I decided to update this blog post after recently exploring the library. Many resources have been added since I attended the training. I do still believe that some educators will be disappointed in the Digital Library if they confuse it for the SBAC interim assessments that have not been released yet.
I also wanted to share screen casts of what it looks like to search the library for resources. Flash player is required.
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Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium maintains an online bank of resources, the Digital Library, to support teachers as they prepare students for the SBAC exams. Today, June 30th, I attended a workshop on the Digital Library.
A few observations:
1.) The digital library is not an assessment bank. According to our trainer, SBAC interim assessments will be available in December or January.
2.) The resource is primarily designed to model formative assessment practices. Animated vignettes of teaching practices, rubrics, model lesson plans for performance events, and information on techniques such exit slips and quiz, quiz trade are available. General instructional strategies make up more of the library than content specific, grade level resources.
3.) The library is designed for easy use. Users can filter resources by grade level and subject area.
4.) The resources in the library are high quality. An intensive vetting process was used to select resources.
5.) Perhaps, due to intensive vetting the amount of content is limited at this time.
For example:
A filtered search for resources designed to support seventh grade instruction for Reading Informational Texts Standard 4 (vocabulary in context) provided one resource, a video of quiz, quiz trade protocol from a fourth grade classroom.
A filtered search for resources designed to support seventh grade instruction for Mathematics G.B.4 (circumference) returned no results.
It is important to note that content is still being uploaded. Two resources were uploaded during the training.
So how should the Digital Library be used? It depends.
While some model lesson plans include reproducible assessments, teachers looking for digital or reproducible classroom activities for students will most likely be frustrated. However, the more time I spent in the library, the more material I found that would help classroom teachers in lesson design. For example, a resource titled "Flustered by Fractions," included a clip from American Choppers and instructions on how to use the clip in a lesson.
For administrators the digital library could be a resource to supplement professional development on formative assessment. It could also serve as resource for curriculum writers looking for models endorsed by SBAC.
I would be interested in hearing how others plan to use this tool.
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