Through a grant from the Joyce Foundation, Alverno College developed the Southeastern Wisconsin Assessment Collaborative to support schools and districts in the greater Milwaukee area to build capacity to use formative classroom assessment to support student learning. Teams from nearly thirty districts, as well as Catholic, Lutheran, Muslim, and independent schools have participated in a year long series of workshops in the Joyce-funded project (2000-2005). Over 1,200 teachers and administrators have been SEWAC participants over the five years of the project.

Beginning with the 2005-2006 school year, the SEWAC workshop series (8 day-long workshops spread over the school year) is available to schools and districts for $995 per person; schools are asked to send teams of four-eight persons. The fee covers breakfast and lunch, books and other materials, as well as the workshop sessions. SEWAC will meet from 8:30-3:30 on Tuesdays in 2007-2008.

SEWAC builds capacity for improved classroom instruction and assessment through:

• Engaging teachers and administrators in building a learning team focused on the needs of their school/district
• Working through the design process described in Wiggins and McTighe's (2005) Understanding by Design
• Crafting classroom assessments guided by Stiggins, Arter, Chappuis, and Chappuis's (2004) Classroom Assessment for Student Learning
• Planning for implementing data-driven decision-making at the school level

To view the current sessions archived materials, click here.