
8

criteria and methods used for 

determining grades. This 

guideline states that every teacher 

in this district will have in place 

some process through which all 

students are informed in advance 

how they are to be graded as 

well as how the final grade will 

be determined. These guidelines 

are intended to provide a common 

language for best practices in 

classroom assessment. 

Providing Guidance for Best 

Practices in Classroom 

Assessment

Helping educators understand the 

impact of the classroom 

assessment environment on 

students is the purpose of 

SERVE’s assessment work. We 

strongly promote assessment as 

an integral part of the whole—

where curriculum, instruction, 

and assessment are considered 

together when planning. We ask 

questions that help educators 

rethink the link between 

classroom assessment practices 

and student performance on highstakes assessment. In order to 

ask questions, SERVE must try 

to present a vision of what 

“good” assessment means in the 

classroom. As a first step, 

we have developed a tool to 

aid educators in self-assessing 

and determining areas of needed 

growth and professional 

development in assessment. 

Based on workshops conducted 

with more than 3,000 participants, 

SERVE has developed a draft 

version of a Self-Diagnostic 

Growth Plan on Classroom 

Assessment, included as an insert 

(inside the back cover of 

this magazine). Teachers and 

others can use this tool, which 

incorporates ideas from research 

and practice, to examine and 

reflect upon their current 

classroom assessment 

environment.

If classroom assessment is used 

as a driving force for improving 

student learning, then educators 

must understand which key 

assessment areas or components 

(dimensions) are important 

aspects of that environment. Once 

major areas (dimensions) are 

identified, key indicators for each 

assessment area can then guide 

thinking about beliefs, assumptions, or practices that support 

a quality classroom assessment 

environment.

The dimensions identified in this 

guide come from research, 

SERVE’s work with teachers, and 

the influential thinking of national 

and international experts such as 

Robert Marzano, Rick Stiggins, 

Judy Arter, Ken O’Connor, Grant 

Wiggins, and others. It can serve 

as a beginning—a self-diagnostic 

tool that will help teachers 

explore and test the assumptions 

that these kinds of assessment 

practices increase students’ 

quality of work and motivation to 

succeed. Thus, by examining the 

dimensions on the growth plan, 

teachers have an opportunity to 

think about the type of classroom 

assessment environment and 

strategies they promote and use. 

This plan can also help professional developers focus on the 

type of training needed in 

classroom assessment. 

The nine dimensions (areas of 

classroom assessment focus) 

included in the growth plan are 

posed as the following questions: 

1. What is the role of classroom 

assessment?

2. Are the targets/standards for 

learning a priority?

3. What are the purposes for 

assessment?

4. Which assessment methods 

are used?

5. How is assessment feedback 

used?

6. What are “quality assessment” 

considerations?

7. Is continuous learning a 

priority?

8. Is grading reflective of 

learning?

9. How is achievement 

communicated?

Teachers can use this resource 

to set individual goals in 

classroom assessment around 

specific dimensions. A teacher 

might ask—Where am I in 

understanding the assessment 

process? What do I need to 

consider changing that will 

influence how my students learn? 

Grade-level or school groups can 

hold dialogue or study-group 

sessions to explore and discuss 

their own practices and note areas 

needing change. 

We welcome feedback on the 

usefulness of this growth plan 

and any suggestions for change in 

the format, style, dimensions, 

and indicators. Please send 

feedback about this growth plan 

to Nancy McMunn at SERVE, 

800-755-3277 or 

nmcmunn@serve.org.
9

The State Perspective

What’s Happening at the State Level? Spotlight on North Carolina 

Encouraging Discussions about Classroom 

Assessment at the School Level: A North Carolina 

Department of Public Instruction Initiative

By Jeane Joyner and Jan Williamson

I

n 1998, the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction 

 began a statewide initiative focusing on classroom assessment. 

The classroom assessment initiative was offered by the state 

department but not mandated. The intent was to provide an 

opportunity for every school in the state to begin discussions about 

classroom assessment through materials disseminated in workshops 

for principals and lead teachers. School faculties chose whether 

to participate, how they wanted to structure their participation, 

and in which ways they would proceed with their own 

professional development around classroom 

assessment.

The initiative, Encouraging Discussions 

about Classroom Assessment at the School 

Level, has two primary goals: 

1. To promote “assessment literacy” by 

informing educators, policymakers, and 

the community at large about the 

different purposes of assessment

2. To increase student achievement in North 

Carolina by helping teachers understand 

and effectively use ongoing classroom 

assessment to inform teaching and 

learning

Assessment has multiple purposes and uses, 

and the issues surrounding it are complex. 

Understanding this complicated area is 

important for principals and teachers in 

today’s assessment-driven environment. 

The North Carolina Department of Public 

Instruction framed the initiative around 

enhancing “assessment literacy.” By 

building a common language and 
10

establishing shared 

understandings, conversations 

among the education community, 

parents, and policymakers are 

likely to be supportive of 

student learning. 

With the advent of higher levels 

of accountability through state 

tests given at the end of courses 

or grade levels, North Carolina 

teachers are feeling greater 

pressure to “practice for the test.” 

The classroom assessment literacy 

initiative encourages schools to 

frame the issue more broadly. The 

initiative provides information 

that encourages teachers to 

approach classroom assessment 

by building a strong instructional 

and assessment program that 

supports long-term learning while 

resulting in high achievement 

on state tests. In the materials, 

ongoing classroom assessment 

is presented as the umbrella 

concept for a number of strategies 

supporting the goal of continuous 

progress for all students.

Effective classroom teachers have 

always used formal and informal 

assessments to guide their 

planning and give appropriate 

feedback to students about their 

progress toward instructional 

goals. However, teachers may not 

recognize the potential of using 

multiple methods of assessment 

to gather information about what 

students are understanding and 

thinking (for diagnostic and 

formative purposes), as well as 

what they are able to do (for 

summative or grading purposes).

The assessment literacy materials 

offer an opportunity to examine 

different assessment strategies 

and purposes.

Planning the Initiative

This initiative began when a 

committee with representatives 

of all agency departments—

Accountability Services, 

Instructional Services, School 

Improvement, and Exceptional 

Children—was established. 

Committee members conducted 

focus groups across the state 

to gather information on teacher 

awareness of, interest in, and 

need for classroom assessment 

materials. Several clear messages 

emerged. One teacher summarized her anxieties in this way:

Unfortunately, teachers and 

administrators are feeling a 

great push to practice all 

year long for the state tests. 

While I support the idea of 

school accountability, I think 

conscientious teachers 

recognize the need for multiple 

assessment formats in the 

classroom. But the panic effect 

has taken hold in many places. 

We need a way to support 

teachers with some practical, 

user-friendly classroom 

assessment practices.

A second message was the need 

for more discussion about the 

purposes of accountability testing 

and the appropriate uses of test 

data. No single test can meet 

all assessment needs. Teachers 

need specific information about 

individual children to plan 

appropriately, while school 

systems use group data for 

decisions at a system level.

The third message related to 

leadership. Teachers made it clear 

that if a broader range of 

assessment practices were to be 

used in their classrooms, 

principals must understand and 

actively support these strategies. 

Teachers were concerned about 

lack of time to try new assessments and to document assessment through observations and 

conversations. They emphasized 

that the principal’s leadership 

was necessary in order for a 

substantive and sustained 

initiative on classroom assessment 

to take place at the school.

Using the information from the 

focus groups, the committee 

created an outline for classroom 

assessment documents and their 

dissemination, established a 

teacher advisory committee, and 

met with Dr. Rick Stiggins, a 

consultant from the Classroom 

Assessment Institute in Portland, 

Oregon, to bring a national 

perspective to the initiative.

Development of the Initiative

State department staff members 

Jeane Joyner and Jan Williamson, 

with the assistance of the committee, developed a manual 

entitled Classroom Assessment: 

Linking Curriculum and 

Instruction, which was designed 

to promote assessment literacy. 

It is appropriate for all grade 

levels and disciplines. The model 

described later in this article, 

“Assessment Cycle: A Model 

for Teaching and Learning,” is 

the essence of this document. 

Joyner and Williamson obtained 

special permission from the 
11

provided an opportunity to send 

a principal and one lead teacher 

to a workshop presenting an 

overview of the materials. Each 

participating school receives a 

notebook with the Classroom 

Assessment: Linking Curriculum 

and Instruction manual, a copy of 

the Study Guide, the videotape, 

and a packet entitled “Workshop 

Leaders’ Notes.” “Workshop 

Leaders’ Notes” gives directions 

for presenting a workshop to 

introduce the classroom 

assessment materials to school 

faculties. Copies of blackline 

masters are also included.

Agency plans call for future 

publications that will address 

classroom assessment targeted 

specifically for elementary, 

middle, and high schools in 

each curriculum content area. 

The model of assessment above 

illustrates the essential 

components of the cycle of 

instruction and assessment 

presented in the materials 

described here. 

Annenberg/CPB Math and 

Science Project to reproduce four 

segments of their assessment 

series, Mathematics Assessment: 

A Video Library, K–12. The 

resulting videotape provides 

examples of how teachers use 

classroom assessment in 

elementary, middle, and 

high school classes. 

A Study Guide was 

also developed in 

collaboration with 

Nancy McMunn of 

SERVE. This study 

guide provides 

activities and scaffolding for 

teachers to work their way 

through the classroom assessment 

manual. Additionally, the state 

office is providing an opportunity 

for teachers to receive renewal 

credit for licensure while they 

work in self-directed study 

groups, which promote reflective 

collaboration utilizing the Study 

Guide. As one teacher 

commented, “I love the idea 

of self-study and buddy-study. 

Teachers have a wealth of 

knowledge to share. Plus, I think 

working together would be much 

more motivating and stimulating.” 

(The American Educational 

Research Association, AERA, 

awarded this Study Guide the 

1999 Outstanding Publication 

Award in the Training Materials 

Category for Division H.)

Since January 1999, the 

classroom assessment materials 

have been disseminated through 

a series of workshops for administrators and school leaders. Each 

school in North Carolina was 

What Is Classroom 

Assessment?

Classroom assessment involves 

teachers and students in an 

ongoing process of gathering 

information to make inferences 

and decisions related to 

instruction and student 

learning. A strong model 

of teaching and 

learning involves 

the following cycle 

of classroom 

assessment.

“Assessment” comes from a root 

word meaning “to sit beside.”

The three components of the 

assessment process (learning 

targets, decisions and actions, and 

assessment methods) appear in 

the ovals of the diagram above. 

The actions shown along the 

connecting arrows link the 

components in a dynamic manner. 

A brief description of each 

component is provided here, 

along with an overview of how 

the model plays out in the 

classroom.

Learning Targets

Learning targets, which are the 

goals and objectives of our 

instructional programs, should 

drive all assessment decisions. 

Effective teachers possess a 

conceptual, in-depth understanding 

of the content they are teaching. 

Those teachers are able to identify 

which learning targets are most 

important and to establish 

priorities and categories of goals 

Cycle of Classroom Assessment
12

and objectives. They also decide 

how to break down those 

categories into clusters of 

manageable, appropriate 

instructional units. Most importantly, they clarify for themselves 

and for their students what those 

learning targets are and what 

mastery of them will look like.

Teachers incorporate many 

different types of learning targets 

into their lessons. At times, the 

goal is for students to learn a new 

concept or to gain specific content 

knowledge. Other lessons focus 

on the acquisition of skills. 

Many lessons are designed to 

develop students’ reasoning and 

problem-solving abilities. Still 

other lessons are planned to help 

students learn to apply their 

knowledge and skills in order to 

create worthwhile products. All 

of these content-based lessons 

incorporate goals related to 

students’ work habits. They also 

include goals related to positive 

attitudes toward learning the 

specific content (such as 

mathematics) and building 

self-confidence.

Purposes and Information 

Needed

Within the classroom, teachers 

and students are the primary 

users of assessment information. 

The most important purpose is 

to direct and inform student 

learning. Teachers need a full 

spectrum of information about 

each student’s level of understanding and performance, and 

students need a thorough 

knowledge of their own levels of 

achievement. Teachers need more 

than one “snapshot” or piece of 

data; they need multiple evidences 

of learning that will allow 

diagnosing problems, monitoring 

progress, evaluating achievement, 

and deciding about future 

instruction—for each student!

It is important to define clearly 

the learning and achievement 

expectations for students. 

Students, as well as teachers, 

must have a clear idea of what 

they are expected to master 

and what success looks like. 

Assessment formats should 

reflect these expectations. 

Assessment Methods

Assessment methods fall into 

five basic categories that teachers 

frequently use. Within the 

categories are several different 

methods. Each assessment 

method has advantages and 

disadvantages. Some are more 

appropriate and efficient for 

certain learning targets than 

others, but each method offers 

some type of evidence of student 

learning. The five different 

categories are

1. Selected response includes 

multiple choice, true/false, and 

matching items.

2. Written response includes 

short-answer, essay tests, and 

more extended written work, 

such as journals, reports from 

investigations, research papers, 

and book reviews.

3. Performance includes 

applications and student 

demonstrations of learning, 

such as oral presentations, 

projects, dramatic depictions, 

debates, and responses to 

complex, real-world 

performance tasks.

4. Conversation includes student 

explanations, student 

conferences, Socratic seminars, 

responses to open-ended 

questions, and informal 

discussions.

5. Observation includes both 

formal and informal looks at 

students at work.

Inferences and Feedback

The essence of assessment is 

information—the feedback 

teachers use to make inferences 

about student learning. As they 

gather the evidence, teachers ask 

reflective questions of themselves. 

For example, they may ask

• What do these errors actually 

tell me about the students’ 

thinking and understanding?

• Do I have sufficient evidence 

to know how well the students 

really understand?

• How well can I generalize about 

how much students can do?

• What other evidence might I 

need?

• Based on this evidence I have, 

what should I do?

