Assessment to Promote Deeper Learning: How strong foundations engage students and propel their learning

The theme for the 2021-22 Assessment Learning Network is leveraging assessment to achieve equitable access and outcomes for all students through an emphasis on assessment practices most relevant to students’ efforts to increase their own learning.

In our first ALN session of 2020-21, Jay McTighe will tackle the topic of understanding what and how to assess in a way that propels learning. Returning to school after learning disruptions and using assessment to support and promote learning requires two things: 

1. prioritizing the curriculum to focus on the outcomes that matter most and 
2. planning the curriculum, instruction, and accompanying assessment approaches designed to engage students in deeper learning that endures.  

This session challenges us to consider, “Are we defining learning loss correctly?” Jay then supplies a framework for classroom teachers to use that delineates assessment methods designed to produce the kind of evidence students and their teachers need to support, promote, and achieve learning that lasts. 

Questions Framing this Session 

1. How should we be defining the problem of uneven opportunities to learn as a result of COVID-19? 
2. How can we plan to use classroom assessment methods to achieve deeper learning that lasts vs. trying to simply “catch up” or remediate the learner? 
3. What framework will support a teacher’s planning, understanding, and implementing of assessment methods and choices designed to support and promote student learning?