Search results for ""Author Thomas R. Guskey""

Improve grading practices with support from families Educators seeking to transform age-old grading practices face numerous challenges, particularly when it comes to gaining support from students’ families. This practical guide from a world-renowned expert on grading and assessment practices offers concrete strategies to turn parents and families into trusted partners in grading reform efforts. The book enables educators to anticipate, understand, and effectively address families′ concerns over grading reforms and build trust through authentic engagement. With clear and actionable strategies that educators can implement right away, the easily digestible chapters unpack the complexities of the change process, clarify the purpose of grading, and show how to enhance the use of computerized grading programs. Other features include: Strategies to ease opposition to grading reform from parents and families Insights into how to improve report cards Guidance on how to effectively communicate student performance with parents and families A must-have resource for educators navigating the challenging journey of grading reform, Engaging Parents and Families in Grading Reform is a comprehensive guide to grading reform that emphasizes family engagement to ensure success.

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The definitive classic—updated for our times. After 50 years, Benjamin Bloom’s revolutionary work on mastery learning is more relevant than ever. One of the most widely researched and proven-effective education methodologies in existence, it provides a direct challenge to the traditional, deterministic, time-based approaches to teaching and learning that have perpetuated inequities for generations of children. Mastery learning is the progenitor of many of today’s most promising teaching methods, including competency-based learning, personalized instruction, and differentiated instruction. It helped to elevate the importance and use of formative assessment as a powerful instructional practice. This timely new edition of the foremost practical guide includes: Recent applications of the principles of mastery learning to distance, hybrid, and blended learning environments Updates including evidence from recent implementation efforts, the results of the most current research on mastery learning and its implications for practice Step-by-step guidance on implementation across grade levels and subject areas Supplemental, on-line chapters that unpack the development of effective formative assessments and connections between RTI and mastery learning Written by one of the most highly regarded scholar/practitioners in the field and the leading interpreter of Bloom’s work, this updated guidebook is essential reading for teachers, school leaders, professional learning communities, and anyone who believes that all students can learn well, achieve success, and become confident learners.

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Implement evidence-based feedback practices that move learners forward Feedback is essential to successful instruction and improved student performance, but learners often dread and dismiss feedback and its effectiveness can vary. Thus, sharing intentions, clarifying success criteria, knowing what type of feedback to provide and when, and activating students as owners of their learning are essential feedback functions. Instructional Feedback presents a comprehensive summary of the most recent research on instructional feedback and describes its successful implementation. With a focus on evidence-based approaches adapted to specific contexts, the authors use common classroom situations to demystify feedback and place it within a broad instructional context, along with definitions, characteristics, and precautions about its effect on students’ emotions and behaviors. Inside you’ll find: Coverage of all grades and concentrations, including math, language arts, music, art, and science Peer feedback, self-assessment, and subject-specific nuances Student and teacher examples of feedback and suggestions for improvement Engaging and concise, Instructional Feedback discusses why feedback is so powerful, how it is promising, and what it looks like in practice.

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When teachers use data effectively, students see results. Learning Forward is a leader in understanding and advancing professional learning that leads to student success. This series explores Learning Forward’s seven Standards for Professional Learning, which outline the characteristics of effective professional learning. In this volume, the authors explore the crucial function of data for designing, implementing, and evaluating professional learning. The book’s features include: An original "think piece" by Thomas Guskey on using data in deliberate and thoughtful ways in the context of professional learning Specific implementation strategies that focus on analyzing student, educator, and system data and assessing progress A detailed case study of one district’s journey to successful use of data and how it led to measurable improvement in student achievement Learning to collect, analyze and use data is an essential component of professional development. When schools are able to make data work for them, students are the ones who benefit.

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