Information from assessment can 

also provide feedback to the 

students about what they have 

accomplished and what they still 

have to learn. Feedback to 

students takes many forms. It 

can be disseminated through 

scheduled conferences with 

students or informal 

conversations. It can be written 

on individual student’s papers 

or given to the class as a 

whole. Feedback should often 

take the form of questions 

designed to prompt students to 

make decisions rather than giving 

them directives about what to do. 
13

Making Decisions and 

Taking Action

In most classrooms today, 

teachers know a great deal about 

their students. They have 

accumulated a lot of information 

using a variety of assessment 

methods. Based on how they 

interpret this information (that 

is, the inferences they make), 

teachers may take any number 

of actions. They may decide, for 

example, to reteach, to move on, 

to regroup for further instruction, 

to reassess certain learning 

targets, or to assign a grade. 

The ultimate reason for assessing 

students is to make various 

types of decisions that relate to 

instructional goals and assessment 

purposes. The decisions made 

and actions taken can vary from 

knowing that an individual 

student or group of students 

has learned specific instructional 

objectives, to assigning grades 

to student work, to rewarding 

exemplary schools and initiating 

improvement for poorly 

performing ones.

Documenting and 

Communicating

Before teachers decide upon the 

next set of learning targets for 

students, they should document 

accurately and communicate 

clearly what students have 

achieved. While the process of 

communication and documentation is infused into all stages 

of the cycle of classroom 

assessment, it is particularly 

evident when teachers are ending 

one cycle of learning and 

beginning another.

Documenting student learning, 

which can be as simple as taking 

notes or keeping checklists, needs 

to be organized, systematic, and 

ongoing. It is a wise investment of 

time to decide in advance which 

information to record and how to 

record it.

Teachers who have developed 

record-keeping strategies have 

the following suggestions about 

ways to begin:

• Focus on a few children at 

a time.

• Focus on a few objectives at 

a time.

• Date your observations.

• Do not be too quick to give up 

on a method, but do not stick 

with it if it does not work!

• Find a fellow teacher with 

whom you can share the needs 

and successes of the students.

• Be quick to make notes of 

unexpected information, but be 

slow to decide that students have 

made new content their own.

• Find a method that fits you so 

that you do not have to recopy 

notes. 

• Make quick notes during class 

rather than trusting that you will 

find time later. 

Criteria for Quality Classroom 

Assessment 

• Important and clear learning 

targets

• Appropriate methods of 

assessment

• Reasonable, reliable 

implementation methods

• Public criteria for achievement

• Fair opportunity for 

demonstrating learning

• Valid inferences (measuring what 

you intend to measure)

• Useful, constructive 

consequences

Final Thoughts

The classroom assessment 

initiative in North Carolina has 

just begun. Feedback from 

participants in workshops has 

been very positive. Many teachers 

find that the materials reinforce 

the assessment practices they are 

currently using. Other teachers 

have begun to explore ways to 

use assessment in their classrooms 

to improve student motivation and 

learning. An important feature of 

the initiative is that schools and 

individual teachers have multiple 

entry points. For example, some 

teachers are taking advantage of 

the Study Guide to learn on 

their own or in small groups. 

Ultimately, the goal is to support 

professional development in an 

often overlooked area that is 

key to student learning—student 

assessment.

Ordering information

Copies of Classroom Assessment: 

Linking Instruction and 

Assessment and the Study Guide

for Classroom Assessment that 

accompanies the manual may be 

ordered from the Publications 

Office of the North Carolina 

Department of Public Instruction 

<http://149.168.35.203/

publications_catalog>. The order 

number for the classroom 

assessment manual is LS 111; the 

cost is $6.00 per copy. The Study 

Guide costs $3.00, and the order 

number is LS 112. Include 20% 

for shipping and handling and 6% 

for sales tax.
14

The District Perspective

Building Teacher Assessment 

Capacity: One District’s Story 

Marks, Mississippi

Article written and comments edited by Dr. Linda Brooks, SERVE Consultant in Assessment

Quitman County demographics: 1,732 students, 

93 teachers, nine administrators, one elementary 

school, one middle school, one high school 

Superintendent: Leroy Matthews

Major industry: agriculture

Mississippi began its school reform process in 1980 and continues to research and 

experiment with ways to bring quality educational 

programs to its students. For the past 20 

years, Mississippi schools have experienced many 

changes, explored several accountability systems, 

and experimented with a variety of curricula, 

materials, strategies, policies, and regulations. The 

Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) has 

established a numerical accreditation system by 

which school districts are ranked according to 

student achievement scores on norm- and criterionreferenced tests administered to all students in 

certain grades and subjects. This system has 

been the driving force behind reform efforts of 

Mississippi schools for the past five years. 

One reform effort has focused on Quitman 

County, a small agricultural community in the 

heart of the Mississippi Delta, which provides 

educational services for 1,732 students in three 

schools comprising the Quitman County Public 

School District (QCPSD). The district has a 99 

percent minority enrollment. Against adversity, 

the district continues to wage a tremendous 

battle to increase student academic achievement. 

Quitman’s challenges—including poverty, a low 

tax base, and an inability to recruit and retain 

certified teachers—are common in the school 

districts in the Delta region. 

Using a variety of quality assessments 

in my classroom has had a tremendous 

impact on students. Most importantly 

to the students, their scores on teachermade and state-mandated tests have 

increased. This improvement has given 

the students more confidence, higher 

self-esteem, and a better attitude toward 

learning. They are more highly motivated 

to study and to participate in all 

activities; they feel that they have 

something to contribute and that their 

individual talents are appreciated. My 

students also like to be involved with 

their assessment and often give me 

ideas that I would never have thought 

of myself. They find the activities 

interesting and are more excited about 

coming to class. 

— Judy Bland, Teacher, 

 Quitman County

“The only way to be successful is to 

take advantage of every opportunity 

available.”

— Leroy Matthews, Superintendent
15

Quitman County Public School District stopped 

making excuses for its failures and decided to 

make positive changes to directly benefit students. 

Realizing that true improvement starts in the 

classroom, the district requested assistance from 

SERVE to help teachers acquire skills needed 

to improve student learning. The district realized 

that increasing teacher classroom assessment 

capacity could lead to changes in instruction and 

curriculum alignment and that these changes could 

have a direct impact on students. SERVE’s Quality 

Assessment Training Model (QATM), utilized in 

other Delta districts, was selected as one tool 

for helping teachers improve their classroom 

assessment practices. In this job-embedded 

professional development model, teachers learned 

to focus on aligning instruction and assessment 

with student learning targets. Now three years into 

the process, while QCPSD still has a long way to 

go, it has been recognized as one of the ten most 

improved school districts in Mississippi.

First Steps

Several public school districts in the Mississippi 

Delta area, along with Delta State University 

as its hub and host, formed the Delta Area 

Association for Improvement of Schools 

Consortium (DAAIS). The primary focus of this 

consortium was to set into motion strategies to 

improve the educational programs of the districts. 

Dr. Myrtis Tabb, an Assistant Director at Delta 

State University, served as a liaison to unite 

SERVE and DAAIS Districts. Initially (in 1996), 

ten district teams (more than 85 participants) 

were involved with this professional development 

project. These ten districts were Quitman County, 

South Panola, West Bolivar District I, Tunica 

County, Indianola, Benoit, Hollandale, Leland, 

Humphreys County, and South Delta. Six of these 

districts remained with the SERVE project for two 

years. After two years of assessment training, the 

district participants began to create and implement 

their own district plans for increasing teacher 

assessment capacity. Quitman County requested 

more direct SERVE assistance. This article 

describes Quitman County’s efforts and progress 

in building teacher assessment capacity and 

improving student achievement. 

Professional Development in 

Classroom Assessment

In the fall of 1996, a small study team of six 

administrators and lead teachers from Quitman 

County participated along with ten other districts 

in the Delta Consortium Assessment Project 

sponsored by SERVE, DAAIS, and Delta State 

University staff. This team was convinced that 

student motivation and achievement could be 

improved if teachers learned to focus more on 

aligning curriculum, instruction, and classroom 

assessment. 

Rufus McClain, the district test coordinator and 

team leader, kept the effort alive. McClain believes 

that all teachers and administrators should “put 

their hearts into teaching,” and he has continued 

to promote and support the emphasis on quality 

classroom assessment as a vehicle for improving 

QCPSD. Since the beginning of this assessment 

project, 60 percent of the district’s 93 teachers and 

all administrators have been trained in classroom 

assessment utilizing SERVE’s QATM and other 

assessment resources. As a result of our efforts, 

many teachers are now finding that an emphasis 

on classroom assessment aligned to state and 

district targets provides them with a mechanism 

for focusing on what is important for students to 

know and be able to do. The ongoing training 

and support have given teachers freedom to be 

“One of our major goals is to teach 

individual students. When we look at student 

achievement, we must think of ways to 

improve that individual. By doing that, we 

will improve the school.”

— Leroy Matthews, Superintendent
16

creative in designing instructional and assessment 

strategies that motivate students to take more 

responsibility for learning. 

A sixth-grade reading teacher shared her thoughts 

about the time, efforts, and rewards resulting 

from attention to assessment. According to Ann 

Goodman, “Creating alternative assessments can 

be time-consuming but worthwhile. Preparation 

time is important in developing an assessment 

instrument, and the district provides teachers with 

at least a half-day of staff development each 

month to devote to developing good instruction 

and assessment. Since teachers stay more focused 

and get more done in a shorter period 

of time, more time is available for 

student participation in the assessment 

process. The design of the assessment 

instruments then becomes a part of the 

learning process, rather than a part of 

the teacher preparation process. Also, 

we have found that when students 

know what kind of assessment they 

will face, they have more direction in 

class, cutting down on the interruptions 

for unrelated matters.” 

Progress Made

Quitman County School District leaders 

understand the importance of providing 

teachers with the tools and support to build 

quality programs. The climate has begun to 

change in the district because of the renewed 

commitment to teacher support. Teachers are 

gaining confidence and motivation since they 

have been given freedom and assistance 

in redesigning their classroom instructional 

and assessment programs. The Mississippi 

Assessment System scores indicate that 

something very positive has occurred in 

classrooms across the district—students have 

begun to gain academic proficiency. The 

number of students performing at the 

lower-quartile level on norm-referenced 

achievement tests has dropped dramatically, 

and students’ reading and mathematics scores 

Teacher Bedeliah Sweargen assists 

eighth-grade students with a self-evaluation 

writing assignment

“An assessment program 

has value to the extent that 

the use of data lead to 

better instruction, a more 

effective curriculum, and 

better educational 

planning. The purpose of 

measurement is to provide 

information that allows 

teachers and administrators 

to make better decisions.” 

—Dr. Robert Maniece, 

Curriculum Coordinator

“I constantly tell my 

teachers, ‘Go ahead: 

experiment—be innovative; 

let’s challenge the children, 

and let them know I will 

support their efforts when 

they take those risks.’ ” 

—Brenda Hopson, 

Elementary Principal

“Placing more emphasis on 

different ways to evaluate 

students’ progress through 

informal assessment helped 

me recognize whether or 

not students understood 

the concepts. If they could 

talk about it, I felt they 

knew it.” 

—Diane Carter, Teacher

“Rubric training has helped 

me design plans for 

students so that they know 

what is expected. They 

perform faster and with 

higher quality when they 

are involved in the rubric 

design.” 

—Jean Briggs, Teacher
17

have increased significantly. Each year, approximately 

1,000 students in grades four through nine participate 

in the statewide assessment program. 

Data presented above reflect the positive changes 

in student performance occurring over a three-year 

period. Tables one and two show students’ scores as 

they progressed through grades four through nine. 

Table one represents the National Curve Equivalent 

scores for the same students (cohort scores). Table 

two reflects the percentage of students moving 

from the national percentile lower quartile as they 

progressed from fourth to ninth grades.

Educators in Quitman County School Districts feel 

that their progress during the past three years has 

been due to (1) an infusion of new ideas 

through numerous projects and professional 

development offerings, (2) collaborative 

efforts among schools and universities, 

(3) strong administrative support for teachers 

experimenting with innovative techniques, 

(4) district staff working with other schools 

facing similar problems to share strategies for 

continuous improvement around assessment, 

and (5) availability of new funding sources 

for technology integration. For students to 

achieve at higher levels, teachers need new 

knowledge and skills to continually improve 

their teaching in a variety of areas. Educators 

are juggling many professional development 

balls at one time as they realize that 

knowledge is needed in content taught as 

well as in cross-cutting areas like assessment 

methods and technology integration. In 

addition to the professional development 

offered teachers in assessment over a three 

year period (1996–1999), Quitman County 

offered teachers training in a number of 

other areas such as Math Teaching Strategies, 

Writing Across the Curriculum, Learning 

Styles, Project-Based Instruction, Project 

Read, Technology Integration, Science and 

Math Integration, and Accelerated Reader.

“Students are more involved 

and enthusiastic about 

doing-sharing-discoveringcooperating. Teaching is 

changing—I can watch my 

children learn and not do all 

the talking.” 

—Pearlene Wright, 

Teacher

“Students now know what 

it means to be a winner.” 

—Roosevelt Ramsey, 

Principal

“We’re not where we want 

to be, but we’re so much 

closer than we were three 

years ago.” 

—Paul Scarbrough, 

Title I Coordinator
18

Next Steps

Assessment is one piece of a comprehensive 

reform process. The administration and staff at 

each school keep the big picture in mind as they 

face daily challenges. SERVE continues to help 

district staff think through and plan for next 

steps and coordination of efforts that will impact 

their students. Currently, some issues/areas for 

continued growth are

• Bridging the gap between 

elementary and middle school

• Supporting cross-grade-level 

meetings

• Providing common planning 

schedules weekly to study the 

options available for facilitating 

vertical and horizontal articulation 

of the curriculum

• Involving teachers in redesigning 

the entire instructional process 

from planning curriculum to 

creating class schedules to organizing 

events for community support

• Focusing on every decision’s impact 

on student achievement

• Thinking about changes in grading 

and reporting

• Training school leaders to 

understand the teacher-learner 

process

• Helping leaders know how to 

evaluate classroom instruction 

positively

In conclusion, we must change the way we 

think about education. We must search for more 

effective methods of evaluating personnel and 

programs. Teachers, who play an important role in 

what and how students learn, should explore new 

curriculum structures and recognize the critical 

role of technology in education as well as 

the close link of assessment to curriculum and 

instruction. School administrators must be able to 

determine what constitutes learning and become 

more involved with evaluating teachers who 

employ “hands-on” learning strategies.

