EDCI 62426 Integrated Curriculum and Authentic Assessment for Evidence-Based Decision Making in Grades 1-3
This course is designed to enable candidates to develop a knowledge of principles of appropriate and meaningful measures to assess student learning and mastery of concepts, personalize learning, and monitor student progress. Emphasis in this course is on assessment tools and methodologies specific to use with students in grades 1-3. Developmentally appropriate methods of collecting assessment data for decision-making, as well as analysis and interpretation of observation and assessment results, will be stressed to ensure competence of candidates in meeting state learning standards and national guidelines for appropriate practices. Candidates will use emerging understandings of assessment as an instructional informant to design, use and analyze formal and informal assessments that help monitor and plan instruction across disciplines. The role of the family in assessment, including the impact of cultural, economic, and linguistic diversity are central components of this course. This course informs candidates of the importance of project based approaches to curriculum for primary grades. Building on knowledge, experiences, and reflections on Constructivist paradigms of learning and teaching, from previous courses in the program, this course deepens a prospective teacher’s understanding of the learning process as fluid, negotiated, and self-propelled. This outlook forms the framework for guiding candidates to discuss, examine, and reflect on ‘inquiry – based approaches’ for teaching in grades 1 - 3. Candidates learn to plan developmentally appropriate, meaningful learning experiences based on state and common core standards with an understanding of how content areas such as language, reading, writing, numeracy and math, scientific reasoning, visual and expressive arts, and social studies are integrated in order to facilitate and support the development of the ‘whole child’ in grades 1 - 3. Environmental organization and design along with teaching methods and interactive strategies that encourage, stimulate, and nurture active problem-solving and discovery oriented learning, are emphasized. Prerequisite: EDCI 62232. Corequisites: EDCI 62326, EDCI 62401, and EDCI 62435.
Credits
3