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Learning From Assessment: Tools for Examining Assessment Through Standards, 2nd Edition

This updated comprehensive training package helps middle school mathematics staff developers clarify the meaning of standards, evaluate assessments in terms of their alignment to standards, and plan student learning experiences that reflect standards-based teaching practices.

Codeveloped by WestEd and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), this second edition contains the current NCTM Principles and Standards for School Mathematics, Grades 6-8. It includes updated resources and research on mathematics assessment, mathematics professional development, evaluation of professional development, and mathematics teaching and learning. Also provided are sample scripts for professional development sessions; blackline masters for handouts and transparencies; planning guides; assessment items from the Third International Math and Science Study and the National Assessment of Educational Progress; and a related PBS Mathline® video. For more information, visit www.wested.org/lfa.

Web Sites

California Regional Environmental Education Community (CREEC) Directory of EE Resources

The CREEC directory is a statewide database of environmental education resources that provides teachers and others with easy access to information about museums, zoos, nature centers, educational institutions, etc. It also includes information about specific environmentally relevant curriculum guides, publications, field trips, docent-led tours, assembly programs, service-learning projects, grants, and so forth. Directory users are able to search by program type, topic, academic discipline, location, grade, keyword, and more.

www.creec.org

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Inspired by Standards: Math Teachers in Their Classrooms

This CD-ROM is a tool for exploring standards-based mathematics teaching. It serves as a window into classrooms where teachers are implementing the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (2000). As a tool, it combines video from five middle school classrooms with lesson plans, extensive background mathematics for each lesson, and other resources. Discussion questions provoke reflection on the standards-based content, pedagogy, and principles. Inspired by Standards can help teachers, teacher educators, and preservice teachers identify issues involved in meeting current mathematics reforms.

Leadership Curriculum for Mathematics Professional Development

This project is creating leadership curriculum materials designed to develop the skills, sensibilities, and long-term capacity of teacher leaders, enabling them to design and implement quality mathematics professional development. Curriculum materials consist of videocases (CD-ROM and web-based) illuminating various aspects of mathematics professional development practice. Rooted in mathematics, a series of five modules (each containing six 3-hour cases) will include video of professional development sessions and ancillary material such as mathematics activities, interviews, commentaries, research papers, articles, references to the literature, assignments designed to help apply learnings to practice and facilitator guides. Materials will be designed for flexible use—as individual cases, as complete modules or as a comprehensive curriculum. Rather than providing video exemplars to model, these materials utilize a case method, lesson-study approach where leaders inquire into professional development practice in mathematics K-12. Modules will be designed for use in facilitated sessions; text and video facilitation materials are integral to the final product. The CD-ROM and web-based formats will allow for at home and distance learning capabilities. The videocases are intended to make professional development practices public, visible and learnable. Based on the belief that mathematical knowledge is key to high quality professional development, the mathematics represented in the cases is centered in a limited set of important ideas focused on algebraic thinking and reasoning. Cases are assembled in coherent units of instruction involving six core leadership principles: designing for learning, building a professional learning community, knowing the mathematics used in practice, understanding how to manage discourse, knowing how to select, adapt and create strategies and tasks, and using a lens of equity. These principles guide participant’s work in developing the knowledge, skills and sensibilities required of professional development leaders. This project is part of WestEd’s Science and Mathematics Program with funding from the National Science Foundation (ESI-0096672).

