Mathematics Assessment Project

Here's a website that has plenty of challenging lessons that use formative assessment to ensure the best methods of student learning.

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The 7 Most (And Least) Effective Ways To Improve Student Achievement

Originally from a post by Ian Jukes on June 3, 2013

“Katie Lepi features a great infographic in the following article she wrote for Edudemic. More than anything, we want learning to have a profound impact on our students—the kind that makes them want to be learners for life.”

via Edudemic

There are a lot of different theories out there on what works and what doesn’t in education. The infographic below showcases the results of a study that looked at a number of different items and if they negatively or positively affected student achievement. The scope of these projects is rather huge – over 50,000 studies including over 240 million students!  While the research is based on the work of one individual and his team, the 7 most positive and negative ways to improve student achievement are quite interesting. Read on to find out more.

7 ‘Top Effects’

• Self reported grades/student expectations
• Teacher credibility
• Feedback
• Phonics instruction
• Classroom management
• Parental involvement
• Cooperative learning

7 ‘Bottom Effects’

• Principals / School Leaders
• Homework
• Class Size
• Extra Curricular Programs
• Ability Grouping
• Gender
• Open vs. Traditional learning spaces

Tools for Teaching: The Amazing Sticky Note | Edutopia

Tools for Teaching: The Amazing Sticky Note | Edutopia

Click on the link above to read an interesting article/blog post about the undervalued, everyday common sticky note and how it is used in teaching.  There is also a short video to watch.  Below is a brief list to give you a taste of the article.

Some of the ways I've seen sticky notes used in classrooms:


•When reading difficult passages from technical texts, I have seen teachers encourage students to summarize what is being stated on a sticky note and then place the note in the margin so it sticks out a bit to make it easy to find in the future

•Students use sticky notes to organize their folders, study cards and notepapers

•Students storyboard their writing with sticky notes so they can be moved around. This matches the idea that not all of us think sequentially, and allows students to take advantage of ideas spawned out of order

•Some students (particularly boys for some reason) when they get a pad of sticky notes seem to always want to draw the antics of stick men on the bottom of each one so that when they flip the pages, it appears that the stick men are moving. This actually requires planning and higher order thinking

•Students comment on other student papers or work and give suggestions for improvement and compliments on sticky notes

•Students sticky notes to identify things in the classroom, label items in a target language, or categorize items by type

•Gallery walks in which students analyze poetry, quotes or philosophies by placing their responses on sticky notes

•Teachers use colored sticky notes as disciplinary measures, green notes being exemplary behavior, and red ones warning of impending discipline if behavior doesn't change