“Building a Shared Understanding of Learning,” an article in the latest Leadership magazine, focuses on teacher collaboration in developing assessment practice. The article features an initiative WestEd is spearheading with the Stanford Center for Learning and Equity (SCALE) and the California Department of Education.

The initiative, Building Educator Assessment Literacy (BEAL) to Support Student Achievement of College and Career Readiness Standards, is dedicated to building teacher capacity and knowledge around the Common Core State Standards by giving teachers opportunities to practice scoring student responses to the performance task component of the new Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium tests.

The initiative was featured in the May/June 2015 issue of Leadership magazine.

The article states “When teachers have an opportunity to collaborate in the development of assessment practices, the impact on student learning can be very exciting.”

Funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, The Stuart Foundation, and the S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, BEAL is a collaboration among WestEd, the Stanford Center for Learning and Equity, and the California, Oregon, and New Hampshire Departments of Education.