Learning and Teaching Linear Functions

For use only by teachers participating in Learning and Teaching Linear Functions: Video Cases for Mathematics Professional Development, this CD features video clips and mathematical tasks that provide opportunities for teachers to consider the mathematical ideas involved in teaching algebra. For more information, please see Learning and Teaching Linear Functions: Video Cases for Mathematics Professional Development. System Requirements for the CD-ROM Windows/PC Pentium Processor 266Mhz (or higher) Windows 98 (or higher) 64MB RAM (more recommended) SVGA Color Display (or better) 8X CD-ROM Drive (or faster) SOUND CARD Sound Card 16-bit Flash™ Player and Acrobat Reader® Macintosh PowerPC Processor G3/233Mhz (or higher) System 8.5.5 (or higher) 64MB RAM (more recommended) SVGA Color Display (or better) 8X CD-ROM Drive (or faster) 16-bit Flash™ Player and Acrobat Reader®

Project-Based Learning with Multimedia (PBL+MM)

Awarded "Exemplary" status by the U.S. Department of Education Technology Expert Panel, Project-Based Learning with Multimedia (PBL+MM) infuses K-12 classrooms with a model of project-based learning supported by multimedia. Students learn course content and technology skills by completing curriculum-based projects that culminate in multimedia products. The production process involves reading, writing, interviewing, text-based and Internet-based research, and use of multimedia software applications. Students define problems, brainstorm, debate solutions, collaborate, plan and schedule tasks, make decisions, self-evaluate, and design and produce multimedia products. Activities are student centered, interdisciplinary, and integrate real-world issues and practices. This model fosters workplace competencies such as teamwork, communication, planning, and problem solving.

PBL+MM includes a visit to Otak Jump’s fourth and fifth graders as they develop a Web-based guide to habitats of Point Reyes, California; a stop with Gayle Britt’s middle school class, where students are creating a multimedia museum of the art and culture of dynastic China; and a visit with Nancy Schwalen’s high school English learners, who are creating a multimedia guided tour of their home cultures for the school library. Each classroom features student and teacher reflections, video vignettes of classrooms in action, student work samples, and student handouts.

Alternatively, the CD-ROM may be explored by each of its seven dimensions: curriculum content, assessment, real-world connections, collaboration, student decision-making, extended time, and multimedia. PBL+MM offers ideas for project topics, sample projects, templates, forms, rubrics, and student handouts, K–12.

The companion video, Multimedia: A Sneak Preview is designed for introducing PBL+MM to students and to parent or district groups.

Enhancing Mathematics Teaching Through Case Discussions

This video focuses on a real-life case discussion with teachers discussing children's thinking, mathematics, language issues, and teaching. It models how case discussions can spark new ideas and challenge old beliefs, while simultaneously providing support and encouragement for participants to make changes in their teaching.

Multimedia: A Sneak Preview

Students from elementary, middle, and high schools share six stages of planning, designing, and producing curriculum-based classroom multimedia projects. The video is designed for teachers to show their students before they embark on Project-Based Learning with Multimedia (PBL+MM) CD-ROM. It also serves as a quick overview of the PBL+MM teaching approach for parents, administrators, and community members.

PBS Mathline® video

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Discussion Builders Poster, 2-3

By talking to learn, students who engage in successful classroom discussions can better express ideas, raise questions, develop keen listening skills, and expand on challenging subject matter. The grades 2-3 Discussion Builders poster and teaching guide are designed to cultivate a respectful community of learners where the goal is to develop shared understandings. Sentence stems on the poster provide students with a scaffold for voicing their ideas and questions, valuing others’ contributions, and thinking creatively. The poster is a powerful tool for helping students – including English language learners – present, expand, and reason about important ideas. A teaching guide includes tasks and blackline masters for introducing and sustaining the use of Discussion Builders in any subject area.

This poster is one in a set of three: K-1, 2-3, and 4-8. As a set, the Discussion Builders posters and teaching guides scaffold progressively more sophisticated language and reasoning across the grades. Posters can be ordered individually, as a set, and at bulk discount rates.

Discussion Builders Poster, 4-8

Classroom discussions promote academic success by building powerful communication and reasoning skills. This Discussion Builders poster for grades 4-8 helps students of all achievement levels build these crucial skills. Sentence stems on the poster provide students with a scaffold for voicing their ideas and questions and valuing others’ contributions. The poster is a powerful tool for helping students — including English language learners — present and expand on their ideas. The language in the grades 4-8 poster supports sophisticated thinking processes by prompting students to consider counter-examples and conjectures and to justify various options. A quick-guide for teachers explains how to get students talking — and thinking — more conceptually. The guide includes tasks and blackline masters for introducing and sustaining the use of Discussion Builders in any subject area.