Up Close and Personal

Below, Quitman County teachers Judy Bland, 

Bedeliah Sweargen, and Ann Goodman reflect on 

how classroom assessment training has helped them.

Question: Why were you willing to change your 

assessment strategies?

Bland: The teachers who participated in the 

classroom assessment training were willing to 

change assessment strategies for several reasons. 

One of the most important factors influencing their 

actions was the low ranking of Quitman County 

Teacher Judy Bland discusses the editing 

process with student Adrian Johnson
19

students’ achievement scores as compared with 

students from other districts across Mississippi. The 

teachers realized that the traditional assessments 

they had been using simply were not working, so 

they were open for suggestions and assistance. 

Also, selected teachers were in the process of 

revising the curriculum frameworks for each major 

subject area. These revised frameworks are broader 

in scope, allowing more freedom to use a wide 

range of assessments. In the new Language Arts 

Framework, for example, suggested assessments for 

teachers to use with each competency are included 

to help teachers better assess their students.

Finally, our instructional management coordinator 

constantly reminds us to devise a variety of 

assessments. He encourages our teachers, provides 

us with examples, and assists us in our preparation 

of new methods of assessing our students.

Low test scores, training sessions, and administrative support activities have increased our 

awareness of the need for strategies that would help 

the district improve its documentation and reporting 

of student progress. We want to evaluate what each 

student knows and is able to do in a variety of 

situations, not just in fragmented events.

Question: Are you making progress in aligning 

your curriculum with your assessments? 

Bland: Yes, we believe that progress is being made 

in aligning our assessment with the curriculum. 

Initially, little was accomplished in this area, but as 

more teachers were trained in classroom assessment 

and the director of curriculum worked with the 

teachers, the assessment “big picture” came into 

focus. With this focus, we could begin to align our 

curriculum and assessment, which has affected our 

overall instructional practice. 

We have generated various assessments aligned 

with our curriculum and made a commitment 

to implement quality assessments as an integral 

component of the instructional program. 

Question: What has been the impact on students?

Goodman: Assessment is ongoing and individualized. Students demonstrate their mastery of 

knowledge through quality performances. 

Alternative assessments give students the opportunity to show what they have learned in a variety of 

ways and to take responsibility for their learning.

Sweargen: The students in my class were given 

an old assignment with a new twist: writing an 

autobiography. My approach was different from the 

traditional task of writing life stories. The students 

had the opportunity to write about those areas that 

were of great interest to them. They were to write 

about favorite times, favorite people, or even favorite 

toys. They created “Me” poems, developed the many 

parts of “Me” puzzles, and wrote commercials about 

themselves. All of these reflections were merged 

to form their life stories. They were given the 

opportunity to share their creations in small groups 

and with the entire class.

It was absolutely wonderful watching the students 

work. Each writing activity was done in steps and 

was assessed by a rubric that they helped to develop. 

Each piece of writing had its own rubric or a 

checklist that guided the students’ work. It was even 

more amazing watching them check and recheck 

their work. The finished products were fantastic. 

Each student produced a short autobiography 

consisting of 10–15 pages of written work with 

various pages of illustrations and beautiful graphics. 

The students were extremely proud of their final 

drafts. They took them home, vowing to keep 

them forever.

Using a rubric as an assessment tool took away 

the tedious and time-consuming task of grading. 

Allowing students to help develop the rubric gave 

them a sense of responsibility and inclusion. They 

worked harder on grammar and mechanics, which 

made their writing better. Now, when a writing 

assignment is given, the common echo is “How are 

we going to grade it?”
20

Alcorn School District: 

Lessons Learned about Improving 

Assessment Capacity

Rienzi Elementary School

Rienzi School, population 180, is operated with a team 

approach utilizing shared decision making. The school 

functions according to several major principles, which 

Rienzi refers to as “The Five Most Important Goals of 

Education.” These five goals are 

1. To develop concepts for good character

2. To develop basic skills in reading, writing, math, 

speaking, and listening

3. To develop critical thinking through the use of 

argument and reason

4. To develop the study of aesthetics

5. To develop skills which lead to effective 

management of resources, property, and money

Through shared-decision making, the school has 

developed a philosophy, vision, and mission and has 

also developed long-term goals. Everyone is important 

and has a vital role to play in helping the school 

achieve its vision and mission. At the start of each 

year, the faculty and administration determine focus 

areas. For example, last year’s focus areas were

• Identifying the learning style(s) of each student 

and developing instructional/assessment strategies 

that address the students’ needs and preferred 

styles of learning

• Writing across the curriculum

Central to both of these focus areas was an emphasis 

on continued use of quality classroom assessment 

to measure student achievement and to provide 

meaningful feedback to students. 

Rienzi emphasizes a respect for students and 

encourages them to be a part of the decision-making 

process. Students are provided the tools necessary 

for planning and facilitating their own learning and 

making responsible choices. The principal’s office 

is always open to students to come by and share 

their ideas. The principal also solicits their input 

through individual or small group discussions and 

holds Principal’s Luncheons on a regular basis. For 

a student to be eligible to participate in these special 

luncheons, he or she must have earned a certain 

number of points for reading. No more than three 

students are scheduled for any given luncheon. Last 

year, a total of 30 students attended the ten Principal’s 

Luncheons.

Rienzi attempts to make all staff meetings more than 

just routine business. Anytime staff members meet, 

they have a learning component. Some of the topics 

discussed last year were brain development, positive 

classroom environment, learning styles, behavior as a 

barometer to the heart/mind, importance of positive 

reinforcement, students’ need for love and attention, 

and how to make learning a joy.

The Alcorn School District in Corinth, Mississippi, has been a SERVE demonstration site for four 

years. The goal is to help teachers build classroom assessment capacity. Rienzi and Biggersville 

Elementary Schools were the initial schools involved in the intensive training on assessment. Later, 

the work expanded to other schools. In this article, Rienzi and Biggersville staff members share 

some lessons learned in improving classroom assessment practices and implementing high-quality 

alternative methods of assessments. 

Article submitted by Tim Cannon and Sandy Gibson
21

Rienzi principal Tim Cannon, who regularly 

teaches classes in addition to his administrative 

duties, describes his thinking about instructional 

support and leadership.

“During the 1998–99 school year, my third-grade 

teacher was having problems instructing her students. 

She was teaching according to her learning style, 

which was analytic. However, 90 percent of her 

students were global and kinesthetic learners. I 

conduct weekly instructional conferences with all the 

teachers, and during my weekly conference time with 

the third-grade teacher, she expressed concerns as 

to how to approach these students. When it became 

apparent that discussions were not sufficient to give 

her a clear idea of what to do, we came upon the 

idea of my going into the classroom to model effective 

instruction for students with a global/kinesthetic 

learning style. Using the tale of Paul Bunyon as my 

subject matter, I modeled instruction so that through 

large-body movement, the students learned math, 

geography, science, nutrition, spelling, and literature. 

Several classes were held outside in order to 

accommodate particular lessons. The success of this 

experiment gave me the idea of using this approach 

to address the issue of seventh-grade students who 

were below grade level in reading and who were very 

discouraged about learning in general. The needs of 

these students, in addition to scheduling conflicts, led 

me to schedule myself as a seventh-grade literature 

teacher during the 1999–2000 school year. The 

teaching experiences in the third and seventh grades, 

helped me to renew my instructional skills and love 

for teaching. I feel the instructional practice is having 

positive effects on me as an instructional leader, and 

it also validates the instruction and guidance I give to 

the classroom teachers. (In other words, I was not just 

sitting in the ivory tower and telling them what to do; I 

was putting on their moccasins.)

“Because of poor reading skills, some of the seventhgrade students had not acquired a love for learning. 

I felt it was important for me to model the joys 

of learning and the thrill of investigation for them. 

Literature was the vehicle I chose to motivate these 

children. I not only wanted to capture the minds of 

the students but their hearts as well. I did a dramatic 

reading of one book, such as Treasure Island, every 

six weeks. These readings involved several methods. 

Sometimes I dressed as the character, changed my 

voice and body movements, and involved the students 

in the reading through discussions and asking them 

higher-level thinking questions. Many times the 

students laughed, and even the toughest boys cried 

while I read particular passages. One of the most 

memorable moments came when I finished reading 

Avi’s Nothing But the Truth, our last book of the 

year. When the last sentence was read, all of the 

students spontaneously and simultaneously applauded 

in shocked surprise at the ending. Our school’s 

student population and instructional staff observed 

these students as they were transformed into 

excited learners, which positively influenced their 

performance in other subjects. It was hard for the 

students to decide just which book of the year 

was their favorite. When I finished The Lion, the 

Witch, and the Wardrobe and Anne of Green Gables,

several students continued to read the series. They had 

discovered the joy of reading.

“Since the staff had elected to focus on writing skills 

for the 1999–2000 school year, the students and I 

discussed methods we could use to address this focus. 

We decided that the students would be responsible for 

putting together a notebook about each book I read to 

them. We used the strategy of cooperative learning to 

accomplish our work. One student could discuss the 

various passages with keen insight; however, he had 

problems with writing. As we worked together, I had 

him write what he had told me one sentence at a time. 

Eventually, I asked him questions and had him record 

his responses on a cassette tape. He listened to his 

responses and then wrote out his answers. Eventually, 

he became a confident writer and recorded his 

thoughts without the aid of the recorder.”

Good news for Rienzi, Spring 2000 

Mississippi State Assessment:

Rienzi Elementary School was number 

one in the state with the highest 

percentile scores in grades seven 

and eight.
22

The principal reflects more specifically on the 

role of assessment in the classroom.

“The district brings to us quality professionals 

who share their expertise with our staff. I 

feel strongly that my role as principal (and 

instructional leader) is to encourage and assist 

teachers to implement and sustain in the school 

setting the valuable instruction obtained through 

their professional development experience. 

Through small group settings, individual 

conferences, and modeling instruction, I keep 

current in their minds those things that have 

been emphasized during our district professional 

development sessions. We study the successes 

and, at the same time, stress how curriculum, 

instruction, and assessment must be viewed as a 

whole rather than separate entities.

“The quality assessment training provided by 

SERVE has been one of our most valuable 

tools, and most of our teachers have become 

comfortable with developing rubrics and using 

a variety of classroom assessments as critical elements 

in the teaching/learning process. Through observations of 

classroom instruction/assessment, I have witnessed the 

teachers using fewer worksheets and implementing a variety 

of assessments that truly capture the essence of the 

students’ learning. Teachers are increasingly more capable 

of developing assessments that evaluate student performance 

rather than merely being fun and interesting activities. The 

use of quality classroom assessment has led to improvements 

in student achievement, helped students realize the joy 

of learning, removed the fear of failure and defeat, 

and improved teacher instruction. Quality assessment now 

defines our school culture because it has become so much a 

part of all that teachers and students do.”

Cannon and his faculty believe that quality assessment in 

the classroom

• Forces students to use both basic and higher-level 

thinking skills

• Provides students with clearer understanding and 

direction for performance tasks

• Allows students to demonstrate learning through their 

preferred learning style

• Focuses teachers and students on learning expectations 

through the use of rubrics 

• Allows students to produce quality learning criteria and 

set higher standards of learning for themselves

• Forces teachers to rethink what they are doing

• Improves student and teacher motivation

• Helps reduce student stress 

• Encourages students to put forth more effort since they 

know the expectations for an assignment

• Refocuses grading practices on meeting the requirements 

for learning rather than on effort

• Increases student motivation for doing projects since 

they know the expectations and know they will receive 

positive feedback through the process

• Allows student choice in assessment, which increases 

motivation and productivity

• Creates a learning environment where teachers can work 

together in teams to plan, create, and improve student 

learning strategies

• Stresses principal leadership as key to changing 

classroom assessment strategies, sustaining those 

changes, and supporting a learning climate that stresses 

life-long learning as the school goal
23

Biggersville Elementary School

When Biggersville teachers began working on 

classroom assessment, the staff at SERVE asked this 

question: Is assessment a part of your instruction?

Sandy Gibson answered, “Assessment as part of 

instruction? I don’t think so! Assessment goes in the 

evaluation column in the four-step lesson planning 

process. It’s the last step in a lesson plan. It’s not 

considered or worried over until a decision is made 

on which activities are going to be done. Waiting until 

day seven is best before considering which test to give. 

What do they mean—assessment part of instruction?”

After spending the past three years working to 

improve her classroom assessment practices, Sandy 

Gibson, a teacher at Biggersville Elementary School, 

now believes quality assessment is central to the 

learning process.

Gibson believes the change has been good for her 

students. She states, “There has been a dramatic 

change in the way I instruct and assess since I’ve been 

through classroom assessment training. The change 

was not mandatory but voluntary for me. It quickly 

became evident to me that if I wanted the best for my 

students, I must be willing to change. Experience has 

taught me that when students have some control of 

their learning, it takes on a new level of importance. 

What was once old and ordinary becomes new 

and necessary. The outcome becomes a priority. 

My students exhibit confidence and motivation in 

everything they attempt, and I think that is due 

to the changes I’ve made in my instruction and 

assessment strategies.”

Gibson explains how she accomplished this: “Math 

journals, written explanations of answers, and math 

projects, all graded using rubrics, create a climate for 

building on quality assessment. Each day after math 

class, my students make entries in a math journal. 

The students help me decide which information should 

be included in each day’s entry. Each entry is given 

a point value, which is also decided upon by the 

students. I collect the journals at the end of the unit 

and assign a grade based on the scale the students 

help to design. All students, regardless of ability, have 

succeeded with this assessment method.

“Another assessment method I use is having students 

provide written explanations of their answers. This 

assessment method creates better thinkers, but it also 

helps students prepare for state tests. Students solve 

problems and write explanations for the solutions. I 

have had very positive feedback from this assessment 

strategy. Student expectations are clear, and rubrics 

are used to relay the expected achievement levels. The 

students say they get credit for what they know, rather 

than losing points for what they do not know.

