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Opportunities
for Assessment

Assessment

With ANet’s partnership, school leaders successfully developed comprehensive assessment strategies.

They reported feeling extraordinary clarity about district priorities, were supportive of the district vision, and felt confident in the use of data. In our partnership with the Madison, WI, school district:

Percentage of school leaders who agree that the district had clearly-stated instructional priorities

56%

before ANet partnership

93%

after ANet partnership

Percentage who support the district’s vision for the role assessments should play

44%

before ANet partnership

97%

after ANet partnership

Percentage who support the district’s vision for the use of data in decision making

67%

before ANet partnership

100%

after ANet partnership

The Opportunity

Working with assessments is really a way of gathering everyone on the team around a common standards-aligned instructional core, so they can work toward the same goals. When departments within a district collaborate across management, curriculum, and assessment functions, then the power of assessments is fully tapped. It’s about departments seeing one another’s work and achieving collective clarity on what they are aiming to accomplish together in order to see change in schools and increased student learning.

Working with ANet

ANet’s unique value-add is that we do more than just hand you assessments and leave you to figure out how to use them. Our team coaches district and school leaders, right alongside teachers, to ensure that assessments are integrated into a holistic approach to student learning. We can facilitate conversations that center on how—and which—assessments will help leaders and teachers see their students more clearly so districts can make better decisions that will lead to improved results.

The Opportunity

Assessments are too often limited to blunt tools that merely predict or actively limit where students will end up. We believe that formative assessments can help educators see and create pathways that can change the course of kids’ trajectories and open the way to their fullest potential. Assessments can also make teachers’ lives stressful: lost instructional time, over-testing, and pressure to reach arbitrary marks. Our tools and resources support teachers by making it easier to make decisions and take action.

Working with ANet

ANet assessments are instruments for learning, not measurements of learning. They are:

  • formative—help you build something
  • flexible—help you adjust instruction to students’ needs
  • reflective—help you truly see your students and understand their communities

We are committed to seeing data—both qualitative and quantitative—as an opportunity: for leaders and teachers to build strategies that lead to better outcomes for students; and for engaging students and families in the educational process. We are also a partner who can help you strike a balance between the need for productive assessments and the time they take to give.

The Opportunity

All children should have access to an empowering education and the opportunities it provides. But under many institutional systems, testing hasn’t succeeded in increasing student learning.  Instead, it’s often used as a culturally biased tool for predetermining kids’ futures. We need to use data from assessments to learn what kids know, what they need and how we can help them, instead of deficit-framing them. 

Working with ANet

We know that data works best as a tool for teachers and leaders to inform instructional practice around the unique needs of students from diverse backgrounds. Assessments should see kids for who they really are, represent their communities more intentionally, and both reflect and affirm their cultures. ANet supports partners in continuing to meld assessment strategy with equity strategy, and to deepen understanding of how strong instructional practices really are anti-racist practices.

Assessments can de-silo communication
Assessments can be “for,” not “of”
Assessments can drive equity
Assessments can de-silo communication
The Opportunity

Working with assessments is really a way of gathering everyone on the team around a common standards-aligned instructional core, so they can work toward the same goals. When departments within a district collaborate across management, curriculum, and assessment functions, then the power of assessments is fully tapped. It’s about departments seeing one another’s work and achieving collective clarity on what they are aiming to accomplish together in order to see change in schools and increased student learning.

Working with ANet

ANet’s unique value-add is that we do more than just hand you assessments and leave you to figure out how to use them. Our team coaches district and school leaders, right alongside teachers, to ensure that assessments are integrated into a holistic approach to student learning. We can facilitate conversations that center on how—and which—assessments will help leaders and teachers see their students more clearly so districts can make better decisions that will lead to improved results.

Assessments can be “for,” not “of”
The Opportunity

Assessments are too often limited to blunt tools that merely predict or actively limit where students will end up. We believe that formative assessments can help educators see and create pathways that can change the course of kids’ trajectories and open the way to their fullest potential. Assessments can also make teachers’ lives stressful: lost instructional time, over-testing, and pressure to reach arbitrary marks. Our tools and resources support teachers by making it easier to make decisions and take action.

Working with ANet

ANet assessments are instruments for learning, not measurements of learning. They are:

  • formative—help you build something
  • flexible—help you adjust instruction to students’ needs
  • reflective—help you truly see your students and understand their communities

We are committed to seeing data—both qualitative and quantitative—as an opportunity: for leaders and teachers to build strategies that lead to better outcomes for students; and for engaging students and families in the educational process. We are also a partner who can help you strike a balance between the need for productive assessments and the time they take to give.

Assessments can drive equity
The Opportunity

All children should have access to an empowering education and the opportunities it provides. But under many institutional systems, testing hasn’t succeeded in increasing student learning.  Instead, it’s often used as a culturally biased tool for predetermining kids’ futures. We need to use data from assessments to learn what kids know, what they need and how we can help them, instead of deficit-framing them. 

Working with ANet

We know that data works best as a tool for teachers and leaders to inform instructional practice around the unique needs of students from diverse backgrounds. Assessments should see kids for who they really are, represent their communities more intentionally, and both reflect and affirm their cultures. ANet supports partners in continuing to meld assessment strategy with equity strategy, and to deepen understanding of how strong instructional practices really are anti-racist practices.

Explore other opportunities

Curriculum

Ensure that a highly aligned curriculum is in place and implemented effectively for all students.

OUR APPROACH

School Leadership

Support school leaders in providing academically rich and empowering learning environments.

OUR APPROACH