5 credits

Using data to inform instruction, assessment, and evaluation promotes continuous improvement and student achievement. Instructional leaders must have the ability to ground current practice in data—a process that includes reviewing and discerning data, evaluating current practices, setting an appropriate vision for the future, prioritizing the work, identifying measurable goals, developing an action plan, and then monitoring the results. Education professionals in this course examine the inextricable link between instruction and assessment. They engage in a diagnostic process designed to meet diverse student and systemic needs. They also examine the role of formative and summative assessments in making instructional decisions, the various forms and purposes of assessment, and how the ongoing use of assessment data can move curriculum and instruction beyond mediocrity to support rigorous learning for all students. The effective use of instructional practices such as blended learning, the "flipped" classroom, and the appropriate use of technology to support learning is also examined.