Participants reviewed the big ideas from the February Professional Learning and then reflected upon where they had seen evidence of those practices in their schools during the interval between sessions. Concepts included Learning Progressions, Proficiency Scales for Leaders, importance of learning goals, and the important role of assessment in promoting student agency.

The SRSN System Design Zone, in collaboration with DESE, is creating a Demonstration Project that supports redesigning the current assessment and accreditation systems. The Demonstration Project directly supports recommendations from DESE’s Success-Ready Students Work Group. The proposal includes a Missouri Statute 161.214 waiver request. The waiver request, if granted by the Missouri State Board of Education, would permit participating SDZ districts to replace use of the current MSIP6 and APR requirements with assessment and accountability approaches that support competency-based education. Demonstration Project participants will also work with DESE to seek a federal assessment waiver request. The purpose of the request is to support development of a new through-year state assessment system.

Mike Ruyle, from Marzano Resources shared key concepts related to using classroom assessments to support instruction and to promote learning. He noted the importance of clarifying learning goals and using multiple opportunities for students to demonstrate evidence of learning. He stretched participants to consider authentic, alternative approaches to testing for capturing this evidence. He provided several resources and tools to consider in thinking about classroom assessment practices.

• Leaders of Learning Padlet

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Check out our Professional Learning web page for free recordings and content from all of the previous learning sessions. These resources are a great place to stay apprised of the work from the System Design Zone Demonstration Project Waiver. Additionally, these learning sessions can be used by district leaders as professional learning opportunities for building capacity within your districts.