Meredith Alvaro is a full time national consultant and staff developer located in the NY/NJ metro area. Meredith previously served as the Director of Student Teaching in the Elementary Inclusive Preservice Program at Teachers College Columbia University as well as held a tenured NYC public school teacher position at PS 116 in Manhattan's former District 2. Meredith conferred her Masters Degree at Teachers College, where she studied literacy directly with Lucy Calkins. Meredith recently finished her Administration Certification program and is pursuing a Doctorate Degree from Teachers College where she holds her Masters Degree. Meredith's staff development work spans levels PreK-12 and encompasses a range of environments including Public, Private, Charter, Parochial, Yeshiva, and Early Childhood schools.

Meredith's in-classroom coaching and practical workshops focus on developing strategies alongside teachers to help them successfully assess, instruct, and differentiate/adapt curriculum to support the developmental and learning needs of all students in powerful, teacher-friendly ways. Meredith works with teachers of:

• General Education
• Basic Skills Instruction (BSI)
• Gifted Education
• Special Education (both replacement and inclusion models)
• Self-contained environments (Autism, MD, LLD, etc.)
• Collaborative Team Teaching models (CTT)
• English Language Learners (ELLs/ESL)

Meredith's work and classroom have been acknowledged in several publications including Writing about Reading: From Book Talk to Literary Essays, Grades 3-8 (Angelilo, 2003) and Voices of Diversity: Stories, Activities, and Resources for the Multicultural Classroom (Langer de Ramirez, 2006).

Description:

Assessment: Beyond Paper and Pencil
This workshop will present participants with practical strategies of assessment spanning the curricular areas, and will account for students working both individually, and in groups. This workshop will provide an overview of the many decisions that must be made in order to launch successful assessment efforts, including planning assessment strategies, establishing learning goals, and choosing appropriate assessment tools and approaches. This workshop will go on to present a wide array of assessment tools including hands-on/project based assignments, reflective writing, portfolios, student-created self-assessments, rubrics, data collection tools, observation and conferring techniques, as well as differentiated assessment strategies designed to meet the needs and development of all learners. Participants can select and adapt strategies presented to their own curriculum.

The Common Core Standards emphasize the importance of students working across the curriculum at increasingly rigorous levels. Meredith’s staff development for Assessment can span Pre-K-12 and across both general education and special education settings. Her dynamic workshops provide teachers with specific, tangible strategies for assessing student learning in effective, engaging, and student centered ways – beyond the typical “pencil and paper” methods. Her hands-on, interactive workshop allows teachers time to learn a vast array of strategies and then engage in “make and take” work by connecting the assessment strategies to their own classroom environments. This has been one of Meredith’s most popular workshops and teachers have raved about the materials and assessment ideas that Meredith provides.