“I’ve found that math projects are a wonderful tool 

for assessing students’ knowledge. I use projects in 

math as much as possible. For example, my sixthgrade math class has just completed a unit of study on 

decimals. At the end of the unit, my students were put 

into groups of three or four. The students were asked 

to create a decimal pizza, much like the fraction pizza 

used to teach fractions. My students brainstormed a 

list of skills using decimals that could be illustrated 

with the pizza. We narrowed the list to include five 

important skills, and the students then started work. 

They also helped set up guidelines for grading the 

project, which were stricter than mine would have 

been. When the project was finished, I saw deliciously 

decorated pizzas that showed every decimal skill from 

place value to rounding to converting fractions to 

decimals. It was rewarding for me, and the students 

were very proud of their creations. When students in 

the sixth grade look forward to class time, it is safe to 

say that learning is taking place, and that is my number 

one classroom goal.”

Gibson offered the following explanation of what this 

focus on assessment has meant for her: “Learning to 

use more alternative assessments successfully in the 

math classroom has been a long and difficult process 

with many successes and failures. However, using 

this type of assessment (performance projects, etc.) 

has made a tremendous difference for my students, 

and I value that difference. I will always use some 

Good news for Biggersville, Spring 2000 

Mississippi State Assessment:

Biggersvilles Elementary School was 

number two in the state with the second 

highest percentile scores in grade six.
24

traditional assessments (you need all types in the 

classroom, like multiple choice and matching, for 

example), but they will never again be my primary 

method of assessing students’ math knowledge. 

Learning more about quality assessment and making 

changes to reflect that knowledge have changed my 

beliefs about what is important, and I challenge 

all teachers (especially math) to rethink the role of 

classroom assessment. This assessment is more time 

consuming and thought provoking for the teacher, but 

when I read the comments my own students made 

about this assessment process, and when I realized that 

I get a truer picture of the capabilities of my students, I 

knew the effort had been worthwhile. What I’ve found 

out is that school is a good place in the eyes of children 

who are given a chance to be in control of some of 

their own learning.”

When asked to respond about their teacher’s use 

of alternative assessment practices, Sandy Gibson’s 

fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade math students offered 

the following comments:

• Keeping a math journal and working in groups is 

fun.

• The assessment process is important—a single 

right answer or chance at a problem does not 

determine my grade.

• You have to do more work with this type of 

assessment.

• This type of assessment allows us to move around 

and not be stuck in a single chair, bored and sleepy.

• This type of assessment is better because you know 

what you are doing, and it increases your self-esteem.

• I think I learn more with this type of assessment.

• We learn more in class when we get into groups, 

help each other get the right answers, and show 

each other how we worked out the math problems.

• We are not as embarrassed to put our answers to 

a problem on the board when the whole team has 

worked out the problem.

• This type of assessment helps us learn to think for 

ourselves since we must do all the work.

• We learn better by doing.

When asked about more traditional types of 

assessment, the same students offered the following 

comments:

• In traditional assessment, we do not always know 

what we are doing.

• Traditional assessment created tons of boring 

homework for us.

• Traditional assessment can be confusing at times, 

and often we guess at the right answer.

• We can get grades every day with this type of 

assessment.

• We do not get an opportunity to change or correct 

our mistakes.

• This type of assessment is okay.

• If you miss one thing, sometimes the whole 

problem is incorrect.

• You don’t have to think much about the problem—

just write an answer.

For Spring 2000 Mississippi State Assessment: Biggersville and Rienzi Elementary 

Schools’ percentage of students in the lowest quartile ranged from zero to 

thirteen percent for all grades tested in grades three through eight.

Traditional Assessment Alternative Assessment

Students choose a response Students create a response

based on given information based on given information

Examples: Examples:

• True/False • Essays • Journals

• Multiple Choice • Open-ended • Portfolios

• Matching • Projects
25

With the increasing demand for 

accountability and improved student 

performance, policymakers and educators 

have struggled to find ways to measure 

children’s readiness when they enter 

school. The assessment of young children 

is particularly challenging. Not only do 

children develop differently, but their 

rate of growth is often uneven and 

episodic. This article highlights the 

unique difficulties in assessing 

children’s readiness and 

provides information about 

what SERVE states are 

doing with regard to 

assessing readiness 

for school.

Spotlight on 

Assessment in 

Early Childhood

By Glyn Brown, Early Childhood Specialist

The school 

The National Association of Education for 

Young Children (NAEYC) recommends the 

following guidelines to early childhood 

professionals:

All standardized tests used in early 

childhood programs must be reliable 

and valid.

Decisions that have a major impact on 

children should be based on multiple 

sources of information and should never be 

based on a single test score.

Administrators and teachers have a 

professional responsibility to evaluate 

critically, select carefully, and use 

standardized tests only for the purpose for 

which they are intended and for which data 

exists demonstrating the test’s validity. 

Administrators and teachers have a 

professional responsibility to be 

knowledgeable about testing and to 

interpret test results accurately and 

cautiously to parents, school personnel, 

and the media.

Selection of standardized tests to assess 

achievement and/or evaluate how well a 

program is meeting its goals should be 

based on how well a given test matches the 

locally determined theory, philosophy, and 

objectives of the specific program.

Testing of young children must be 

conducted by individuals who are 

knowledgeable about and sensitive to the 

developmental needs of young children 

and who are qualified to administer tests.

Testing of young children must recognize 

and be sensitive to individual diversity. 

(Adapted from NAEYC Position Statement 

Summary: Standardized Testing of Young 

Children 3 Through 8 Years of Age.)

 readiness 

of young children is 

an issue of considerable 

interest and debate in current 

educational policy. Goal One of the 

National Education Goals states that, “By 

the year 2000, all children will start school ready to learn.” 

Unfortunately, the education community still has not agreed 

upon one definition of readiness or the best ways to assess 

children’s readiness for school. Some educators have even 

questioned the usefulness of readiness as a concept (Pianta 

and Walsh). For example, some experts point out that children 

are ready to learn from the time they are born. According 

to S. J. Meisels, they need not wait until they are five 

years old to be ready to learn. In contrast, others cite the 

great variability in children’s abilities as the most significant 

obstacle to defining readiness. That is, individual differences 

and variations in development suggest that there will never 

be a single point in time when all children attain the same 

level of performance. Despite these difficulties in defining 

the term, experts generally agree that how a child performs 

in school depends, at least in part, on things that happened 

before he or she entered kindergarten. 

Today, most child development experts have begun to think 

of readiness as a process that occurs over time and that 

is not complete by the first day of kindergarten. Moreover, 

many have come to see readiness as a broader construct 

that incorporates all aspects of a child’s life contributing 

to his or her ability to learn—aspects not measured by 

standardized tests popularly used in schools (Meisels). Still at 

issue, however, is the question of how to assess readiness and 

which instruments are most appropriate for that assessment. 
26

In 1987, the National Association for the Education of 

Young Children issued a position 

statement regarding the use of 

standardized testing in young 

children. According to this 

statement, “The purpose of 

testing must be to improve 

services for children and ensure 

that children benefit from their 

educational experiences.” That 

is, the use of standardized 

testing, the selection of 

instruments, and how the results 

will be used must be based 

on the best interests of the 

individual child. Unfortunately, 

this has not always been the 

case, and many states have 

seen overuse and misuse of 

standardized tests. (See sidebar 

on page 25 for further 

recommendations.)

In an effort to capture states’ 

practices regarding early 

assessment and testing, Shepard, 

Taylor, and Kagan conducted 

a survey of early childhood 

specialists in each of the 50 

states. This survey was 

specifically designed to assess 

any changes that might be 

occurring in response to Goal 

One, performance assessments, 

and integrated services for 

children. The survey focused 

on three general purposes of 

assessment:

• Screening/identification of 

children

• Instructional improvement

• Accountability

Information obtained from the 

survey indicates that a number of 

states are continuing to mandate 

screening either as a way to 

identify children with special 

needs or to plan instruction. 

Shepard and others cite various 

problems associated with the 

use of screening instruments, 

including poor teacher training 

and misinterpretation of results. 

With regard to instructional 

improvement, Shepard and 

others found that some states 

and local districts are moving to 

new forms of assessment that are 

more supportive of instruction 

in the early grades. This has 

included an increased use of 

portfolios, teacher observation, 

and what some respondents 

referred to as “curriculumembedded assessment” or 

“authentic performance 

assessment.” One example of 

an authentic assessment 

approach being used frequently 

is the Work Sampling System 

(Meisels), which is designed 

to assess and document 

children’s skills, knowledge, 

behavior, and accomplishments 

across a wide range of classroom 

domains. It consists of three 

components: developmental 

checklists, portfolios, and 

summary reports, all classroomfocused and instructionally 

relevant. 

For purposes of accountability, 

Shepard and others found that 

most states had eliminated 

mandated standardized testing 

below grade three. Unfortunately, many respondents reported 

that such assessments continue 

to occur at the district or school 

level for accountability reasons. 

Moreover, respondents report an 

increasing pressure to reinstate 

standardized testing below grade 

three in an effort to provide 

some evidence of accountability.

Currently, interest in state 

policies and practices 

surrounding early childhood 

assessment is high. Much of 

this interest has been sparked 

by renewed efforts to define 

readiness and determine, in an 

ongoing process, what a child 

knows and what he or she 

can do. Recently, SERVE, in 

collaboration with the National 

Center for Early Development 

& Learning, began a follow-up 

study to determine what, if 

any, changes had occurred in 

state practices since the survey 

conducted by Shepard, Taylor, 

and Kagan. To gather this 

information, interviews were 

conducted with at least one 

representative from each state, 

including members of the 

National Association of Early 

Childhood Specialists in State 

Departments of Education. 

Representatives were asked to 

respond to a series of questions 

including, “How does your state 

define readiness for kindergarten?” and “How does your 

state measure school readiness?” 
27

Overall, results of the survey 

indicate that the majority of 

states, including SERVE states, 

have no formal definition of 

readiness other than an age of 

eligibility requirement. Although 

the date varies by state, most 

states allow children to enter 

kindergarten when they are five 

years old. Of the six SERVE 

states, Alabama and Mississippi 

reported that they have 

developed a framework or set 

of benchmarks to describe 

school readiness. Three states 

(Alabama, Florida, and North 

Carolina) reported that they 

conduct a statewide screening 

that is mandated for children 

entering kindergarten; however, 

these states do not refer to 

this process as “readiness 

testing.” Three states (Florida, 

North Carolina, and South 

Carolina) currently have 

readiness initiatives in place, 

with an assessment system under 

development or being piloted. 

In conclusion, debate and 

concern continue regarding 

young children and whether they 

enter school “ready to learn.” 

This struggle is compounded by 

disagreement within the field 

regarding the definition of 

readiness and the challenge of 

assessing young children. 

SERVE plans to continue 

following the issue of school 

readiness by conducting a 

periodic review of state policies 

and initiatives. In addition, 

SERVE is developing a guide 

on readiness assessment for 

state- and district-level 

administrators. It will provide 

a review of commercially 

available instruments, as well 

as information on the purposes 

of assessment, how to select 

assessment measures, and how 

to use the data from readiness 

assessment appropriately.

References and Resources

Meisels, S. J. “Remaking Classroom Assessment with the Work 

Sampling System.” Young Children 48.5 (1993): 34-40.

---. “Out of the Readiness Maze. Momentum 26 (1995): 18-26. 

---. Assessing Readiness. CIERA Report #3-002 (Nov. 1, 1998). 

<http://www. ciera.org/products/meisels-1998/report32.html>. 

September 9, 1999.

National Association for the Education of Young Children 

(November, 1987). 

Pianta, R.C., and D. J. Walsh. High-Risk Children in Schools: 

Constructing Sustaining Relationships. New York: Routledge, 

1996.

Position Statement: Standardized Testing of Young Children 3 

Through 8 Years of Age. <http://www.naeyc.org/about/position/

pstestin.htm>.

Shepard, L. A., G. A. Taylor, and S. L. Kagan. Trends in Early 

Childhood 

Assessment Policies and Practices, 1996. <http://www.negp.gov/

negp/ Reports/ecms2.pdf>. September 9, 1999.

If you have any questions 

about school readiness or 

would like further 

information about this 

study, please call:

Catherine Scott-Little, 

Project Director 

800-755-3277

cscottli@serve.org

or

Glyn Brown, 

Early Childhood Specialist

800-352-6001

gbrown@serve.org 
28

The A+ 

Assessment 

Project

By Gerry Howell

The A+ Network, in response to the 

expressed need of teachers and principals 

in A+ Schools, developed the A+ 

Assessment Project. The need arose from 

their recognition that results in schools and 

the effects on students of an integrated 

and interdisciplinary approach to teaching 

and learning could not be adequately 

documented through the standardized 

tests that form the basis of school 

accountability. With Goals 2000 funding 

from the North Carolina Department 

of Public Instruction, the initiative has 

developed the A+ Assessment Model, 

which has come to be known as “enriched 

assessment.”

The recently approved North Carolina 

regulations on promotion standards are 

focusing attention on alternate ways of 

assessing students and documenting their 

achievement. The A+ Assessment Project 

has focused on encouraging teachers to 

explore how best to do this, how to 

document what they discover, and how 

to communicate it to others, including 

students, fellow teachers, school 

administrators, and parents.

This project includes the development 

of three “products”: the A+ Assessment 

Workbook (available upon request), the 

A+ Video, and the A+ Field Book 

(both scheduled for completion in 2001). 

Through workshops and professional 

development, the “enriched assessment” 

model is now being disseminated to 

schools that are not A+ Schools.

For more information about the North 

Carolina A+ Schools Network, the A+ 

Assessment Model, and related resources: 

<http://www.aplus-schools.org> or 

336-722-0338.

