Major Assessment Changes Ahead...

The Kentucky House and Senate just passed Senate Bill 1, legislation that should result in positive changes for Kentucky's students as the "system" learns to gauge teaching and learning more effectively. Surprisingly, the bill dismantles many elements of the current Kentucky Commonwealth Assessment and Testing System (CATS test). I believe some core tenants of this legislation are sound. Main provisions of the bill:

• Starting in 2011-2012, state testing will attempt measure individual progress---yes!!!
• Writing portfolios will be required in certain grades, but not be part of an accountability index.
• Criterion and norm-referenced testing will be used.
• State curriculum standards will be revised to be more about mastery of subject. Not a "mile wide an inch deep" mentality.

Survey Monkey, Take One!

At this point, I'm too cheap to pay for an upgraded version of Survey Monkey, so I'm going to create a series of small 10-question surveys on various teaching issues. Please encourage your students to participate in this one. I will be writing about and sharing the results.

The first is for students about motivation and how they perceive their learning experiences. I will post some results soon.

Bananagrams

Bananagrams is the most addicting word game to hit the market in a long while. At times, I've used it in my classroom to get reluctant readers and writers to engage with words. Hey, it's a start.