This poster for grades 4-8 is one in a set of three that also supports discussions in grades K-1 and 2-3. As a set, the posters and teaching guides scaffold progressively more sophisticated language and reasoning across the grades. Posters can be ordered individually, as a set, and at bulk discount rates.

Discussion Builders Poster, K-1

Talking, thinking, and understanding go hand in hand. This colorful Discussion Builders poster helps students learn through active participation in classroom discussion. The K-1 poster and teaching guide are designed to nurture a community of learners with the goal of shared understanding. “I’d like to build on Juanita’s idea!” “I’m confused about Oscar’s idea.” Effective classroom discussions occur when students understand how to verbalize their ideas, integrate others’ notions, raise questions, and build on the topic at hand. Sentence stems on the poster provide students with a scaffold for voicing their ideas, questions, and thinking processes. The poster is a powerful tool for helping students – including English language learners – present, expand, and reflect on important ideas. The accompanying teaching guide includes tasks and blackline masters for introducing and sustaining the use of Discussion Builders in any subject area.

This poster for grades K-1 is one in a set of three. Posters and teaching guides for grades 2-3 and grades 4-8 incorporate increasingly more sophisticated language and thinking across the grades. Posters can be ordered individually, as a set, and at bulk discount rates.

Discussion Builders Posters Set: K-1, 2-3, and 4-8

By talking to learn, students also learn how to think. The sentence stems on these colorful posters provide students with a scaffold for voicing their ideas and questions, valuing others’ contributions, and incorporating increasingly sophisticated thinking strategies. Using Discussion Builders, students learn through active participation in classroom discussions. Accompanying quick-guides for teachers explain how to get students talking — and thinking — more conceptually, in any subject. Powerful for English language learners and students of all achievement levels.

Posters and teaching guides scaffold progressively more complex reasoning across the grades. In K-1 the focus is on helping students present, expand, and reflect on important ideas. In grades 2-3, Discussion Builders prompt students to use these skills at more sophisticated levels. The 4-8 poster strengthens students’ complex reasoning, including their abilities to consider counter-examples and conjectures and to justify options.

Order a set of all three posters for $38 (shopping cart above), or individually for $14.95 (links below):
K-1, 2-3, or 4-8.

Participate in our one-day Discussion Builders Workshop, which will further enhance your ability to lead effective discussions that boost collaborative and respectful critical thinking among your students.

PRIMES Parent Workshop

Any of 8 Parent workshops designed to educate parents about how mathematics is being taught, and they can help their student, in todays middle school classrooms.

Evaluation of California's Standards Based Accountability System: Final Report, November 1999

The evaluation was designed to examine the state's Standards-Based Accountability System and its relationship with local accountability efforts and initiatives. In particular, the evaluation focused on the status and impact of local accountability systems, content standards, assessment measures, use of data, consequences and incentives, and challenges and assistance in school districts across the state. The findings of the study and its implications for policy are reported in this document.

Mathematics Implementation Study: Final Report, June 2000

In the spring of 1998, the California Department of Education (CDE) awarded a contract to WestEd, in collaboration with the RAND Corporation and Management Analysis and Planning, Inc. (MAP), to study mathematics instruction in California. The study was designed to examine the instructional practices used in teaching mathematics in grades 4 and 8, the relationship between instructional practices and student achievement, and the influence of state and local policies on instruction. In addition to instructional practices, primary focuses of the study included curriculum materials, standards, assessment, professional development, and structural and student influences on instruction.

PASS Frequently Asked Questions and Sample Assessment Items

Are your schools and students making meaningful progress toward science literacy? The PASS Science Assessment will help you answer that question. PASS measures your students' growth against national and local science standards.