The A+ Schools Program at Bugg 

Elementary

Teachers at Bugg Elementary School in Raleigh, North 

Carolina, created a Hexagon Quilt Movement Project using 

dance to help fifth-grade students understand the concept of 

fractional parts of a whole, which was being covered in their 

math class. This project was developed as a part of their work 

with the North Carolina A+ Schools Program. Bugg’s A+ 

Program features daily instruction in music, dance, drama, 

and visual arts for all students, including those in special 

education. Music, dance, drama, and visual arts are also 

integrated into the regular classroom curriculum. Hands-on, 

experiential approaches to learning are used for all 

grade levels. 

Students take North Carolina’s End-of-Grade tests, but 

ongoing classroom assessment provides real-time feedback 

about student progress. Bugg began using the A+ Program 

as its magnet theme in 1995 and has continued to use 

it successfully since then. Because of extensive staff 

development through the A+ Program and a federal magnet 

grant, teachers at Bugg are very familiar with collaborative 

planning and arts integration. For a unique program such as 

theirs, Bugg teachers have also needed to develop alternative 

methods to assess student progress. They have participated in 

assessment development training with the A+ Program and 

with SERVE and have also noticed that when instruction 

and assessment are carefully planned and grounded in 

the curriculum, lessons are seamless—no clear boundary 

separates instruction and assessment. Teachers continually 

monitor student progress. Because much of the instruction 

is action oriented, teachers can more readily assess whether 

students are achieving or failing to achieve specific outcomes 

so that they can adjust instruction accordingly. 

Common Threads and the Earth Quilt 

Each year, faculty members at Bugg choose a schoolwide 

theme to help connect the K–5 core curriculum with the 

arts curriculum. Common Threads was the 1997–98 theme. 

This was especially appropriate because quilt artist Norma 

A Creative Movement/Mathematics 

By Mary Q. Penta and Joan Certa-Moore
29

Project at Bugg Elementary School

Bradley spent four weeks in residence at Bugg in the spring 

of 1998. She worked with students and teachers in all 

grades and with many parents as well. They designed, built, 

planted, and dedicated an Earth Quilt. Built on a hillock 

overlooking the playground, the quilt is based on inner and 

outer octagonal shapes. The inner octagon encloses a flower 

and rock garden. Rectangular overlays of brick begin at 

four alternate edges of the inner octagon and extend just 

beyond the outer octagon. Elongated triangles based against 

the inner octagon end at the outer octagon; they alternate 

with the rectangles to form a four-pointed star representing 

dance, visual arts, music, and drama (see photo). 

The Common Threads theme was apparent in the planning 

and collaboration of all involved. Teachers planned with 

artist, Norma Bradley, to develop integrated units related 

to the Earth Quilt. Project suggestions came from both 

classroom teachers and the arts and science faculty. 

Collaboration was also obvious in obtaining the $7,000 

needed for Bradley’s residency and materials for the Earth 

Quilt. Funds from the PTA and Bugg’s general fund were 

used to supplement a grant awarded to teacher Michelle 

Burrows by the United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake 

County. Parents also donated labor, supplies, and money. 

The Earth Quilt Sparks a Movement Project 

Traditionally, the exiting fifth-grade class at Bugg creates 

a permanent piece of art. Thus, the 1997–98 class had 

A+

PHILOSOPHY

 The A+ Schools Program is an 

approach to teaching and learning 

grounded in the belief that the arts can play a 

central role in how children learn. It represents 

a viable option for schools seeking a focus 

based on similar beliefs. A+ schools cover 

the North Carolina Standard Course of Study 

through interdisciplinary thematic units, 

combined with arts integration and hands-on, 

experiential learning, including daily arts 

instruction by arts teachers. A+ schools also 

develop strong partnerships with parents, 

area cultural resources, local colleges and 

universities, and the media.

The A+ approach to learning is based 

on Howard Gardner’s extensive research on 

multiple intelligences and is also supported 

by recent brain research and other theories 

of intelligence. A+ schools combine 

interdisciplinary teaching and daily arts 

instruction, offering children opportunities to 

learn through all the ways in which they 

are able. The arts are taught daily to 

every child: drama, dance, music, and visual 

arts at least once each week. Teaching 

the required curriculum involves a manydisciplined approach, with the arts 

continuously woven into every aspect of a 

child’s learning.

The North Carolina A+ Schools Program is 

an unusual educational reform in that it 

was initiated outside of state government 

and planned by school and school district 

personnel in partnership with arts 

professionals in the community. The program 

was initiated by the Kenan Institute for 

the Arts in 1993 and developed through 

an 18-month planning process across the 

state, funded by a partnership of public and 

private sponsors, among them several leading 

foundations and corporations including Z. 

Smith Reynolds Foundation, The Wachovia 

Foundation, Inc., and Philip Morris Companies 

Inc. The Department of Public Instruction 

provided both financial and in-kind support at 

this early stage.

© 1999 Southern Living, Inc.Reprinted with permission

Bugg Elementary Earth Quilt
30

a major role in working on the Earth Quilt. This 

work sparked the fifth-grade Hexagon Quilt Movement 

Project. Fifth-grade teachers at Bugg had worked 

closely with the music and dance teachers on projects 

in the two preceding years, so they had experience 

in developing integrated units as well as a history of 

successful collaboration. Another essential component 

was students’ familiarity and experience with dance 

concepts. Because most students in this group of fifthgraders had been in the A+ Program at Bugg since 

third grade, they had had three years of daily dance 

classes in addition to frequent integration of dance into 

classroom instruction. 

In work with SERVE during the two previous school 

years, the dance teacher and teachers on the fifth-grade 

team had worked together on units that integrated 

core subject areas with the arts and provided ongoing 

assessment (see Assessment Hotspots, Vol. 1, No. 

1, pp. 40-50). During further work with SERVE in 

1997–98, these same teachers were given the task of 

developing another core area/arts unit that included 

ongoing assessment. To fulfill this assignment, fifthgrade math teacher Deborah Burch invited Joan CertaMoore, dance teacher, to plan and work with her and 

two other members of the fifth-grade team, Jennifer 

Fine and Mitzi Lewellyn, to integrate the math concept 

fractional parts of a whole with specific movement 

objectives. 

Burch knew that her students were having difficulty 

understanding the concept of fractional parts of a 

whole. She felt that reinforcement, re-teaching, and 

synthesis of information would help them. Because 

of their success in using dance to teach other subject 

areas, the team decided to help students create a 

movement project based on fractional parts. CertaMoore planned a demonstration for the team on 

effective use of movement to teach the relevant 

math concepts. She planned a unit that would 

address related requirements of the math curriculum 

while making use of specific aspects of the dance 

curriculum. The unit was shared with the rest of the 

team who worked with them to finalize it. 

Initially, the only concrete element of the movement 

project was the notion of fractional parts of a whole 

because of its relationship to students’ experience with 

the Earth Quilt and because the concepts were part 

of the fifth-grade curriculum. The team decided 

Since its inauguration in the summer of 1995, 

the private sector sponsors have continued their 

support. The program received annual support from 

the North Carolina General Assembly in each of 

the first four years of program implementation. In 

the 1999–2001 North Carolina State budget, the 

program is included as a recurring item in the base 

budget. The program is recognized in North Carolina 

as an appropriate strategy for schools planning 

and implementing school reform programs under 

the Obey-Porter Comprehensive School Reform 

Demonstration program.

In April 1995, 25 schools were selected from a 

statewide application process to undertake the A+ 

Schools Program and to participate in a four-year 

evaluation conducted by outside researchers. The 

evaluation concludes with the 1998–99 school year. 

Beginning at the end of 1999 and continuing 

into the year 2000, a series of final reports were 

published documenting the results of this evaluation. 

Interim reports are issued annually. Once this initial 

evaluation is completed, the program is designed to 

be fully supported through the regular budgets of 

the schools.

In the first three years, schools have reported 

improved student attendance, reduced discipline 

referrals, more parent involvement, and students 

more actively engaged in the classroom, all welldocumented correlates of academic achievement. At 

the end of the third year, the evaluators reported 

improved academic achievement; A+ schools ranked 

higher than the state average on the 1997–98 ABC 

results. There were no low-performing A+ schools, 

compared to five the previous year. These early 

results indicate that among its benefits, the A+ 

Schools Program provides an effective way to 

improve academic performance, to make learning 

enjoyable as well as productive, to establish and 

strengthen the school/parent/community 

partnerships, and, above all, to offer children ways to 

learn that match the full range of their talents and 

intelligences. The combination of interdisciplinary 

teaching and daily arts instruction creates a powerful 

experiential learning environment for students, 

teachers, and parents, and appears highly effective 

with disadvantaged children.

Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts

P.O. Box 10610

Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27108

336-722-0338, Fax: 336-722-0081

E-mail: aplus@aplus-schools.org 

Website: www.aplus-schools.org
31

that students would be given a page containing 

hexagon outlines along with math manipulatives—

triangle, trapezoid, and rhombus—that would fit into 

the hexagons. For example, using a triangle, students 

would develop fractional patterns within the hexagon 

and note that each triangle equals one-sixth of the 

hexagon. The team also decided that Certa-Moore and 

Burch would use regularly-scheduled time in math 

class to team teach the first session and that the 

rest of the sessions would be taught during dance 

class. Certa-Moore and her student teacher, Comstock, 

would introduce the project overview and then give 

specific instructions to students, and Burch would 

facilitate work with the math content. They jointly 

reviewed the requirement sheet that students would use 

to track their progress and provide feedback. 

Project Overview, Weeks 1–3 

Certa-Moore and Comstock, came to Burch’s fifthgrade classroom and told students that they were going 

to develop a movement quilt using fractional parts 

of a whole. She said they would use a hexagon as 

the “whole” and divide it into fractional parts with a 

movement value assigned to each part. She showed 

them the hexagon quilt piece she had drawn on a 

sheet of paper and gave out copies of the movement 

sequence she had written for it. She then demonstrated 

her movement sequence set to music (Robert Een’s 

“Even a Worm Will Turn” from the CD Big Joe—an 

abstract piece with little melody but a steady beat in 

eighths, allowing students’ movements to be creative 

rather than dictated by the music). She let students 

know they would develop their own quilt piece and 

related movement sequence and then join them to 

create a larger quilt. She told the class that they 

might be invited to present their hexagon quilt in a 

performance at the Earth Quilt dedication. 

After distributing materials (Table 1), Burch reviewed 

the math concepts related to fractional parts of a 

whole. Students used the triangle, trapezoid, and 

rhombus pattern blocks to begin designing their quilt 

pieces on the paper of hexagon outlines. As students 

decided which fractional values they would divide the 

hexagons into and chose a color to represent each 

value, all three teachers circulated to answer questions. 

The teachers assessed student work as it progressed. 

Most students could not complete their designs in a 

single 50-minute class period. Teachers collected their 

work to redistribute during the next dance class. The 

lesson was repeated with the other two fifth-grade classes.

For the next two weeks, students continued to work on 

their quilt piece drawings and associated movements 

during dance class. As is often the case in units that 

combine subject-area content with the arts, it was 

necessary to use some of the flexible time built into 

Bugg’s schedule each Friday. Students had questions 

about their completed paper quilt pieces and about the 

movement sequences they developed to portray them. 

As individual students completed movement 

sequences based on their quilt pieces, Certa-Moore 

gathered them into groups of four to join their quilt 

pieces into a larger segment. Each group then set 

a sequence for the movements they would use to 

perform the dance that represented their segment. 

Because these fifth-graders, after several years in 

Bugg’s creative arts curriculum, were completely 

Table One

MATERIALS GIVEN TO STUDENTS: 

Hexagon grid 

(page filled with 

hexagon 

outlines) 

Pattern blocks: 

triangle, 

trapezoid, and 

rhombus (math 

manipulatives) 

Black finetipped marker 

Colored pencils 

Handouts 

including: List 

of seven 

movement 

options 

(full body 

movement, 

gesture, 

straight shape, 

curving shape, 

bending shape, 

reaching shape, 

level change) 

Example of Certa-Moore’s pattern with movement 

notations and demonstration of her performing the piece

Checklist of project requirements and space for student 

reflections 

Directions: From the list of movement options, select 

one movement value to represent each shape—triangle, 

trapezoid, rhombus. Also choose a color to use when 

marking that shape on your sheet of hexagons. Decide 

a movement sequence based on the hexagon quilt you 

design from the shapes.
32

product that they chose it as their performance piece 

to be shared at the annual schoolwide performance 

extravaganza held each year at Raleigh’s Walnut Creek 

amphitheater. Additional exposure came when the staff 

from Southern Living magazine visited Bugg and 

photographed the Earth Quilt for an article published 

in the March 1999 issue.

Certa-Moore was invited to share the project at 

the North Carolina Dance Alliance Conference at 

Meredith College in September 1998. She invited five 

fifth-grade students to present the project with her. 

They shared their individual movement quilt pieces 

and then actually taught the process 

to conference participants. It was 

obvious that by creating the quilt 

pieces and synthesizing them 

through dance, the fifth-graders’ 

knowledge of the math curriculum 

had crystallized. In addition to the 

fifth grade’s performance of their 

movement sequences during the 

year-in-review gala at Walnut Creek, 

12 fifth-graders were selected to 

perform during the Earth Quilt 

Dedication at Bugg. This event was attended by 

students, staff, parents, and community members. 

About the Authors: 

Mary Q. Penta, Ph.D., a Senior Administrator in the Wake 

County Public School System Evaluation and Research 

Department and program evaluator for the system’s 

federal magnet grant, has served as the system’s liaison 

for the Research and Development site with SERVE and 

is on the North Carolina A+ Schools Assessment Steering 

Committee. She worked with faculty at Bugg Elementary 

on alternative assessment training and development from 

1995 to 1998 and has published and presented assessment 

development research nationally. 

Joan Certa-Moore, who looks to the child as her source 

of inspiration, studied dance and interdisciplinary arts 

for Children at SUNY Brockport and Hunter College. She 

received her B.A. in Dance at Meredith College in 1985 

and has been teaching dance in Wake County for 15 

years, the last five at Bugg Elementary in Raleigh, North 

Carolina. Certa-Moore is heavily involved in developing 

and utilizing alternative assessment modalities. She is on 

the faculty of the Kenan Institute for the Arts and has 

presented at the International Magnet Conference, the 

SERVE Forum, and the North Carolina Dance Alliance 

Conference. 

comfortable creating movement projects, they stayed 

on task.

