White Papers
Data Driven Instruction with Naiku
Premier educators such as Dr. Paul Bambrick-Santoyo (Driven By Data 2.0: A Practical Guide to Improve Instruction) and Dr. John Hattie (Visible Learning) promote the use of data in enhancing instruction and student learning. In this linked white paper, Dr. Adisack Nhouyvanisvong discusses these techniques and showcases how to implement them using Naiku.
Achieving Visible Learning with Naiku
Visible Learning is an excellent resource illustrating the effectiveness of student-centered learning which Naiku wholeheartedly supports. In Visible Learning and Visible Learning for Teachers, Dr. John Hattie (2009, 2012) synthesizes research studies involving hundreds of millions of students to show the effectiveness of different approaches to improve learning. Dr. Hattie found that student-centered learning strategies have the highest impact on learning. In particular, he found that strategies that help make student learning visible for the teacher are most effective. Because of that, Naiku allows teachers to transform the assessment experience into a learning … Read More
Ensuring Assessment Integrity
Valid student assessment data is a key component of teacher data-driven instruction, teacher collaboration in successful PLC teams, and school/district educational decision making. Student cheating can adversely affect the quality of assessment data and can be a concern anytime, and particularly in remote learning environments. This white paper offers tips and strategies to minimize student cheating and increase the integrity of assessment data.
Increasing Teaching and Learning through Interim Benchmark Assessments
Benchmark assessments occupy an important space between frequent formative assessment and end-of-year summative assessment in a balanced assessment process. In Maximizing Benchmark Assessments: Increasing Student Achievement and Success, Dr. Adisack Nhouyvanisvong outlines the benefits of and keys to successful interim benchmark assessments and provides guidance on how to optimize student learning from benchmark assessments within a balanced assessment process.
Improving Teacher-Developed Assessments and Items
While significant research supports the use of frequent formative classroom assessment to aid teaching and learning, teachers often lack appropriate training to adequately develop and evaluate the quality of their assessments and items. In this white paper, Dr. Nhouyvanisvong offers guidance on how to create test blueprints, write cognitively rigorous items, and improve the items based on judgmental review and on item and test statistics.
Moving Beyond Multiple Choice Items for Effective Classroom Assessment
Educators know that multiple choice tests can be limiting, but knowing how, and when, to move beyond multiple choice for effective classroom assessment within time and other constraints can be challenging. In this free white paper, Dr. Adisack Nhouyvanisvong offers guidance on how to effectively engage students and obtain a better understanding of student knowledge through better assessment. He outlines item writing guidelines, methods for assessing student knowledge beyond multiple choice, and offers guidance with specific examples to create effective everyday classroom assessment using a variety of question item types Download … Read More
Student Controlled and Personalized Learning
In Student Controlled and Personalized Learning, our Dr. Adisack Nhouyvanisvong provides guidance on how to create a student centered assessment environment to help advance and personalize learning for students. Student Control and Personalized Learning – Part 1 (Updated March 2020)
Accelerate Student Achievement through Student Expectations
Gain Visibility into Student Expectations to Accelerate Student Achievement The number one influencer of student achievement is student expectations (or self-reported grades) as found by Hattie (2012) in Visible Learning. To gain visibility into student expectations, Dr. Nhouyvanisvong proposes a 4-step process for teachers to develop their students metacognitive skills through goal setting, test prediction, confidence ratings, and reflection Download this white paper by Dr. Adisack Nhouyvanisvong to learn more about how you can gain visibility into your students’ expectations and to guide them reaching those targets: Accelerate Student Achievement Through Student Expectations … Read More
How Students Learn
To Improve Student Learning, We Must Understand How Students Learn. In the wilderness of educational practices, programs, and interventions, ranging from charter schools, to phonics instruction, to peer instruction, one practice has been shown, time and time again, to greatly improve student learning: feedback. It is one the most researched and documented ways of how students learn. In this white paper, we review the educational research literature about how students learn through feedback and how educational assessment technology can be an effective tool for teachers to improve feedback and consequently … Read More
Visible Learning with Naiku
In Visible Learning and Visible Learning for Teachers, Dr. John Hattie (2009, 2012) synthesizes over 900 meta- analysis research studies involving hundreds of millions of students to determine what actually works in schools to improve learning. Hattie looked into influences of the student, home, teacher, school, curricula, and instructional strategies. He found that the teacher, and specifically coupled with those strategies that help make student learning visible for the teacher, have the highest impact on learning. Naiku (“teacher” in Lao) is more than just an assessment solution. Naiku allows teachers … Read More