Selecting & Purchasing Science Instructional Materials

The Status of Science Education in Bay Area Elementary Schools

The San Francisco Bay Area is a center of scientific and technological innovation. It is thus surprising that recent test results indicate inadequate achievement in science among the region's elementary school students.

This informative research brief, written by staff at WestEd's Mathematics, Science, & Technology Program and the Center for Research, Evaluation, and Assessment at the Lawrence Hall of Science at the University of California, Berkeley, compiles the results of several studies that examined the academic performance of elementary school students in the Bay Area. It explores the reasons behind the students' poor performance in science – from limited time allotted to science in classrooms and under-prepared teachers to lack of professional development opportunities for the teaching force – as well as ways policymakers, educators, and the larger community can help improve elementary science education.

More information is available at www.lawrencehallofscience.org/rea/bayareastudy.

Dr. Art's Guide to Science and Dr. Art Does Science Set

Dr. Art's Guide to Science offers young people an engrossing journey into the awesome ideas of science. Difficult concepts such as the carbon cycle and the connections between electricity, magnetism, and gravity are explained in ways that are brilliantly simple and engaging. In the companion DVD, Dr. Art Does Science, key topics are further explored in Dr. Art's playful and illuminating style.

By ordering the Guide and DVD, you save 20% off the individual prices.

Learning and Teaching Linear Functions

Developed under a National Science Foundation grant, these video-based resources help math teachers in grades 6-10 address some of the "problems of practice" associated with the issues and challenges of teaching linear functions. Based on videos of real classroom teaching, these materials better equip teachers to prepare and implement lessons that will help students develop conceptual understanding of linear functions. Teachers' own understanding of the subject will be deepened as they teach. The Facilitator's Package includes a 44-page Facilitator's Guide, a CD of facilitation resources, and a participant's CD with video clips and resources. The package includes one foundation module consisting of eight three-hour sessions and four extension modules, each composed of two or three three-hour sessions. The modules cover

• conceptualizing and representing linear relationships;
• launching a lesson or task;
• interpreting and responding to unexpected student methods;
• making use of student ideas during discussion; and
• examining equivalence and generalization.

Each module is constructed as a series of interrelated cases, designed in a sequence that builds toward specific learning goals. Each case includes

• mathematics tasks;
• one or two short video clips from lessons filmed in real classrooms;
• discussion topics;
• readings; and
• tasks designed as a bridge to teachers' practice.

Facilitation resources for each session include

• facilitation notes;
• agendas;
• lesson graphs;
• video analyses;
• mathematics tasks analyses;
• PowerPoint® slides; and
• video transcripts.

System Requirements for CD-ROMs Windows/PC Pentium Processor 266Mhz (or higher) Windows 98 (or higher) 64MB RAM (more recommended) SVGA Color Display (or better) 8X CD-ROM Drive (or faster) SOUND CARD Sound Card 16-bit Flash™ Player and Acrobat Reader® Macintosh PowerPC Processor G3/233Mhz (or higher) System 8.5.5 (or higher) 64MB RAM (more recommended) SVGA Color Display (or better) 8X CD-ROM Drive (or faster) 16-bit Flash™ Player and Acrobat Reader®

Learning to Lead Mathematics Professional Development

Designed for mathematics professional development leaders, this set of case-based leadership materials helps build facilitation skills, content knowledge, and pedagogy to design and implement effective staff development programs.

This multimedia kit includes a user's guide, as well as 2 DVDs with 44 seminars arranged into 7 modules containing notes, video clips, participant work, PowerPoint slides, and much more. The modules focus on mathematics and facilitation skills, reflect research on adult learning, and model a community of practice.