Once the groups of four had selected the movement 

order for their segment, the teacher grouped the entire 

class together with a specific order for an overall 

performance. As their dances progressed, classes went 

outside to practice in the area near the Earth Quilt. 

In addition to being executed through movement, the 

overall performance was also captured and preserved 

by combining the students’ paper hexagon segments 

into a quilt design for each class. These were displayed 

in the dance classroom.

Assessing the Project 

Students used a checklist of 

requirements to guide their progress 

on the project. Teachers provided 

ongoing monitoring and verified 

completion of each requirement as 

it was met. Students also wrote 

reflections about their involvement in 

the project. Many of them remarked 

that they had enjoyed the project. 

However, they also said that it was difficult and had 

required a lot of effort. 

Teachers at Bugg are in the habit of reflecting on their 

own practice. Certa-Moore noticed that the project 

seemed to energize the students, and she commented 

that the level of ownership was fantastic. Students who 

traditionally had a difficult time with the concept of 

part of a whole were experiencing success, and their 

motivation increased. She reflected further that there 

was a high level of success for all students. Some 

students who were high achievers in math, but not 

particularly adept at dance, performed very confidently 

in this unit. 

When the project is implemented again, the teachers 

hope to create a more complex math component. 

A technology component might also be added, with 

students using computers to design their quilt pieces. 

Certa-Moore plans to assign peers to check each 

other’s work. 

Quilt artist Norma Bradley was pleased to see a 

quilt coming to life through movement. Students on 

the fifth-grade team were so proud of their finished 
33

A High School Perspective

The Senior Project Experience at 

Polk County High School, North Carolina: 

A School-Level Assessment Project 

to Improve Learning

By Buck Preston, English Teacher and Senior Project Coordinator

All seniors graduating from

the entire 

experience to a 

panel of five adult 

judges in an eightminute speech.

Polk County High 

School is the result 

of the consolidation seven years 

ago of two small county schools 

in Columbus, a small 

community located in the Blue 

Ridge Mountains. Our students 

come from communities that 

are often strikingly different 

in interests, income, and 

professional backgrounds. 

Farming in several parts of the 

area is waning, while many 

residents leave the county each 

day to work at the BMW 

plant or at other 

neighboring 

manufacturing 

giants. On one 

side of the county, 

we have tractor 

pulls and fox hunting, while 

on the other, we have strongly 

entrenched artist enclaves.

When the two county high 

schools merged, we made many 

wrong moves, even if for all 

the right reasons. High on 

the school reform agenda were 

practices vaguely associated 

with authentic assessment: 

cooperative learning, use of 

portfolios, and the dissolution 

 Polk County High School 

in western North Carolina must 

first successfully complete the 

Senior Project, a three-part 

program, as a requirement in 

their senior English class. By 

the end of the class, they will 

have written a research paper 

on a topic that interests them, 

completed a 15-hour physical 

project related to the paper in 

some way, and finally, presented 
34

of a “Failing” grade in favor of an “In Progress.” Teachers 

struggled with the meaning of such terms as “authentic” 

and “reform.” How were they to reform their practices and 

create meaningful, authentic lessons if no one could define 

the terms? Needless to say, our well-intended experiment 

caved in, and our education community received criticism 

from parents and the media.

Nevertheless, what remained in the minds of the faculty 

who endured the restructuring was a fascinating vision, 

an idea born from what we had begun to learn about 

possibilities inherent in authentic assessment. If somehow 

we could tap into an education process that would 

challenge the students, get them to buy into the 

actual development of their education, and make them 

responsible for the completion of their assignments, we 

might approach the promised land, which we envisioned in 

our education classes in college.

At a time when reform fatigue was setting in, SERVE 

invited the faculty to attend a workshop taught by the 

Senior Project developers from South Medford High 

School in Medford, Oregon. Despite the disillusionment 

resulting from attempted and failed reforms, our faculty 

representatives recognized at once that Senior Project was 

the point at which our re-education as well as that of our 

students, our school community, and our administration 

should have begun. Battered as we were by community 

criticism, we recognized the inherent value of Senior 

Project. What better way to put the education of our 

seniors into their own hands, to make their lessons in 

the classroom connect to the world they would face in a 

matter of months, and to make their educational efforts 

directly related to what they think is important? We had 

been trying to accomplish those things all along.

Ironically, adopting a Senior Project program required 

far fewer adjustments to our curriculum than we first 

imagined. North Carolina’s Standard Course of Study calls 

for students to write, speak, listen, think, read, and solve 

problems. Senior Project creates a fusion of all those 

often-segregated skills into one life-oriented project.

When our teachers came back from the SERVE workshop, 

they wanted to implement Senior Project immediately 

although they knew that the faculty, because of past 

Senior Project at SERVE

Across the region, SERVE supports 

educators who implement Senior 

Project in a variety of ways. 

Support includes training 

opportunities and yearly institutes, 

a video and accompanying 

brochure to support awareness 

and training activities, regular 

meetings for Senior Project 

coordinators to exchange ideas, 

and SERVE staff visits to school 

sites to view student work and 

collect data. A comprehensive 

evaluation of the Senior Project 

program was conducted during 

the 1999–2000 school year, and 

a Senior Project research report 

will be ready for dissemination 

in 2001. Presently more than 

40 urban, rural, and suburban 

high schools located in Alabama, 

Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, and 

North Carolina participate in 

SERVE’s Senior Project Network. 

In participating schools, Senior 

Project is a requirement for all 

twelfth-graders and usually 

represents a significant portion of 

an English grade during the final 

year of high school. It has three 

components: writing a research 

paper on a topic of the student’s 

choice, developing a project 

related to the paper, and 

delivering a presentation to a 

panel comprised of community 

members and school staff. 

Educators usually choose to 

participate in this program because 

it shows what students know and 

can do as they prepare to graduate 

from high school. Successfully 

completing Senior Project requires 

that students make evident their 

grasp of the central skills and 

knowledge; it is a culminating 

assessment (Sizer 226). 
35

experiences, were wary of change. Presentation of 

a new idea in our situation would be as difficult 

as introducing escargot to a ten-year-old. We 

knew we had to convince our battle-weary faculty 

and many highly skeptical parents that this effort 

would succeed. The answer was born of necessity. 

We brought in Senior Project in stages.

The following fall, we offered Senior Project as an 

elective. Seven students volunteered, perhaps lured 

by the offer to leave campus during fourth period 

(we were on a four-block schedule with 90-minute 

periods) to complete the physical project. The 

students’ abilities ranged from Special Ed to Merit 

Finalist, but their projects challenged each one, 

and the school began to make its way slowly 

toward the program we have today.

That first semester was difficult because I acted 

as school and community coordinator, so I was 

responsible for all scheduling. Even though I was 

the curriculum coordinator and taught only this 

one elective at the time, I felt pulled in many 

directions by the seemingly endless logistics, none 

of which I knew for certain would come together. 

I had heard all the rhetoric about how the program 

would begin to fly on automatic pilot after a 

couple of years, but that first year I didn’t dare 

take my hands off the controls.

At first, other students who weren’t sure what 

we were doing treated the experiment as a mere 

oddity. Word began to spread, however, as the 

first seniors displayed their projects in the hall. 

The following semester’s elective class was almost 

twice as large, yet already I had begun to believe 

that Senior Project might not need to be offered 

as a stand-alone elective. As a result, the next fall, 

I persuaded students in my regular senior English 

class to complete a Senior Project in addition to 

their normal study of English Literature.

At the same time, we began to petition the 

district to include Senior Project on the school 

board agenda for consideration as a graduation 

requirement. What came out of that petition was 

 Senior Spotlights

Erica’s Story

The physical project was a major concern for many parents at first because 

they believed that their children’s already scarce time would be dominated by 

this extra demand during the senior year. Erica was a prime example. She was 

in my Advanced Placement English class, captain of the soccer team, and a 

medical assistant for the football team. Her mother objected to the burden 

that “jumping through one more hoop” would put on Erica. The superintendent convinced 

her mother to hold her objections until senior boards.

Matching students’ projects to their interests became a key in addressing objections to 

“one more hoop.” Since Erica wanted to major in sports medicine in college, she researched 

sports-related knee injuries and rehabilitation. Her physical project was to assist in the 

rehabilitation of any football player who might sustain a joint injury. During the second 

game of the season, the team captain tore the ligament behind his kneecap. That Erica 

was dating him at the time was pure coincidence, almost whimsy if there weren’t a great 

deal of pain involved for the young man. Nevertheless, she watched the operation, and as 

the doctor placed the ligament on a side table during the procedure, Erica fainted and was 
36

a compromise. For the following year, seniors had 

to complete all three parts of Senior Project, and 

those three parts would count 25 percent of the 

senior’s total English IV grade. The “25 percent” 

compromise followed the logic that other courses 

with state mandated end-of-course tests counted 

those tests as 25 percent of the final grade. 

However, the catch to the compromise was that 

students might and sometimes did interpret the 

stipulation to mean that they were required to 

merely finish or complete the three parts, but the 

quality of their work did not matter. No standards 

could be set until we could say that all seniors 

had to “pass” all three parts of Senior Project in 

order to successfully complete senior English and 

graduate. More than two years elapsed before the 

Board made that leap and voted to support the 

“pass” (as opposed to “complete”) stipulation.

On the board member’s minds, of course, was 

fear of community backlash. Would parents sit still 

when their child didn’t graduate because of one 

failed assignment? We anticipated hearing, “Do 

you mean my kid won’t walk because he didn’t 

talk for the whole eight minutes? I mean, how 

important is it to be able to talk to a group of 

people, anyway?” Consequently, I attended the 

board’s reading of the issue to answer questions, 

many of which focused on failure rates associated 

with Senior Projects over the years. Happily, I 

was able to report that, of the seniors who had 

failed English, fewer than five percent had done 

so because of the oral presentation. In fact, the 

majority of those who had failed had done so 

because of poor work on the research paper, an 

assignment that had previously been a requirement 

in senior English.

The lightning rod of Senior Project has always 

been the oral presentation. Seniors dread the very 

idea of speaking for eight minutes to an audience 

of three faculty members and two adults from the 

community. Then, there is a five-minute questionand-answer period for extemporaneous questions 

from the judges. Students wonder, “What will the 

judges ask me? What if there is an expert on my 

subject on the board? What if I faint?”

The school board, parents, and students focus 

on the presentation to a panel of judges because 

public speaking is a universal fear. At the 

beginning of the semester, students belligerently 

taken out. The nurses revived her and brought her back in to watch as the doctor finished, 

although she viewed the rest of the operation on the television monitor. Her project for 

the rest of the semester was to guide Charlie, the team captain, back to ambulatory health. 

Erica’s mother became one of our biggest supporters of Senior Project, realizing that Erica 

had a genuine aptitude for her intended major. At the same time, we had learned the 

importance of focusing on the student’s strengths and interests.

Gordon’s Story

Gordon was a strong student whose inner drive made him a good writer, a 

dutiful student, and a willing participant in class. His was a success story 

I would have welcomed at any time during my 32-year teaching career. 

He was a quiet young man, yet he dutifully added to class discussions when 

he felt no one else would answer. No one suspected that his physical project, 

shadowing a veterinarian, would be anything less than a solid job of watching his mentor 

at work and reporting his findings on presentation day. The goal of his Senior Project was 

to study the need for animal population control.
37

respond, “Eight minutes? I can’t talk in front of 

judges for eight seconds!” The power of Senior 

Project is that I cannot assuage students’ fears 

until the moment boards are over. We instruct 

them in public speaking, personal presentation, 

preparation of notes, and use of audio-visual 

accompaniment, but they must draw on their inner 

resources when they approach the judges. They are 

alone during the presentation as they will be in 

college or workplace presentations. As they worry 

in anticipation, I can do little to relieve them of 

their unease. Despite the students’ objections, this 

experience adds an element that is considered very 

important in the adult world.

Jennifer, one of my senior students, is an example 

of typical student reactions to the presentation 

component of Senior Project. On the day of 

the oral presentations, students gather in my 

classroom to wait for their call. In the meantime, 

the judges assemble in their assigned classrooms 

and prepare for the first interview. When the head 

judge calls my room and asks for the first senior, 

I relay the message to the expectant students who 

are usually pacing, muttering, and practicing their 

opening remarks. 

The day of Jennifer’s oral exam, she typified 

the collective mood when she was called and 

walked out of my room saying to no one in 

particular, “Senior Project is going to kill me.” 

Fifteen minutes later, however, her demeanor had 

dramatically changed. The door to the classroom 

opened and she emerged, hands raised in victory, 

a broad grin on her face, and said, as many do, “I 

can’t believe it! I did it, and I hit eight minutes 

before I knew it!” She was free to leave, but she 

didn’t. Instead, she stayed in the holding room 

for several minutes to tell others how easy the 

experience turned out to be.

Senior Project’s impact has reached beyond its 

benefit for students like Jennifer. Most dramatic at 

first was the reaction of the local press to what 

the students were doing. Many positive articles 

were written about unique projects and changing 

student attitudes. Prior to our initiating Senior 

Project, the horrors of consolidation and reform 

had been the media’s focus, but now the 

community was treated to positive stories about 

our campus. They were writing about students 

like Jennifer and her newly discovered confidence 

and Joel, another senior who had seen remarkable 

success with building a Shaker desk. 

The day before oral presentations arrived, each student had to practice “the speech” in 

front of the class. Gordon organized his note cards on the lectern, took a deep breath and 

began telling the story of his physical project. He acknowledged the importance of spaying 

and neutering of pets. What followed was his spellbinding account of anesthetizing his 

own pet, with the veterinarian’s assistance, and the operation he conducted to neuter 

his dog. At the end of his practice speech, none of us were able to collect ourselves for 

several moments until Gordon smiled his signature wry grin and sat down. We all sensed, 

however, that Gordon had found what he had been looking for. The veterinarian had 

taken a chance on him, and he had found his passion.

