Karin Hess, Educational Research in Action
In today’s educational environment, we expect every student to
be ready for the challenges of the 21st century— to learn more,
understand more deeply, master new technologies, and transfer
what they’ve learned to real-world contexts. Integrating five
evidence-based “teacher moves” in an Actionable Assessment Cycle
can build a supportive classroom culture for deeper thinking and
self-directed learning.
In her keynote address, Dr. Hess will explore these “teacher
moves,” define what makes assessments “actionable,” and provide
concrete examples for immediate implementation. This practical and
systematic approach to deepening student engagement, promoting
a growth mindset, and building a classroom culture that truly
supports thinking and learning, is not to be missed.
9:00 AM
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Large-group presentations seldom lend themselves to productive
question-and-answer sessions. However, some conference
participants want to ask questions that invite the speaker to clarify
or comment in greater depth about portions of the presentation
or to ask about issues the speaker did not address. Here’s your
chance to have an informal conversation with today’s keynote
speaker, Karin Hess.
10:15 AM
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In this session, you’ll have an opportunity to learn some strategies
for effectively giving feedback to students, teaching students to
give feedback to one another, and teaching students to self-assess.
You’ll learn about the elements that must be in place for feedback
to impact learning, and examples will be shared.
Kristy Walters, Corunna Public Schools
10:15 AM
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Learn about the latest required assessment security policies and
procedures for the state’s assessments. Tools and resources
needed to plan for a secure test administration will be shared along
with the OEAA’s test administration monitoring practices, including
test administration observations, missing materials, student
plagiarism, and internet monitoring.
Jessica Fenby, MDE
10:15 AM
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Michigan relies on the expertise and participation of social studies
educators from across the state to develop the summative social
studies assessment. This session focuses on the process of
building the Social Studies M-STEP. We will also take a closer look
at the different item types currently on the M-STEP and at the new
context-item set format.
Susan Palmiter, MDE
10:15 AM
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Macomb ISD developed a model to support newly identified
schools in curriculum, instruction, and assessment. A partnership
with the Michigan Assessment Consortium (MAC) was established
to assist districts with identified schools to engage in a District
Assessment Inventory Tool to identify strengths and areas
for improvement in their assessment system. This process
guided each district to develop an assessment learning and
implementation plan to address the areas of need. Participants will
be able to learn about the model, including the district inventory
tool and assessment learning and implementation plan.
Emily McEvoy, Macomb ISD
Ellen Vorenkamp, MAC
Joe Orban, Wayne-Westland Community Schools
10:15 AM
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The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is the
largest continuing and nationally representative assessment of
what our nation’s students know and can do in subjects such as
reading, mathematics, science, social studies, and other subjects.
NAEP is being administered in a sample of Michigan schools from
January to March of 2024 for the 2024 NAEP cycle. This session
will describe the most recent NAEP analysis and reporting of state
and national results from 2022, focusing on information most
useful for Michigan educators, and will provide potentially helpful
tips for people interested in using NAEP data.
Brian Lloyd, MDE
10:15 AM
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During this lunch session, participants will hear about what is
going on with Michigan’s state assessment components, as well
as information about Michigan’s longer-term vision for a complete,
comprehensive assessment system.
Andy Middlestead, MDE OEAA
11:45 AM
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Do you see what I know? Do you hear what I know? Oftentimes the best
way to assess a student to determine what they know and how they can
apply that knowledge is by observation or engaging in conversation. This
session will explore these assessment strategies and provide insight into
how they might be utilized with a classroom assessment system.
Ellen Vorenkamp, MAC
1:30 PM
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For over 16 years, the FAME project has been in districts and schools
across the state to support the use of the formative assessment process in
classrooms. How can FAME support other school improvement initiatives?
Learn about the evolution of FAME and how you can become involved with
the project.
Jennifer McFarlane, Romeo Community Schools
1:30 PM
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This session will provide an overview of the Michigan Merit Exam including
updates and changes related to test administration, including the SAT with
Essay, ACT WorkKeys, and M-STEP. Representatives from MDE, College
Board, and ACT will be available to discuss updates and answer questions.
