Smarter Balanced Tools for Teachers

The Tools for Teachers is an easy-to-use website that features lessons and activities created by educators to enhance instruction, save time, and prepare students for college or a career. Tools for Teachers provides access to a variety of resources that teachers can use to support student learning. These resources include Lessons and activities that can help teachers reach ALL students. Meaningful descriptions of grade-level expectations to help teachers monitor progress between assessment events, and assessment strategies to help teachers identify where students are in their learning, where they are going, and how they will get there. The Tools for Teachers resources are available to district and charter educators with resources available for use in grades K-12.

• Tools for Teachers Website   - Requires a valid district email address to get full access to Tools for Teachers resources. Families can access limited resources on Tools for Teachers.  
• Video: Exploring the Tools for Teachers
  

  Provides an introduction to the Smarter Balanced Tools for Teachers website. This video will provide site navigation tips along with possible ways educators can use the website. It will also take a deeper dive into Tools for Teachers' instructional resources and highlight the Formative Assessment Process (7:01 minutes)

• Tools for Teachers Introduction for Teachers

  Takes users on a tour of the Tools for Teachers website and focuses on accessing, filtering and navigating, marking favorites, using the forum features, and describing the four attributes of the formative assessment process. This presentation is recommended for use during a staff meeting or professional development session. (19:52 minutes)

• Smarter Balanced Sample Items

  This slide show is a recorded tour that is meant for anyone wanting to know more about the Digital Library's design features and professional learning resources. It includes three sample resources to demonstrate how to interact with the Digital Library. This overview is meant for educators, parents and guardians, school board members, and community representatives.

• Formative Assessment Process and its Attributes
• Formative Assessment webpage in Tools for Teachers

• Video: What the Formative Assessment Process is
  

  This one-pager provides an overview of the attributes of the Formative Assessment (FA) process. This easy, eye catching summary of the FA attributes is ideal for sharing with educators, parents and guardians, school board members, and community representatives.

  The Formative Assessment process is used by students and teachers during instruction to adjust teaching and learning strategies to reach their goals. This video explores what FA is, what it isn't, and why it is such a powerful tool for boosting learning outcomes.

• FAQs: formative assessment and Tools for Teachers