Conference Kickoff

Dr. William Sanders
Senior Manager, Value-Added Assessment & Research, SAS Institute Inc.

Dr. Sanders will present a keynote address that will stimulate conversation and underscore the importance of value-added analysis and its role in informing instruction in the school improvement process.

Dr. Sanders is the leading authority on the value-added assessment of schools and teachers in the world today. Over the past two decades, his work in the refinement and application of value-added assessment, using sophisticated mixed-model methodologies, has revolutionized the use of test data for educational assessment.

Why Formative Assessments are Not Enough

Dr. Thomas R. Guskey
Distinguished Service Professor, Educational Measurement and Evaluation, Georgetown College

Formative assessments make a real difference for students only when they are used as part of the instructional process at the classroom level and only when results lead to the provision of instructional alternatives. This presentation will focus on how educators can use a variety of formative assessments to gather useful information on student learning, and then use that information to improve learning outcomes.

A graduate of the University of Chicago, Dr. Guskey has taught at all levels, served as an administrator in Chicago Public Schools, and was the first Director of the Center for the Improvement of Teaching and Learning, a national educational research center. He is the author of numerous award-winning books and over 100 articles published in prominent research and educational journals. Dr. Guskey’s keynote presentation will focus on the importance of student feedback in the assessment process.

Wednesday, October 8

Formative Assessment: Getting the Focus Right

Dr. Dylan Wiliam
Deputy Director, Institute of Education, United Kingdom

Raising student achievement is essential as it benefits both the individual and society. However, all of the “quick-fixes” have been tried, and they haven’t worked. To raise student achievement, we must improve the quality of the teachers working in our schools. The only way to do that is to improve the teachers we already have. We must look carefully at both the costs and the benefits of possible reforms, and it quickly becomes clear that helping teachers develop minute-by-minute and day-by-day formative assessment practices is more cost-effective than anything else. However, changing what teachers do, day in, day out, can’t be accomplished in summer workshops or one-day in-services. Rather, it requires the formation of building-based professional learning communities in which teachers hold each other accountable, and provide support.

Dylan Wiliam has taught in urban public schools, directed a large-scale testing program, served in a number of roles in university administration, including Dean of a School of Education, and pursued a research program focused on supporting teachers to develop their use of assessment in support of learning. He co-authored the Inside the Black Box book series, and has worked with many groups of teachers, in the United Kingdom and the United States, on developing formative-assessment practices. Dr. Wiliam’s keynote will discuss his research, insights and experience with formative assessment.