Joel’s Story

Joel’s Senior Project experience possessed that startling, transforming 

revelation that frequently occurs with these physical projects. Joel was 

“motivationally challenged” as a student, and his mother vowed to do 

whatever was necessary to get him to graduate. He wanted to build a piece 

of furniture for his physical project. That was about the extent of his ambition. 
38

Community attitudes about what was going on in 

the classrooms began to change, and those asked to 

serve as judges were able to see first-hand what was 

taking place in the school. Many of the judges the 

first year confessed to me that they were intimidated 

by the thought of even coming on campus. These 

adults were coming from a community of skeptics 

who felt they knew exactly what was wrong with 

public education.

Senior Project has become a celebration for the 

school community at the end of each semester. All 

teachers are asked to volunteer as judges on a project 

that interests them, and even our coaches participate 

except when events such as state play-offs prevent 

them from doing so. School board members, central 

office personnel, and secretaries also serve as 

judges, so the judging brings the entire staff together 

under one roof for an afternoon of authentic learning 

for all.

Added benefits come from faculty presence as 

judges. First, they gain new respect for the young 

speakers whose role in regular classroom settings 

is often as passive listeners. Second, teachers from 

across the curriculum have begun to realize the 

necessity of training our students in public speaking. 

Once considered an expendable part of the state’s 

standard course of study because it was not tested 

on state-mandated tests, public speaking has become 

cross-curricular. As a result, students are arriving for 

their oral presentations better prepared each year.

Now that we have had a few years to watch our 

college-bound students and listen to their feedback, 

we have begun to hear that their college professors 

are impressed by the capability of Senior Project to 

prepare students for college-level assignments. Even 

those who struggled through the experience in high 

school are more comfortable with oral presentations, 

writing research papers, and problem solving than 

their college classmates from other districts.

Many of those who have not gone on to college have 

been able to learn about their intended occupations 

through the experience of Senior Project, and more 

than once, a judge has later contacted a student 

presenter to discuss job opportunities.

Senior Project offers our seniors off-campus 

experiences that address issues we rarely approach 

in class. We know the smart ones in our classes, 

After a series of conferences, he and I agreed that he would write his research paper on 

the Shakers and how their religion helped dictate the way they approached the design 

of their buildings and, as it follows, their furniture. His physical project was to build a 

Shaker desk.

His writing of the research paper was a torturous affair, making the connection between 

the philosophical ramifications of the Shaker theology and how those characteristics 

shaped Shaker-designed objects. After many rewrites, the paper emerged scathed but 

complete, and Joel was ready to move on to the shop, although even in this, the spring of 

his senior year, he betrayed no hint of interest in or excitement for actual graduation.

Almost as an aside, several days before he had to present his project, he asked me if he 

should bring in his desk to use in his presentation. Knowing he would need every trick in 

the book to pass his boards, I told him, yes, it would be an indispensable part of getting 

through the eight-minute speech requirement. He needed to talk about the desk.

The next day he brought the desk and left it in a little-used room so that I would have time 

to see it before he showed it to anyone else. As he and I walked to that small room, 
39

but we never have a chance to deal with their 

real-world abilities, except in the isolated confines 

of our own disciplines. As far as the challenged 

students are concerned, they begrudgingly do our 

assignments, but we rarely see what they can do, 

where they can shine. Senior Project, specifically 

the physical project requirement, lets both groups 

demonstrate their special skills. Indeed, these 

projects give a more accurate picture of what 

students can do in the outside world than their 

grades in school indicate.

At Polk County High School, we are aware that 

this process needs yearly re-examination. In fact, 

with the new requirement that all seniors pass Senior 

Project, we must increase our efforts to review and 

improve any weak areas in the program. Perhaps 

one of the softest elements in the three-pronged 

assignment lies in the mentoring of the physical 

project by community members. Although we do 

communicate with the community mentor through 

the student at the beginning of the mentoring 

process, our lines of contact are only as strong 

as the student is willing to establish. We may 

need a formal orientation for all mentors; however, 

an unwillingness to take up even more time of 

community volunteers has kept us from making that 

move so far.

If there were anything about the beginning of our 

program that I would have changed, it would be 

to start Senior Project earlier, before becoming 

embroiled in schoolwide reform efforts. When we 

were struggling to develop cross-curricular authentic 

assessments, Senior Project would have provided the 

best of all worlds in one comprehensive package. 

Hindsight cannot erase the mistakes of the past, 

but we can improve on the present and begin to 

involve underclassmen in Senior Project-like efforts 

that prepare them for their senior year and have them 

take responsibility for their own education.

If you would like further information, please 

contact: Dr. Paula Egelson, P.O. Box 5367, 

Greensboro, NC 27435, 800-755-3277, 

E-mail: pegelson@serve.org

Reference

Sizer, Ted. Horace’s Compromise: The Dilemma of the 

American High School. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1992.

I remember wondering what this unmotivated kid had finally completed. In the small 

room was what looked like a coffin draped by a sheet. He pulled the sheet away, and there 

stood a stunning piece of craftsmanship in furniture. He had spent almost 60 hours and 

$150.00 of his own money to make this intricate teacher work desk, and I never even 

suspected that he had such talents.

The board that judged his presentation was an interesting group. Most of them knew 

Joel’s history, and they had expected out of him about what I had anticipated. When 

he finished his presentation, he was characteristically reserved. He came out of his 

presentation room, said good-bye, and left. The judges came out almost immediately, and 

they were all in tears. They reported that Joel did read much of his research paper, and it 

wasn’t very good, but when he pulled the sheet aside, Joel stood straight up and began to 

tell them about his desk. His story was the thing that Senior Project dreams are made of. 

At the eleventh hour, Joel had defined his worth as a student. He had demonstrated to the 

academic world that he deserved a diploma, not in the traditional sense, but with verve 

and finality that transcended what our curriculum could offer.
40

An Institution of Higher Education Perspective

A Practical Classroom Assessment Course for Higher Education:

Developing a Performance-Based 

Course on Assessment for Use in 

Higher Education

By Susan Butler, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, North Carolina State University and

Nancy McMunn, Senior Program Specialist, SERVE

factor in districts and schools, 

teachers need help in thinking 

about how to report progress on 

standards (Marzano). For those 

charged with teaching assessment 

to teachers in either pre-service 

or graduate programs, the task is 

to develop a meaningful course 

that reflects the realities of 

schools. However, even if 

teachers are exposed to a broad 

range of knowledge and skills 

related to student assessment in 

their pre-service or graduate 

programs, many find it difficult 

to apply what they have learned. 

Teachers cite the following as 

reasons for this inability to turn 

theory into practice:

“I was told by my mentor that 

we don’t do assessment this 

way at our school.”

“There is no place for me to 

gain advice or receive help 

because most of the teachers at 

my school have very traditional 

views about assessment.”

“Gee, the first year of teaching 

was so overwhelming, I didn’t 

have time to put the necessary 

thought into my assessments. It 

was easier for me to teach the 

way I was taught, but I plan to 

do things differently next year.”

Ultimately, the classroom teacher 

delivers the content, aligns 

assessment methods to the 

instructional objectives, and 

evaluates student performance. 

Teachers need the knowledge and 

skills to teach and assess 

differently. More specifically, they 

need experience with developing 

and using a variety of effective 

assessments aligned with state, 

national, or district standards. This 

article addresses the issue of how 

higher education institutions are 

working to better prepare teachers.

Susan Butler, an assistant professor 

at North Carolina State University, 

is a former high school teacher 

who participated in SERVE’s 

assessment workshops for Bay 

Introduction

What must teachers know and 

 be able to do to function 

effectively in the classrooms of 

today and tomorrow? What kind of 

training do they need? The answer 

to this question is becoming clearer 

as more and more educators gain 

experience with standards-based 

reform. Robert Marzano says that 

teachers must know how to 

“unpack” state, national, and 

district standards and translate 

them into meaningful learning 

objectives that can be 

communicated to students. Others 

believe that teachers must be able 

to use a wide range of assessment 

methods and match them to 

appropriate learning objectives. 

Arter argues that teachers must 

be able to develop and use 

performance criteria (rubrics) to 

better assist students in improving 

the quality of their work. Wiggins 

suggests that understanding the role 

of feedback is critical if student 

learning is to occur. If standardsbased reform becomes a major 
41

District Schools’ teachers in 1996, 

so when the graduate-level teacher 

education program at North 

Carolina State underwent a revision 

in 1998–99, she used this 

opportunity to implement a new 

course, “Practical Classroom 

Assessment.” The course was 

designed to provide prospective 

or veteran teachers with the 

information necessary to 

implement “quality” assessments. 

Quality assessment occurs when 

teachers review and know the 

intended curriculum, devise 

effective methods to measure 

achievement of the 

standards, and then plan 

for instruction that will 

connect the curriculum 

to student performance. Please note (to 

the right) the overall 

picture of such a model, 

where all three major 

components (curriculum, 

instruction, and assessment—

CIA) must be considered: 

In order to assist teachers in 

developing and utilizing quality 

assessment practices, the Practical 

Classroom Assessment course is 

divided into four major units. As 

students move from unit to unit, 

they are assisted in articulating the 

components of quality assessment, 

which can be modeled later in 

their own classrooms. An overview 

of the units is provided, with 

accompanying descriptions of 

typical student assignments within 

each unit.

1. Groundbreaking: 

Planning for Quality 

Assessment

Because teachers bring their own 

individual set of beliefs about 

assessment with them, the first 

portion of this unit focuses on the 

change process. Before instruction 

begins, participants complete a 

survey designed to illuminate their 

on the stage, coach, co-learner, 

and others). 

Participants within this portion of 

the course

• Complete the “Assessment 

Beliefs and Practices” survey

• Complete a “Social 

Readjustment Rating” survey, 

documenting the amount of 

their energy presently 

consumed by reacting to 

change

• Utilize sample statements to 

categorize teachers into 

“Stages of Concern” 

within the change 

process 

• Solve an authentic 

problem related to 

systemic change

• Complete a personal 

Myers-Briggs personality 

profile

• Determine their learning style 

via the use of a Learning Styles 

Inventory exam

• Categorize assessments aligned 

with particular intelligences

• Participate in learning activities 

utilizing various teaching 

strategies

• Write reflective essays, 

describing their personal 

philosophies of teaching and 

metaphors for teaching

In the first unit, teachers consider 

their feelings about change, the 

special needs of their students, and 

their own closely held beliefs about 

teaching and learning.

current beliefs about and 

knowledge of assessment. Then, 

concepts concerning both 

individual and systemic change 

are introduced. Once teachers 

become familiar with the change 

process, the focus moves to student 

characteristics. In this portion of 

the Groundbreaking unit, 

information on personality types, 

learning styles, multiple 

intelligences, and brain research 

is reviewed. Finally, participants 

examine teacher practices and 

beliefs, covering teaching strategies 

such as cooperative, problembased, and hands-on learning; 

epistemological orientations of 

teachers (behaviorism versus 

constructivism); and metaphors for 

teaching (stand and deliver, sage 
42

2. Foundation: Assembling 

Assessment Tools

This unit is intended to raise 

awareness about particular 

assessment methods and to provide 

teachers with the information and 

skills needed to implement various 

assessment practices within their 

classrooms.

In this second unit, participants are 

introduced to assessment terms and 

to types of quality assessments. 

The unit defines and explains such 

commonly used words and phrases 

as standard, benchmark, alternative 

assessment, authentic assessment, 

quality assessment, and evaluation. 

Then, students in the course 

explore various assessment 

methods such as traditional testing, 

teacher observation of student 

work, questioning, and 

demonstration of student skills/

knowledge via a performance. 

Next, students study particular 

types of performance-based 

assessments including 

(1) constructed responses—short

-answer sentences/paragraphs, 

diagrams/illustrations, graphic 

organizers, graphs/tables, 

matrices, 

(2) products—essays, models, 

journals, logs, portfolios, 

(3) projects—problem-based 

learning solutions, research 

presentations, exhibitions, and 

(4) other types of student 

performances—oral 

presentations, dances, athletic 

competitions, debates, panel 

discussions. 

In this section of the course, 

participants

• View collections of student 

work, categorize them as to 

type (portfolio, log, journal), 

and construct definitions of 

these assessment approaches

• Write lesson plans utilizing 

various teaching strategies, 

assessment methods, and 

assessment approaches

• Design ninth- to twelfth-grade 

student employability portfolios 

or capstone performance 

projects

• Select appropriate assessment 

methods and approaches to 

match specific assessment 

purposes (monitoring student 

achievement, planning 

instruction, encouraging student 

self-assessment, communicating 

with parents)

• Construct valid and reliable 

multiple choice questions

3. Framework: Shaping 

Learning with Assessment

Within the Framework unit, teachers 

receive an overview of curriculum 

development, utilize standards and 

benchmarks from curriculum to 

develop rubrics that clearly convey 

teacher expectations to students, and 

examine ways to influence student 

motivation through assessment.

The major theme of the third unit is 

the integration of assessment with 

curriculum and instruction. The 

topics covered within this theme 

include curriculum development 

(curriculum), conveying teacher 

expectations to students (assessment), and motivating students to 

learn (instruction). The first section 

in this unit traces the process 

of curriculum development from 

a needs assessment, through 

identification of curriculum “gaps,” 

to the implementation of strategies 

needed to address those gaps. 

Then, teachers examine standards 

and benchmarks from a particular 

discipline and compare these 

present-day requirements to past 

requirements within this same 

discipline. Teachers also study 

changes that have an impact on 

education, such as global 

transitions from an industrial to 

an information society, the 

development of new technology, 

the market demand for crosstrained workers, and others.

Once teachers become familiar 

with factors that influence the 

curriculum, they are asked to 

prioritize concepts by sequencing 

instruction for a hypothetical 

one-year course. This process 

forces them to categorize course 

information in terms of “big 

concepts” versus “minutiae.” 

They also study the use of rubrics. 

