NHLI Highlights Multiple Projects at iNACOL

Executive Director Ellen Hume-Howard, Director of Innovative Projects Jonathan Vander Els, and Project Director Mariane Gfroerer traveled to the annual iNACOL Symposium at the end of October to share the efforts districts, schools, and teachers are engaged in around competency-based and personalized learning.  The following sessions highlighted the work happening in New Hampshire schools.

How Four States are Rethinking Assessment

Presenters: Kim Dockery, Virginia DOE; Elliot Asp, CEI; Ellen Hume-Howard, NHLI; Mariane Gfroerer, NHLI; Karen Thompson, Hinsdale School District (NH); Amy Spicer, CEI; Paul Leather, CIE; Dr. Shannon King, Fairfax County Public Schools; Roneeta Guha, LPI

Educators in New Hampshire, Virginia, Colorado, and California embarked on an ambitious journey to fundamentally rethink the role of assessment in student learning. The entry points are different in each state. Some are led by districts, others by the state. But all share a commitment to richer, deeper assessments that empower students to move forward in their learning. Students, teachers, and leaders from these states will help you build an action plan to #rethinkassessment in your state.

What Does Co-Design for Learning Look Like? New Hampshire’s Next Generation Assessment for Learning Project Tackles This Question Through Collaborative Learning Design

Presenters: Dr. Jeri Thompson, Center for Assessment; Sarah Bond, Teacher (Maple Street Magnet); Jonathan Vander Els, NHLI

The Assessment for Learning Project (ALP) is a national effort designed to rethink assessment and advance student learning to improve our K-12 educational system. The NH Learning Initiative’s ALP effort, Collaborative Learning Design, in partnership with the National Center for Assessment, is exploring what happens when learning is co-designed with students and teachers through curriculum replacement units and student exhibition. Learn more about the impact that this project has had on students and teachers in participating NH schools.

What Does Deeper Learning Mean for Various Constituents in a School Community? A Look at Souhegan High School in New Hampshire

Moderator: Jonathan Vander Els, NHLI; Panelists: Zoe Garvey, Student; Sloan Facques, Student; Kathy Maddock, Teacher; Rob Scully, Principal; and Kathy White, Dean of Curriculum

The Assessment for Learning Project (ALP) is a national effort designed to rethink assessment and advance student learning to improve our K-12 educational system. The New Hampshire Learning Initiative’s ALP: Collaborative Learning Design is providing opportunities for students and teachers to co-design opportunities for deeper learning through student exhibition. Come see this panel consisting of students, administrators, and a teacher as they discuss what deeper learning looks like at Souhegan High School.

Building Assessment Systems from the Student Out: Portfolio Defense and Capstone Projects

Presenters: Tony Siddall, NGLC; Alcine Mumby, Envision Learning Partners; Beth Blankenship, Fairfax County Public Schools; Katie Hovanec, Fairfax County Public Schools; Amy Sandoz, Summit Public Schools, Jonathan Vander Els, NHLI; Justin Wells, Envision Learning Partners

For 20 years, conversations about assessment have been dominated by standardized tests and accountability. Portfolio defenses and capstone projects are powerful tools to reorient assessment toward the kind of complex, cumulative demonstrations of learning that indicate true readiness. Presenters will offer practical entry points for getting started, deepening quality and equity, and shifting systems to embrace these assessment practices.

Supporting Practitioners in the Trenches: New Hampshire Reflections on Transitioning to a Competency-Based and Personalized Learning System

Presenter: Jonathan Vander Els, NHLI

Transitioning to a competency-based and personalized learning model requires significant support for practitioners leading this change in classrooms an schools. Jonathan has been part of leading change efforts at the building and state level, and will share his experiences and reflections about what worked (and the lessons learned) in allowing teachers to successfully impact student learning through the various efforts he’s been engaged with (including PACE and ALP) over the past decade. This session encourages participant interaction/learning through our shared experiences.

ALP Student Voices Gallery: Assessment for Learning

NH Student Voices were highlighted within this gallery

 Assessment for learning is about helping classrooms, schools and systems become more student-centered. Educators are using assessment as a tool, at least in part, to listen more closely to what students are saying about their learning about themselves. At the Assessment for Learning Project (ALP), this work inspires and challenges us to do the same. If we are to fuel an assessment for learning movement that is truly transformative, student voice must be at the core of it. 

We invite you to explore the ALP Student Voices Gallery, using your smartphone and headphones, to listen and learn how 50 students from across the country are experiencing assessment for learning and how those assessment practices are impacting their learning, agency, and sense of belonging.