Unlike a typical guide for a specific professional development program, these materials focus on facilitation issues likely to be encountered in a variety of mathematics professional development situations including:

• Managing productive mathematical discussions
• Being mindful of equity issues in mathematics teaching
• Selecting appropriate mathematical tasks
• Deepening teachers' knowledge of mathematics

This kit is ideal for those charged with supporting teacher leaders and others who lead mathematics professional development. Potential users include curriculum leaders, math-science partnership staff, university-district partnership staff, and mathematics teacher educators. WestEd staff members work with groups of leaders to help develop and refine their skills, sensibilities, and long-term capacities enabling them to design and implement quality mathematics professional development.

A series of Leaders of Mathematics Professional Development seminars tailored to meet specific school, district, and project needs, can be designed to address groups of mathematics professional development leaders at any grade span K-12. These seminars are based on Learning to Lead Mathematics Professional Development materials.

MindWorks: Atoms and Matter Teacher's Resource Package

This module focuses on the structure of matter, with attention to the difficulty of even framing questions about it and the pioneering work of Marie Curie. Six lesson plans in this module include:

Interpreting Shadows,

New Questions,

Women in Science,

Solving Puzzles,

Radioactive Decay,

Collaboration. The 10-minute videotape features a dramatic recreation of Marie Curie explaining her investigations into the nature radioactivity to another female scientist collaborating with her husband but struggling for recognition in her own right, Lady Margaret Huggins. Read an interview with author Barbara Becker.

MindWorks: Dynamics Teacher's Resource Package

This module focuses on the physics of simple collisions. Students structure and conduct crash investigations, mastering scientific processes while answering their own questions. Five lesson plans in this module include:

Differing Viewpoints

Simple Elastic Conditions

Collision Rules

Simpler Collisions

Inelastic Collisions The 10-minute videotape presents Voltaire and his friend Madame Emilie du Chatelet trying to convince each other with croquette balls, melons, and argument of the correctness of each person's ideas about dynamics. Read an interview with author Barbara Becker.

MindWorks: Electricity and Magnetism Teacher's Resource Package

In this module, students are introduced to inventor Granville T. Woods, whose ideas were often inspired by his experiences working on the railroad. Woods's development of the railway induction telegraph serves as the springboard for students' exploration of both electromagnetic interaction and the challenges faced by inventors seeking to patent and market their ideas. Seven lesson plans are included in this module:

Railroad Disasters,

Electromagnets,

The Telegraph,

Wired Communication,

Inventions: The Inspiration,

Inventions: The Perspiration,

Wireless Communication. The 10-minute videotape takes viewers along as Woods describes his life and motivation as an inventor to two young people who encounter him in his favorite environment -- the railyards.

MindWorks: Kinematics Teacher's Resource Package

The focus of this module is on the physics of free fall, but it goes beyond simply tracing the theoretical development of our modern understanding of falling bodies. It is designed to encourage students to confront their own intuitive beliefs about how things fall. Student-directed, collaborative investigations are patterned after Galileo's own experiments. Eight lesson plans are included in this module:

Making Time

How Long?

How Far?

How Fast?

The Bigger They Are...

Falling Is Falling The 10-minute videotape features Galileo Galilei slipping a couple of physics challenges into an archery session with his young student and future patron Cosimo de' Medici.

MindWorks: Light and Color Teacher's Resource Package

In addition to introducing aspects of light and color illuminated by some of Isaac Newton's investigations, this module draws on Newton's experiences to help students understand some of the personal and political challenges involved in introducing new scientific concepts to a skeptical or even jealous scientific community. Seven lesson plans are included in this module:

Now You See It...,

Breaking Light Beams,

"Curiouser and Curiouser"

Video

Colors of Color

Full Spectrum

White Light The 10-minute videotape presents a frustrated Issac Newton explaining to his friend John Wickins the difficulties Newton is experiencing in trying to have his new theory of light and color accepted by his fellow scientists. Read an interview with author Barbara Becker.