Rubrics are scoring guidelines that 

articulate the criteria to be used 

in judging student work. If used 

correctly, rubrics help the teacher 

determine students’ success in 

learning/utilizing the “big 

concepts” of a course and can also 

provide quality feedback on student 

performance that aids the teacher in 

individualizing instruction. 

The final section within the 

Framework unit deals with utilizing 

assessment to motivate students. In 

this section, the use of feedback 

spirals is examined, and theories on 

motivation are explored. Teachers 

scrutinize the learning environment 

in their own classrooms and use 

assessment methods that 

incorporate student input into the 

decision-making process for 

improving learning. The emphasis 

in this section is on encouraging 
43

student autonomy and on creating 

a student-centered assessment 

program.

Sample activities from this unit 

include those in which participants

• Review a sample curriculum, 

search for “gaps” in the 

curriculum, and plan strategies 

with which to address 

these gaps

• Sequence a course for 

instruction, utilizing a one-year 

planning calendar

• Develop rubrics for judging 

various student 

work/performances

• Analyze teaching effectiveness 

utilizing assessment data

• Conduct classroom environment 

surveys with their students

4. Structure: Building 

Effective Feedback 

Mechanisms

In the Structure unit, feedback 

spirals—collecting data, reflecting 

upon it, formulating an action plan, 

implementing the plan, collecting 

new data—are introduced. Teachers 

now design a scoring guide to 

use in evaluating the rubrics they 

developed in the Framework 

section. This scoring guide includes 

criteria for judging content 

coverage, performance tasks, 

performance criteria, fairness/

equity, and cost/efficiency of the 

teacher-developed assessments. 

The course now turns to the 

subject of grades, giving teachers 

a historical perspective of grading 

policies and practices. This 

historical review is followed by 

information on current issues and 

trends in grading, including the 

use of alternative grading systems 

and an examination of “grade 

inflation.” The class develops a set 

of guidelines for grading, with an 

emphasis on the intent or purpose 

of the grading system and on 

consistency from teacher to teacher 

and from school to school. 

Reporting on student progress is 

a critical role for teachers. The 

class surveys the changes in report 

card formats over time. Within 

this survey, alternative reporting 

formats (student-led conferencing, 

portfolio assessment, skills 

checklists, etc.) are explored. The 

final coursework in the Structure 

unit concerns the political and 

societal issues surrounding 

accountability (how data on student 

achievement are used and the 

consequences of such reporting).

Within the Structure unit, 

participants

• Develop a critiquing guide 

to use in judging their own 

rubrics/assessments

• Utilize the critiquing guide to 

evaluate previously constructed 

rubrics/assessments

• Develop grading guidelines for 

a hypothetical school

• Solve an authentic problem 

concerning grade inflation

• Develop an alternative 

reporting format for a 

hypothetical school

• Participate in a role-playing 

exercise, portraying parents of 

children attending a “lowperforming” school

Throughout the course, in addition 

to the assignments listed under 

each unit, students are expected to 

read text/research articles and write 

critical reviews of these materials. 

Such critical reviews contain a 

short summary of the content, a 

reflective piece describing how the 

content relates to past experiences, 

and an application piece in which 

the student outlines an action 

plan for incorporating learned 

concepts into his/her teaching. The 

culminating exercise for the course 

is a reflective essay in which 

the participants describe personal 

changes in beliefs or practices 

that have resulted from concepts 

encountered in “Practical 

Classroom Assessment.” In this 

essay, students utilize the original 

surveys distributed in the 

Groundbreaking unit (“Assessment 

Beliefs and Practices”) as base-line 

information. The purpose of this 

final activity is to provide students 

with the opportunity to write a 

prescriptive plan for change in 

assessment practices.

“Practical Classroom Assessment” 

is designed to provide prospective 

and practicing teachers with the 

information necessary to implement quality assessment. A central 

tenet of the course is the integration 

of curriculum, instruction, and 

assessment. Each unit of the course 

has been developed to encourage 

teachers to reflect upon traditional 

assessment practices and to 

examine potential alterations in 

these practices.
44

Below, Butler describes her 

experiences in piloting the course 

and materials described above.

1. Why was this course needed?

Few teacher preparation 

programs include courses on 

assessment. In the past, it 

has been more common for 

prospective teachers to take 

“Testing” or “Measurement” 

courses that emphasize test 

validity and reliability. There 

has been a dearth of 

information in colleges of 

education on analyzing current 

assessment practices and on 

developing improved practices. 

As a result, few beginning 

or practicing teachers have 

any experience in planning for 

quality assessment or using 

such alternatives as 

performance, portfolio, or 

project assessment. Therefore, 

I was eager to implement a 

course to address the issue of 

quality assessment.

2. What was unique about this 

course? What were its key 

features?

One of the unique features 

in this course was that I 

utilized rubrics incorporating 

student input and used quality 

(alternative and authentic) 

assessment practices when 

evaluating student work. In 

this manner, I modeled the 

course concepts. Feedback 

from the students concerning 

my assessment methods was 

very positive. For example, one 

student wrote: “Having felt 

first-hand the relief of being 

graded by a comprehensible 

rubric when faced with an 

unknown teacher, I will 

endeavor to re-create that relief 

in my students.” Other key 

features of the course were 

the utilization of relevant, 

authentic performance tasks 

and the use of problem-based 

learning activities in which 

students confronted authentic 

problems related to assessment.

3. What were you trying to 

accomplish in terms of student 

outcomes?

With this one course, I cannot 

hope for systemic, statewide 

change in assessment practices. 

I can, however, raise the 

assessment awareness level of 

teachers, get them to examine 

their assessment practices in 

light of recent research, and ask 

them to formulate action plans 

based upon quality assessment 

concepts. Within the course, 

then, I hope to provide support, 

information, and resources to 

teachers who wish to choose 

quality tasks, write clear and 

specific criteria, and design 

meaningful feedback 

mechanisms.

4. What did you learn about 

assessment from teaching this 

course?

Since my background has 

focused on secondary school 

and university-level teaching, 

I have had limited experience 

with elementary education. One 

of the valuable lessons I learned 

from several of my students is 

that rubrics, which work well 

with older students, are not 

as useful with young students 

who cannot read! It has been 

a challenge for me to aid 

elementary teachers in 

designing comprehensible 

rubrics for use with their 

students.

My experience in teaching this 

class has also re-affirmed my 

own beliefs about the need 

to convey clear expectations. 

Student reactions to classdesigned rubrics have been 

overwhelmingly positive, and I 

have been amazed at the highquality work the rubrics have 

engendered. 

5. What feedback did you get from 

students about how they might 

use the knowledge and skills

from the course in their 

teaching?

For this question, I will let 

the graduate students speak for 

themselves. They shared the 

following comments with me in 

their reflective essays:

“I found learning how to create 

a rubric to be very beneficial. 

After learning this and creating 

a few of my own, I came to 

realize I do not put enough 

thought into assessment before 

I actually assess my students. It 

would be helpful for both my 

students and myself for me to 

go through this process before 

assigning a project. This would 

ensure students’ knowing the 

requirements of an assignment.”

“The clapping exercise was 

a real eye-opener. [In this 

activity, participants ‘perform’ 

by clapping their hands. Some 

perform before criteria for 

‘excellent clapping’ are given, 

some after. Some students 

receive feedback while others 
45

receive none.] I never really 

thought about how much 

information I should provide 

my students before they attempt 

an assignment. The more 

informed they are about my 

expectations and the criteria 

of the assignment, the better 

prepared they can be . . . . 

Students must be informed if 

we want them to be successful.”

“Your discussion of authentic 

assessment stressed the need 

for a variety of ways to collect 

information on student progress 

. . . . Authentic assessment 

provides teachers with a great 

deal of information about 

student attitudes, anxieties, 

strengths, and weaknesses. I 

recently began involving my 

students in rubric design and 

discovered they are quite 

capable of negotiating ratings 

and criteria of what constitutes 

quality work.”

6. What, if any, barriers remain 

to successfully preparing 

teachers to “assess well” in 

their classrooms?

As I mentioned above, I cannot 

truly expect to stimulate 

systemic change with this 

course. This means that I must 

send my students out into 

the “real world,” which uses 

more traditional assessment 

practices. Without continued 

support and encouragement 

from me or from colleagues, 

my students may not even be 

able to sustain changes in their 

practices that they developed 

within the course. This lack of 

continued contact, then, is one 

barrier to quality assessment.

A second barrier involves the 

conflicting messages that 

teachers receive between 

large-scale and classroom 

assessment. Performance 

assessment is touted as an 

important method for the 

classroom, while large-scale 

tests use more traditional item 

types (multiple-choice, shortanswer). Teachers feel that 

they must prepare students for 

the kinds of items found on 

large-scale assessments and are 

reluctant to utilize performance 

assessment in their classrooms.

Another barrier closely related 

to the two above involves 

grading practices. Even though 

assessment practices have 

begun to change and 

alternative, authentic methods 

are more common, our grading 

and reporting systems have 

not yet undergone a similar 

transformation. Teachers find 

it difficult to translate 

performance assessments into 

grades for traditional report 

cards. This discourages many 

from making alterations to their 

assessment practices. Teachers 

do have control over what 

constitutes a grade; however, 

the reporting format for that 

grade is still guided by district 

or school guidelines.

SERVE is looking for university staff 

interested in training or resources for 

this course. If you are interested, 

please contact Nancy McMunn at 

SERVE.

References

Arter, Judy. “Teaching about 

Performance Assessment.” 

Educational Measurement: Issues 

and Practice, 18.2 (1999): 30-34.

Marzano, Robert. “Building 

Curriculum and Assessment 

around Standards.” High School 

Magazine, 6.5 (1999): 14-19.

Wiggin, G. Feedback: “How Learning 

Occurs.” AAHE Bulletin/

November 1997. Conference on 

Assessment and Quality 

Publication Assessing Impact.

Susan M. Butler, Ph.D.

Health Occupations 

Education

Program Coordinator

402R Poe Building, 

Campus Box 7801

North Carolina State 

University

Raleigh, NC 27695

919-515-1782 

Fax: 919-515-6978

Nancy McMunn

Senior Program 

Specialist

Program for Assessment, 

Accountability, and 

Standards, SERVE

P.O. Box 5367 

Greensboro, NC 27435

800-755-3277

nmcmunn@serve.org
46

Other SERVE Research and Development Projects

Brief View

Anchor School 

Project

SERVE’s Anchor School 

Project is working with 

the Collier County 

School District in Naples, 

Florida, to develop an 

electronic proficiency 

portfolio. The proficiency 

portfolio will provide 

greater continuity of 

instruction for migrant 

students. Information 

stored on the electronic 

portfolio will offer 

teachers and parents 

evidence of student 

strengths and weaknesses 

in four core content areas 

linked to standards. The 

portfolio’s student input 

section will house 

information on interests, 

goals, and community 

and school activities. 

For more information 

about this project, please 

contact Jean Williams, 

Beth Garriss, Jane 

Griffin, or Nancy 

McMunn at SERVE 

(800-755-3277).

Competent 

Assessment of 

Reading (CAR)

A new assessment module, 

“Competent Assessment of 

Reading,” will be available this 

fall from SERVE. This 

professional development tool 

for reading teachers links reading 

and assessment. The design of 

the module and training is 

intended to 

• Help teachers reflect on their 

reading assessment strategies 

• Look at the design and use of 

quality reading assessments

• Encourage teachers to use 

assessment evidence to make 

decisions

• Engage teachers in analyzing 

their actions based on results

• Help teachers rethink how 

they assess reading 

This module fills a void for 

classroom teachers and is the 

result of a two-year study 

conducted by SERVE’s Reading 

Assessment Team. Information 

on this product will be posted 

soon on the SERVE website, 

www.serve.org, in the student 

assessment or literacy program. 

Promising

Practices in 

Technology Video 

Magazine

SERVE’s research and 

development program is 

creating a video-magazine 

series focusing on 

promising practices in 

technology. One of the 

videos that will be available 

to educators focuses on 

the use of technology for 

student assessment. In the 

half-hour tape, educators 

and students from school 

districts across the region 

show innovative practices, 

including assessment that 

is integrated into the 

curriculum, electronic 

student portfolios, and 

software that analyzes 

students’ errors and makes it 

easier for teachers to tailor 

instruction.

For more information, 

contact Elizabeth Byrom at

SERVE (800-755-3277).
47

Here’s How

u Submit your idea and a working title for 

your article on assessment to

Nancy McMunn

Assessment, Accountability, and Standards

SERVE 

P.O. Box 5367

Greensboro, NC 27435

800-755-3277

Fax 336-315-7457

u Then, submit your final draft of the 

accepted article. (SERVE reserves the right 

to edit materials for length, clarity, and 

accuracy.)

u Include pictures of teachers and students. 

(These must be accompanied by permission 

forms and identifying captions.)

u Consider these six questions when 

composing your article*:

1. Whom do you represent (school, 

district, state, etc.)?

2. Why is your assessment project 

important for others to know about?

3. How was the project implemented?

4. What was the impact?

5. Is the project transferable to 

another site?

6. What changes would you 

recommend?

Get Published!

Submit an article on assessment for a future 

issue of SERVE’s newsletter, The Vision!

Other Tips for 

Writing Magazine Articles

Use

u The “you” attitude—focusing on 

teachers and their point of view

u Short- to medium-length sentences

u Descriptive, visual imagery

u Adjectives and active verbs

u Comments from participants

u “Focusing event” openings

Structure your article with 

the following three elements:

1. Lead—“Hook” the reader and state the 

thesis.

2. Body—Offer evidence for proof of 

thesis.

3. Conclusion—Give summation, and end 

with a nice close.

*An “interpretive” article includes the facts “who,” 

“what,” “where,” “when,” and adds “how” and 

“why.” A “how-to” article tells how the project 

was done and offers information on how it could 

be successfully repeated at another site. 
48

SET YOUR 

SIGHTS HIGH

Designed as a “how-to” resource, 

this publication reviews current 

research for educators looking 

to accelerate professional 

growth and improve student 

learning.

ORDER TODAY

1-800-352-6001

HELP 

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HELP 

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This resource tool helps teachers 

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