Under an umbrella that encompasses the wide assessment types and purposes, the National Council of Teachers of English is leading the theme “Innovations in Assessment” for Connected Educator Month 2015. As part of that, we are planning a book club during the month of October. We’d like to revisit the Standards for the Assessment of Reading and Writing. Each week in October, we will be looking at a cluster of the standards and having a discussion around them.
I’m pleased to introduce you to the hosts for this book club:
Kathryn Mitchell Pierce contributed to the development of the Standards while teaching in middle school. As a classroom teacher, Kathryn felt strongly that teachers’ voices need to be highlighted in the assessment process. Currently, Kathryn teaches at St. Louis University where she finds that the Standards connect to the topics in the literacy courses she teaches and her ongoing interest in collaborative, community-based assessment.
Peter Johnston had the privilege of chairing the committees that developed the initial standards document and the revision that will be discussed in the book club. The committees each represented a range of perspectives and backgrounds from the membership of NCTE and ILA and the Standards were the result of extensive discussion and revision. Although he had previously taught elementary school, he was, at the time, a university professor involved in research and in teacher education in literacy. His research focuses on the consequences of teaching and assessment practices for the literate lives of children and their teachers.
Liz Spalding contributed to the development of the Standards while she was a faculty member in English Education at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. She gained experience with performance and portfolio assessment as a staff member at the National Council of Teachers of English where she was Project Manager for Standards. Later, as director of the Bluegrass Writing Project and a faculty member in the College of Education at the University of Kentucky, Liz saw first-hand the impact of a statewide writing portfolio assessment. She’s excited to revisit the Standards for the Assessment of Reading and Writing in the educational climate of 2015.
Join us for the book club throughout the month of October!