Professional Learning Resources
AAC Key Visual - Navigating Our Resources

AAC Members Only Content

Note: This content area is available to AAC Members Only. Please login or learn more about Membership.

Planning with the End in Mind

Planning with the end in mind means starting with clarity about what students are expected to learn and designing instruction and assessment to intentionally support that learning.

Formative Assessment

Formative assessment is an ongoing process that provides specific, descriptive, and timely feedback, helping teachers personalize learning and students take ownership of their growth.

Summative Assessment

Summative assessment provides a clear picture of what students have learned and supports sound professional judgment in determining performance.
Explore Related Assessment Topics

Creating a Shared Vision for Assessing Student Learning

A shared vision serves as the ultimate destination for all professional learning initiatives. Without this common target, leaders, educators, students, and families often lack a clear understanding of what constitutes effective assessment. Establishing a shared language is the first step in making that vision a reality.

A shared language is essential for engaging confidently in assessment conversations with students, colleagues, and families. To support this, we have developed a common language guide for teachers and leaders to ensure all stakeholders share a common understanding.

View Shared Language Resources

Clear roles and responsibilities help all stakeholders contribute effectively to student learning. Teacher responsibilities are guided by the Teaching Quality Standard (TQS), while leaders are guided by the Leadership Quality Standard (LQS). AAC has created resources to support these roles and responsibilities.

View Leaders' Roles and Responsibilities

View Teachers' Roles and Responsibilities

Explore Resources

Success in the classroom starts with the right focus. The AAC developed this resource to help teachers refine their assessment practices with a singular mission: improving student learning. By shifting away from traditional grading toward a diverse range of evidence-based methods and tools, this guide makes student growth the heart of every assessment decision. While designed to enhance your individual practice, this resource also serves as a powerful catalyst for collaborative dialogue with colleagues, ensuring that professional growth and student success go hand in hand.

Assessment is often viewed as a sensitive or controversial topic, but it is too vital to be sidelined or outsourced. Supporting Professional Conversations about Assessment empowers school administrative teams to reclaim their role as instructional leaders. This guide provides the essential frameworks for leading assessment dialogues with confidence, including recommended professional learning sessions supported by the Assessment in Action video series. By pairing leadership theory with real-world classroom examples, this resource ensures that evaluation practices remain a collaborative, school-led priority.

Download PDF (ENGLISH) Download PDF (FRENCH) Order Print Copy

 

Funded by Alberta Education, this popular video series brings real-world assessment to life within Alberta classrooms.

Organized by the AAC Key Visual framework, each video includes a dedicated Learning Guide to support teachers in their self-directed professional growth.

To maximize impact, instructional leaders can pair these videos with the Supporting Professional Conversations about Assessment guidebook—the essential tool for facilitating high-level professional learning and school-wide dialogue.

View Video Series

Subscribe to the AAC Newsletter

Stay up to date with the latest news, events and resources!