A Community for High-Quality Performance Assessment System Leaders

September 20th, 2023

IN THIS ISSUE:



Announcements & Upcoming Events



Guest Blog:

Back from Beijing!



Partner Profile: Milpitas Unified School District



Resource Corner: Developing Portrait of a Graduate Skills from Elementary School to High School Graduation (and Beyond)

Our Journeys Together

Every journey has a beginning, middle and end. Simple idea, right? Yet how often do we begin journeys without a sense of the destination, and how many meetings have we attended where the team spent 2 hours stuck at the beginning and left no time to reach a decision at the end. Journeys have parts, and those parts move.


Here I sit at the beginning of my journey as Executive Director of Envision Learning Partners (ELP). I sit with various feelings, often in direct conflict: exhilaration, humility, delight, awe, concern and more. I came to Envision for many reasons, but foremost was the desire to feel optimistic about education. I admit the pandemic took years of wind out of my optimism sails. When I saw the opportunity to join this uniquely talented team, I felt the rush of optimism return. My journey had a beautiful beginning.


While I expected the ELP team to fuel my optimism, I have been delighted by how much our community has welcomed me. As my journey with ELP continues and the various parts of my journey move and shift, I feel comforted by the incredible people, including you, who are on this journey with me. Continue scrolling to learn more from one of my co-travelers, NGLC, in the Resource Corner.


All of our journeys continue, and our beginnings, middles and ends move as they always do. I am thrilled to be on this journey with you. Envision Learning Partners is here to partner with you on whatever part of the journey you find yourself. Let’s continue to be optimistic together.


Take care,

Royce Conner, Executive Director

Announcements & Upcoming Events

ELP is continuing our work with the Assessment for Learning (AFL) community and are excited to announce that this fall we will be launching learning groups that will be rooted in new books that provoke, inspire, and explain ideas to transform education and how we approach it as leaders and learners.


The first learning group of the 2023-2024 school year is launching October 5th and you are invited to join any or all! Learn more and register here!


Join ELPers, Alcine Mumby, Royce Conner & Soraya Ramos in Palm Springs on October 15-17th.


Make sure not to miss the Opening Keynote: Building Liberatory Assessment Systems: Performance Assessment as an Equity Strategy - delivered by our very own, Alcine Mumby!

Click the image to grab your free ticket to the ELP Lounge & celebrate with us!

Guest Blog: Back from Beijing!

Assessment Design Partner, Josette Neal-De-Stanton, was joined by previous ELPer, Abby Benedetto, in Beijing this past August to continue our collaboration with Moonshot Academy. Learn more about their experiences by clicking here!


There's a video of Josette chatting with ELP colleague, Courtney Katen, a blurb from Abby, and photos!

Partner Profile: Milpitas Unified School District

We're honored to highlight the wonderful work being done in the Milpitas Unified School District!


ELP began partnering with Milpitas USD in the 22-23 school year by bringing together two middle schools to develop common, skills-based rubrics to guide the development and implementation of deeper learning assessments.


Learn more about the goal of these assessments, how they were developed, what's coming up next in our partnership, and watch student testimonials by clicking here.

Resource Corner: Developing Portrait of a Graduate Skills from Elementary School to High School Graduation (and Beyond)

We recently read an article by NGLC’s dynamite Knowledge Officer, Kristen Vogt. The piece shares an observation that many of us have seen in the field: graduate profiles are often discussed as something meant for high school students, with little clear connection to elementary and middle schools. Kristen shares examples of schools across the country aligning instruction across K-12 to graduate profiles, including elementary and middle schools (you will be particularly impressed by Megan Margerum in North Dakota). We love the recognition that portraits of a graduate are, among other things, a journey map, and these journeys are most successful when they are seen not just as standalone endings, but part of a student’s experience in elementary and middle school as well.


Interested in launching or revising your Graduate Profile? We can help.

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