Cindy Patterson, CTO Mentor Candidate

 

The weekend began with Craig Blackburn, Director of Technology Programs and Instructional Support at Santa Clara County Office of Education, reviewing the agenda and objectives for the weekend.  A review of prior topics such as common core state standards, CCSS, California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress, CAASPP, and the Smarter Balance Assessment Consortium, SBAC.  Craig led a discussion about the current transition in assessment, past and future.  The tables discussed tables discussed the pre-work reading on Annual Performance Index, API, and Annual Yearly Progress, AYP.  This was followed by discussions about the interviews we conducted with our assessment coordinators, how assessment data is used in the classroom, and how assessment data is stored and managed. Common Core State Standards were reviewed with respect to the role of a CTO.  Craig framed a class discussion with Bloom’s Taxonomy.  A history of Assessment was presented with an emphasis on how SBAC differs from previous assessment.  Accountability included a review of Federal compared to State requirements.  This was followed by an in-depth review of API and AYP.  The evening ended with a review of the objectives and verification that all were met.

 

Saturday was an interactive group exercise that worked through several complex issues that a new CTO might experience.  Ethical, political and technical issues were addressed with group participation.  The weekend concluded with a review of several examples of how school districts have created.  Questions were answered about the assignment and the class was concluded.