Steve Reed, MDE
Kate Cermak, MDE
Rachel Devine, ACT
Terrence Ingram, College Board
1:30 PM
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The MI Arts Education Instruction and Assessment Project (MAEIA) is a
flagship in the nation, dedicated to ensuring students receive high-quality
arts learning as part of a well-rounded education. The suite of resources,
including a catalog of 360 performance assessments, a program review
tool, and curriculum maps highlighting instructional ideas, continues to
be updated with new research, including important attention to culturally
sustaining pedagogy and assessment. This session will walk participants
through these open education resources (OER) resources and explain
where and how resources can be used to connect to subjects and
practices beyond the fine arts (theatre, dance, music, and visual arts).
Kathy Dewsbury-White, MAC
Heather Vaughan-Southard, MAC
1:30 PM
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New to school accountability? Need to refresh your
knowledge of basic accountability concepts? This session
provides an overview of Michigan’s school accountability
systems, reports, and resources.
Chris Janzer, MDE,br>
Alex Schwarz, MDE
1:30 PM
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Are you struggling to integrate systems and share information in a timely and effective way? Could a system that helps identify students at risk of dropping out inform your practice? Do you wish you had access to more information about your students or were able to share and communicate their educational progress with fellow educators more effectively? Attend this clinic to learn more about Michigan Early Warning and Intervention Monitoring System (MiEWIMS) online system, MiRead - Michigan's Early Literacy Portal, Michigan Linked Educational Assessment Reporting Network (MiLearn) for state assessments, and more.
Kevin Bullard, Kalamazoo RESA
Tom Johnson, MAISA
1:30 PM
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True assessment isn’t a one-and-done event, it’s a collection of
evidence that informs stakeholders of each students’ present level
of understanding and skill development. When educators are open
to differentiating how students demonstrate understanding and
learning to encompass the gifts and knowledge students bring to
the classroom, they can better capitalize on students’ strengths
and meet students where they are. In this session, we’ll dig into
different ideas of what “assessment” could be and how educators
can maintain rigorous learning targets while differentiating success
criteria that will allow them to collect in-the-moment evidence of
student learning.
Kristy Walters, Corunna Public Schools
Mary Helen Diegel, Education Consultant
3:00 PM
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Do you need to know updates for the Spring 2024 M-STEP
Administration? This session will outline the important test
administration updates and show you the resources that are
available to you throughout the administration for a successful
M-STEP administration.
Phoebe Gohs, MDE
3:00 PM
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Are you tasked with presenting data to multiple audiences with
varying needs and interests? Are you looking for the right graph to
grab your audience’s attention and get your point across quickly?
Join this session to learn principles and techniques for creating
impactful data visualizations using Microsoft Excel and Google
Sheets.
Sarah Whitford, Forest Hills Public Schools
3:00 PM
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This session will provide an overview of the structure of the WIDA
assessment system as well as upcoming changes intended for
the 2023-24 school year such as the new Alternate Screener.
Additional statewide data will be shared related to Michigan’s EL
assessment performance as well as newly developed EL resources.
Jen Paul, MDE
3:00 PM
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This presentation will provide a thorough overview of the ELA
portion of the Michigan Early Literacy & Mathematics Benchmarks
Assessments (ELMBA) and the Michigan Student Test of
Educational Progress (M-STEP). There will be a review of the
standards assessed, item types, and sample items. A discussion
will be facilitated about implications to instruction based on school
and district report results. In addition, an update on the Passagebased
Writing field test will be presented.
Nikki Mosser, MDE
3:00 PM
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Over three years ago, the Michigan Assessment Consortium
created a network of individuals working in Michigan’s intermediate
and local school systems who facilitate the assessment learning of
those who they work with and for. Thus, the Michigan Assessment
Literacy Facilitators Association (MALFA) was born.
This session will show the types of activities the group has engaged
in. This session is for current MALFA members as well as others
interested in learning about assessment and supporting others with
the network.
Steven Snead, Oakland Schools
Emily McEvoy, Macomb ISD
Ed Roeber, MAC
3:00 PM
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Are you struggling to integrate systems and share information in a timely and effective way? Could a system that helps identify students at risk of dropping out inform your practice? Do you wish you had access to more information about your students or were able to share and communicate their educational progress with fellow educators more effectively? Attend this clinic to learn about MiRead – Michigan’s Early Literacy Portal and the Michigan Linked Educational Assessment Reporting Network (MiLearn) for state assessments, and more.
Erin Pell, MAISA
Tim Hall, MDE
3:00 PM
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