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Innovative Testing Tools

This course will deal directly with the issue of integrating instruction with assessment, or what has been popularly referred to as "teaching to the test." The paradigm featuring assessment of learning will be flipped to reveal assessment for learning. This course focuses on creating the skills necessary to make classroom exercises and activities so compelling and powerful that the two separate fields of instruction and assessment will merge into a single domain.

Teachers will begin instructional planning, with the final assessment in mind, by identifying the desired results and competency targets as related to their specific subject and grade level. Teachers will address how evidence is gathered through a variety of formal and informal assessments to effectively gauge student performance. Related issues such as classroom management, motivation and test anxiety will be addressed. Alternative methods of assessment will be introduced and incorporated into practical and classroom-friendly activities.

Carlow University ED 635 • Madonna University EDU 5960.29 • Mercy University EDUT 526

The required text for this course is The New Art and Science of Classroom Assessment by Robert J. Marzano, Jennifer S. Norford and Mike Ruyle.

ISBN: 978-1945349157

Graduate participants earn 3 semester hours of graduate credit and will receive a transcript from one of our partner institutions below. Professional development participants receive a certificate of completion for 45 hours of professional developments credit for face-to-face classes, and 60 hours of professional development credit for online classes.

Professional
Development

Course Schedule

1/14/25 - 4/8/25
3/11/25 - 6/10/25
5/13/25 - 8/12/25
7/8/25 - 10/14/25
9/9/25 - 12/9/25
11/11/25 - 2/10/26

Textbook List FAQs

Outline
Objectives
Partner Universities
Important Information
Student Academic Integrity

Print Online Course Outline Print Face To Face Course Outline

Outline

Session/Module 1: A Reintroduction to Assessment

Contents:

Member introductions
Individual and group expectations
Course sessions, resources and requirements
Defining assessment
Assessment terminology
The purpose of assessment, targets and benchmarks
Assignments

Session/Module 2: Standards and Benchmarks

Contents:

Weighing the pros, cons and perceptions of standards
Relating standards to curriculum development: Why students need learning targets
Which came first, the curriculum or the test?
Benchmarking performance of the class and students through the academic year
Getting creative in meeting standards within the curriculum
Assignments

Session/Module 3: Standardized Tests

Contents:

Accountability and school/state testing
Using standardized tests as a teaching tool
Assisting students to become good test takers
Specific strategies to teach test-taking skills (SIMS Model)
Parental involvement and test-taking
Diminishing the negative perceptions of standardized tests.
Assignments

Session/Module 4: Identifying and Understanding Test Anxiety

Contents:

Students in survival mode
The difference between stress and distress
Stress and the visual, auditory, motor and memory systems
Stressors impacting student performance
Assignments

Session/Module 5: Steps Toward Eliminating Test Anxiety

Contents:

Affirmations as a stress reduction toolVisualization techniques
Restructuring brain (neural) patterns
Getting rid of A.N.T.s (Automatic Negative Thoughts)
Movement-related activities to reduce test anxiety
Assignments

Session/Module 6: Comparing Alternative project-based/qualitative) with Traditional Assessment

Contents:

Evaluating traditional assessment
Discovering the elements of alternative assessment
Evaluating authentic assessment throughout the school day
Creating the outline and criteria for an authentic assessment
Creating an authentic assessment task
Assignments

Session/Module 7: The Role of Rubrics

Contents:

Comparing analytical and holistic rubrics
Evaluating task specific and unit rubrics
Developing criteria for an assessment worksheet
Rubrics as holistic and analytical assessment tools
Using standards to create rubrics
Assignments

Session/Module 8: Utilizing Portfolios

Contents:

The benefits of portfolios
Development of portable life skills: Critical thinking, Organization and Self-Direction
Creating timelines and checkpoints for portfolio development/growth
Effective self assessment for students and teachers
Quantifying/grading portfolios
Assignments

Session/Module 9: Organizing Instruction Based on Assessment

Contents:

Linking pretest results to the course of study
Identify ways of pre-testing: Oral, Written, Socratic questioning
Building efficiency into instructional time
Developing grading guidelines
Learning styles and testing options
Learning accommodations for individuals and groups
Assignments

Session/Module 10: Incorporating Technology/Final Exam

Contents:

Using web-based resources
The NTeQ approach
Electronic portfolios
Final exam and project

Objectives

Assess the course content
Evaluate traditional assessment
Describe the elements of alternative assessment
Evaluate authentic assessment throughout the school day
Create the outline and criteria for an authentic assessment
Create an authentic assessment task
Compare and contrast teaching to the curriculum and . teaching to standardized metrics
Create an authentic assessment approach, pre-test strategy or post-test strategy
Compare developmental and summative rubrics
Compare analytical and holistic rubrics
Create task-specific and unit rubrics

Evaluate relavancy of assessment strategies
Assess the benefits of portfolios
Evaluate the effectiveness of an instructional unit
Assess a classroom for stressors
Evaluate the impact of assessment
Compare methods of movement and how they can be used in a classroom
Design activities to incorporate positive self talk
Design lessons based on standards and benchmarks
Design a lesson that integrates technology
Create a comprehensive definition of assessment

Partner Universities

Our Partners are well-established regionally and nationally accredited colleges and universities, recognized for academic excellence and their commitment to teachers.

Important Information

Online 3-graduate credit courses are 13 weeks in length.

On-site weekend courses are held Friday evening from 6:00pm-9:00pm and Saturday/Sunday, 8:30am-5:30pm.

Weekday courses are Monday-Friday from 8:00am- 6:00pm.

It is the responsibility of the student to check with their state, county, district, or school to ensure that all requirements are being met by the course you're taking.

Check the Partner Universities page for specific university information as well as course numbers which are specific to the university partner.

Students are required to purchase their own textbook, the information for which can be found here. If no book is required it will be specified on the list. We have copies of many of the textbooks should you wish to purchase directly from TEI.

Professional development (PD) participants receive a certificate of completion from TEI for 45 hours of PD credit for face to face classes and 60 hours of PD credit for online classes. These certificates are mailed within one week of the end of the class and reflect the course title, dates of attendance, and credit hour information.

Student Academic Integrity

Participants guarantee that all academic class work is original. Any academic dishonesty or plagiarism (to take ideas, writings, etc. from another and offer them as one's own), is a violation of student academic behavior standards as outlined by our partnering colleges and universities and is subject to academic disciplinary action.