6 Cool Technology Enhanced Assessment Items

6 Cool Technology Enhanced Assessment Items

While next-generation assessments have exposed content writers to new ways of asking students to demonstrate proficiency of standards, many are still unaware of the plethora of technology enhanced item (TEI) types available. It is important that curriculum and item...
3 Strategies for Developing a Performance Task in Science

3 Strategies for Developing a Performance Task in Science

Looking for a way to authentically and fully assess student comprehension? Use performance tasks! As science content writers, we are familiar with hands-on challenges that assess discrete skills—for example, a multi-station practical at the end of a laboratory-based...
7 Facts About CTE Courses for Content Writers

7 Facts About CTE Courses for Content Writers

Career and Technical Education Students Need Literacy Strategies, Too! A recent study published by Cornell University found that combining literacy strategies with activities in CTE courses improved students’ reading abilities and, in turn, their grades. This isn’t...
3 Strategies for Developing a Math Performance Task

3 Strategies for Developing a Math Performance Task

3 Strategies for Developing a Math Performance Task   Performance tasks provide an opportunity to assess students’ higher-order thinking and reasoning, which is sometimes difficult to evaluate using multiple-choice or other content-driven assessment items. As...
6 Things Every Instructional Designer Should Be Able to Do

6 Things Every Instructional Designer Should Be Able to Do

Understand the Best Practices of Teaching There are many models and methods of teaching available for instructional designers to use. Keeping up to date on the newest and best practices in teaching will help an instructional designer ensure that every learner at any...
6 Times NOT to Use Technology Enhanced Items

6 Times NOT to Use Technology Enhanced Items

PARCC defines technology-enhanced items (TEIs) as “tasks administered on a computer and [that] take advantage of the computer-based environment to present situations and capture responses in ways that are not possible on a paper-based test” (PARCC, 2016). Although...