Hello members of the LINCS Formative Assessment COP! I'm so pleased to welcome you to the new LINCS Community! I expect that our number of members will grow over the next couple of weeks. I'm very excited for everyone to jump right in and get used to using our new platform, so let's introduce ourselves briefly, and get to know who's here.
Many of you know that I have been the moderator of the LINCS Assessment Discussion List for a number of years now. I've always been interested in assessment, but I really started to focus on it when I was director of language and literacy programs at Brown University, which was a student volunteer program through the Center for Public Service. I REALLY needed to figure out tools for accountability on so many levels because nearly all the teaching staff had no skills other than boundless energy, relentless positive outlook, extreme dedication, and lots of smarts (all of which were easy to take advantage of!). So everything was sort of 'iterative' - I had to make sure that there was a way to gauge how well the students were trained in order to make sure they could teach lessons effectively, and also know themselves whether they did well or not. Anyway, I'd love to hear why this particular COP is of interest to you, so please let us know a little about yourself and why you are here.
Btw, you can read more about me (and other members!) by going to my profile page - either click my picture, or search me by name.
Comments
Dear Friends & Colleagues,
My name is John Corcoran and I am honored to join you on this forum. I believe that in America today, it is as important to teach an adult to read as it is to teach a child to read.
I learned to read at the age of 48 after going to a local library Adult Learning Center, taking a battery of diagnostic assessments and then receiving the research-based instructional methodology needed to teach me how to read. For the past 25 years, I have been advocating for literacy across the nation with the mission of preventing and eliminating illiteracy by teaching both children and adults to read. It is never too late to learn to read.
I look forward to continuing the conversation with all of you.
At your service,
John Corcoran
Oceanside, CA
www.johncorcoranfoundation.org
As a project director for the U.S. Division of World Education, I coordinate the online professional development initiative, managing the development and delivery of courses for adult educators. We offer courses on the topics of college and career readiness, adult student persistence, differentiated instruction, and reading through ProfessionalStudiesAE.
I also co-direct the LINCS Region 1 Professional Development Center, promoting and disseminating evidence-based resources and training materials, and partnering with states to provide evidence-based professional development.
I have worked in adult literacy since 1980, serving as an instructor and local program director, state consultant, program development director, training coordinator, and state outreach coordinator.
I am intrigued by the shift back to using formative assessment to frame our instruction. It’s refreshing that we’re talking about the assessment tools and techniques we use in our classrooms to show students how they are progressing and thus providing feedback in a timely manner. What better way to build self-efficacy?