Welcome to our list of assessment resources.  The resources you see in this list contain useful assessment information based on the Cycle of Assessment.  We have listed these sites under headings that seem appropriate and meaningful for assessment professionals, and we have double-checked to make sure all the links work.

This section is meant to be a living document, which means that we encourage you to help us keep it useful and updated. If you have other frequently-used links that you’d recommend for resources, please let us know by emailing assessment@highline.edu.

Resources for Teaching

• A Brief Summary of the Best Practices in College Teaching
  Tom Drummond, North Seattle Community College (1995)
  “These elements represent the broad range of effective actions teachers take, and requisite conditions that teachers establish, to facilitate learning.”
• Effective Strategies for Improving College Teaching and Learning.
  Faculty Focus Special Report.
  “Although there is no single best teaching method, approach, or style, this special report will give you a variety of strategies to try. Those that work effectively with your students you should make your own.”
• Active Learning in the College Classroom
  Faust, J. L., & Paulson, D. R. (1998). Active learning in the college classroom. Journal on Excellence in College Teaching, 9 (2), 3-24.
  “The authors present a catalog of active-learning techniques aimed at fostering student learning in the context of a lecture course. The activities they discuss range from listening practices, which require students to absorb what they hear, to short writing exercises, in which students react to lecture material, to complex group exercises, in which students apply course material to “real life” situations and/or new problems. In addition to their review of active-learning techniques, the authors discuss some of the potential barriers to implementing active learning and suggest solutions.”
• Creating Inclusive College Classrooms
  Saunders and Kardia, University of Michigan Center for Research on Learning and Teaching.
  “In these classrooms, the content is explicitly viewed from the multiple perspectives and varied experiences of a range of groups. Content is presented in a manner that reduces all students’ experiences of marginalization and, wherever possible, helps students understand that individuals’ experiences, values, and perspectives influence how they construct knowledge in any field or discipline. Instructors in inclusive classrooms use a variety of teaching methods in order to facilitate the academic achievement of all students. Inclusive classrooms are places in which thoughtfulness, mutual respect, and academic excellence are valued and promoted.”
• Higher Education Best Practices – Teaching & Learning
  National Education Association.
  “Since 1999, NEA has partnered with the Professional and Organizational Development (POD) Network to provide practical advice to college and university faculty on how to more effectively teach higher education students. Their Thriving in Academe guides have included guides to using social media in the classroom, how to command the attention of students, how to “flip” your classroom, how to teach for “deep learning,” and more.”

Resources for Measuring

• Choosing the right assessment tools.
  Evergreen Valley College.
• Whys & hows of assessment.
  Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence (2015). (also has a nice discussion of alignment)
• Testing What You’re Teaching Without Teaching to the Test.
  Raynak & Ramsay, Faculty Focus (2016).
  “Ideally, scores and grades reflect a student’s learning of a particular body of content, content we intended them to learn. Assessments (e.g., tests, quizzes, projects, and presentations) that are haphazardly constructed, even if unintentionally, can result in scores and grades that misrepresent the true extent of students’ knowledge and leave students confused about what they should have been learning. Fortunately, in three easy steps (including writing good outcomes and aligning our classroom activities), test blueprinting can better ensure that we are testing what we’re teaching.”
• Seven Mistakes to Avoid When Writing Multiple-Choice Questions.
  Jim Sibley, Faculty Focus (2014).
  “By recognizing these common flaws, you can learn to write better questions for your tests and quizzes.”
• Know Your Terms: Holistic, Analytic, and Single-Point Rubrics.
  Jennifer Gonzalez, “Cult of Pedagogy” blog (2014).
  “By recognizing these common flaws, you can learn to write better questions for your tests and quizzes.”
• Axial Assessment: The 21st Century Answer to Assessment.
  Samuel Buemi, Faculty Focus (2015).
  “Take one of your assessments previously completed by a student. Grade the assignment using your rubric. Afterwards, have another educator among the same discipline grade the assignment using your exact rubric. Does your colleague’s grade and yours match? How far off are the two grades? If your assessment is truly objective, the grades should be exact. Not close but exact. Anything else reduces the reliability of your assessment.”
• Dipsticks: Efficient Ways to Check for Understanding.
  Todd Finley, Edutopia (2014).
  Includes 53 ways to check for student understanding on a daily basis in the classroom.

Resources for Reflecting

• What Is Reflective Teaching And Why Is It Important?.
  Roseli Sera, “Richmond Share” blog (2015).
  “Reflective teaching is a personal tool that teachers can use to observe and evaluate the way they behave in their classroom. It can be both a private process as well as one that you discuss with colleagues. When you collect information regarding what went on in your classroom and take the time to analyze it from a distance, you can identify more than just what worked and what didn’t. You will be able to look at the underlying principles and beliefs that define the way that you work. This kind of self-awareness is a powerful ally for a teacher, especially when so much of what and how they teach can change in the moment.”
• Reflective Practice.
  Academic Advancement Network, Michigan State University.
  “Reflecting critically on our teaching is an important way to maintain ongoing growth and development as a teacher. These links provide both introductory and advanced materials on reflective practice, including definitions and examples, a tutorial, several approaches to becoming a more reflective practitioner, and tools for reflective practice.”
• The Reflective Teacher: Taking a Long Look.
  Edutopia (2014).
  “All educators need time in their day to reflect and think about the different ways they can be better. We ask this of our students, so why shouldn’t we do the same?”
• Fostering reflection.
  Lana M. Danielson, Educational Leadership, ASCD, (2009).
  “A disposition toward reflection-and a good sense of when the teacher needs to step back and think deeply-should be part of all teachers’ repertoires.”
• When to Use Whole Class Feedback.
  Maryellen Weimer, Faculty Focus (2014).
  “When the teacher returns a set of papers or exams and talks to the entire class about its performance, or comments on how students completed the task, [the most effective discussions] are future-focused discussions. Based on their performance, what do they need to do next time? The discussion should identify specifics; things done well that they should continue doing, along with things to stop and start doing. Maybe some proposed actions become class goals-measurable ones that will be revisited after the next exam, paper, online discussion, or in-class activity.”

Resources for Planning & Improving

• “Closing the loop”: Types and examples of changes.
  California State University, Fullerton.
  “If the data suggest that the outcome is not met, changes or improvement actions should be planned for the subsequent year.”
• Close the loop: Adjust pedagogical practice.
  Hunter College Office of Assessment.
  “Closing the loop is the part of assessment where you get to take action, where you get to be creative and innovate. Based on your findings of where students are struggling or succeeding, you can decide how to adjust your pedagogy.”
• Curriculum Mapping / Curriculum Matrix.
  University of Hawaiʻi – Mānoa.
  “Curriculum mapping is a method to align instruction with desired goals and program outcomes. It can also be used to explore what is taught and how.”