MindWorks: Physical Science for Middle School

Here’s help getting middle school students intrigued with the real world of science, especially students who "hate" science. Through brief "you-are-there" videotapes, students see that even brilliant scientists can find themselves clueless, can make hardboiled enemies, and can question their own best thinking. The videos have been professionally produced by KCET in Los Angeles and introduce students to the idea that science can be kind of...well...dramatic! While the videos get students to identify with the personal part of science, hands-on investigations slip them painlessly, or even joyfully, into the work of being a scientist. Developed with funding from NSF and field-tested extensively, eight MindWorks modules promote students’ concept development in core areas of physical science: light and color, electricity and magnetism, dynamics, atoms and matter, kinematics, thermodynamics, and statics and structures. A module on "tomorrow’s challenges" takes its lead from the Mars Pathfinder Mission. Pilot teachers found the five to seven lesson plans in each MindWorks module easy to integrate into their existing science programs. According to pilot teachers, their students benefitted in the following ways:

students asked more questions,

students spent more time on task,

students expressed more enthusiasm,

students engaged in more teamwork.

Pilot teachers also reported that teaching with MindWorks was intellectually stimulating -- for them personally! Click here to see a pdf brochure about the series. To learn more about or to order teacher and student materials for individual modules, select from the following:

light and color teacher package OR student reader

electricity and magnetism teacher package OR student reader

dynamics teacher package OR student reader

atoms and matter teacher package OR student reader

kinematics teacher package OR student reader

thermodynamics teacher package OR student reader

statics and structures teacher package OR student reader

tomorrow’s challenges teacher package OR student reader

Call WestEd's Publications Center at (888) C-WestEd to order a complete set (one copy of each teacher package and each student reader, $559.84 -- a $40 saving). Or order individual units above (individual teacher packages are $64.99 each; student readers range from $7.99 to $11.99 each). For additional information, contact Danny Torres: dtorres@wested.org or call (888) C-WestEd.

MindWorks: Statics and Structures Teacher's Resource Package

This module aims to provide students with rich opportunities to investigate for themselves such engineering concerns as modeling, scaling, strength of materials, and structural form. But through the experiences of George Ferris, students will also encounter other issues that engineers deal with -- such as those related to creative expression and practicality, as well as social, political, and economic constraints. Seven lesson plans are included in this module:

Challenges,

Dreams,

Rules,

Alternatives,

Plans,

Realities,

Tests. The 10-minute videotape features the daring and perseverence of George Ferris and his employee William Gronau in conceiving, promoting, and building what was in its time an engineering wonder -- the Ferris wheel. Read an interview with author Barbara Becker.

MindWorks: Thermodynamics Teacher's Resource Package

This module is designed to help students identify and critically reflect upon their own untutored beliefs about the nature of heat. To stimulate their active involvement, the video dramatization and the accompanying student activities are based on the life and work of the clever but disagreeable Count Rumford. Five lesson plans in this module include:

Asking Questions,

Designing Experiments,

Testing Theories,

Interpreting Evidence,

Changing Habits. The 10-minute video features Count Rumford harranging his daughter, Sally Thompson, until she understands what makes the soup she is slurping hot. Read an interview with author Barbara Becker.

MindWorks: Tomorrow's Challenges Teacher's Resource Package

This module connects the scientific, social, and political processes explored in earlier modules to a modern scientific challenge, the Mars Pathfinder Mission. Six lesson plans in this module include:

A Sense of Scale

Earth to Mars

"Pixel"-ations

Mars Code

Canals on Mars?

The War of the Worlds The 10-minute videotape features an interview with Donna Shirley, who led the team of scientists and engineers that designed the Sojourner rover for the Mars Pathfinder Mission. She describes the decisionmaking and other processes that were necessary to the team's success. Read an interview with author Barbara Becker.

Pathways to Algebra and Geometry

A comprehensive two-year transition from middle school mathematics to secondary school algebra and geometry, this curriculum was co-developed by the Middle School Mathematics through Applications Project (MMAP) and Stanford University, with funding from the National Science Foundation. MMAP/Pathways staff now at WestEd support teachers in the use of the technology-rich materials. For more information, visit http://mmap.wested.org.