to invest in relationships with educators and other students present in their classrooms, they can more readily invest in their learning. Relationships in the classroom are not exclusively between two people, and each relationship can directly or indirectly affect each person in the learning environment.
We have linked the principles of systems thinking with our Unstoppable Assessment work in order to best prepare all educators for the thinking work that is necessary as they seek, gather, discuss, and respond to the student evidence from formative and summative assessments. The chapters in this book are respectively dedicated to each of these elements of the framework, which educators should exercise as they apply systems thinking to their considerations of student evidence and assessment.
About This Book
Chapter 1 lays the foundation for the first principle of systems thinking: relationships. We will focus on fostering trust through healthy relationships and honest communication among the adults within the learning organization. Chapters 2–5 guide you through the process of leveraging evidence-based assessment practices to build an aligned system of Unstoppable Assessment: seeking (chapter 2), gathering (chapter 3), discussing (chapter 4), and responding to evidence (chapter 5), respectively. Chapter 6 outlines important evidence-based practices that both teams and leaders can use to advance their work. This chapter focuses on leaders and teams using such practices to ensure sustainability when embedding elements of the systems thinking approach that are required for enacting an assessment plan.
The beginning of each chapter will ask you to consider three different perspectives, with suggested guiding questions around each perspective, that are associated with yielding high levels of student achievement.
1. Zoom in: These questions ask you to evaluate your team’s current reality and assess what kind of information you need to move forward toward your goals.
2. Zoom out: These questions ask you to consider why you need the information presented and how it will advance your work.
3. Panoramic: These questions ask you to reflect on how the decisions you make or the conversations you have regarding the content will impact your system and what potential they have to create greater balance and alignment in your building or organization.
You will also encounter these types of questions in the reproducibles we offer throughout this book. These questions are meant to help guide discussion or reflection and, depending on the focus of each specific reproducible, may differ from the questions appearing at the beginning of the chapter. Visit go.SolutionTree.com/assessment to download the free reproducibles in this book.
We have interspersed what we call ponder boxes, indicated with the symbol to the left, throughout the book to encourage readers to think deeply about the content and form their own conclusions and next steps. We encourage you to write notes or sketch drawings of your thoughts and reflections when you encounter these boxes.
Ponder Box
Consider the descriptors for each of the principles listed in table I.1 (page 4). Where are your points of pride? For which of these principles do you have opportunities for improvement? Jot down your initial thoughts in relation to your current practice of these principles of systems thinking.
We recognize that team discussions around each chapter may result in a variety of personal reflections and reactions—affirmations of some practices you and your team have already embedded into your assessment work, aha connections to tweak a practice or two within your system to further enhance what it can do for students, new laundry lists of questions, or an overwhelming sense of confusion on where to go next. No matter where you are on your journey, you are exactly where you need to be in order to take that next step forward. We have designed this book for all audiences, regardless of grade level, curricular area, or role in education. At the end of each chapter, we encourage you to complete reflection or planning activities before you and your teammates read the next chapter. These collaborative learning tasks are designed to inspire reflective thinking so you can more readily access each new piece of content while also fostering rich, productive dialogue within your team.
Before beginning chapter 1, take a moment to reflect on the collaborative nature of your learning organization. Check the boxes in the appropriate column in figure I.1 that represent your current approaches to learning.
Figure I.1: Approaches to learning.
Visit go.SolutionTree.com/assessment for a free reproducible version of this figure.
Ponder Box
Jot down or draw your reflection on your current state of isolated or collaborative learning based on your selections in figure I.1. What is the history behind your current reality? How will an awareness of that history help shape your future approaches to learning?
We know that pieces of the current reality you identified are within your control and other pieces are outside your realm. All these pieces matter, however, as we consider the development of sound assessment practices in our schools.
