Common Assessments: Using the 4 Essential Questions

Today's post is brought to you by Jaimie Howe.

Our district has been focused on the full implementation of an RtI framework and system for the past several years.  The one area we always try to bring everything back to are the four essential questions associated with PLCs:

1. What do we want all students to learn?
2. How will we know they have learned it?
3. How will we respond when learning has not occurred?
4. How will we respond when learning has already occurred?

Coming back to these questions helps us put everything into perspective. As a literacy coach trying to support my teachers through this process and being the facilitator for many collaboration meetings,  I developed the following flowchart (based off of a similar chart that was developed by Solution Tree in accordance with The Professional Learning Communities at Work Coaching Academy (Solution Tree, 2011) I attended during the 2012-13 school year) to help teachers pull everything together in regards to PLCs, common assessments, SMART goals, CCSS standards, etc.

Common Assessment Flowchart is available AT THIS LINK

When you first look at the flowchart, it looks a bit confusing; however, if you truly follow the arrows and complete each step, it is a great organizational resource for teachers to use when planning and developing common assessments and SMART goals based on the CCSS.