An upcoming education conference being hosted by Queen’s University is bringing together teachers and education researchers from across the country with the aim of fostering collaboration on assessment for learning.

The third annual Canadian Assessment for Learning Network (CAfLN) Conference and Symposium is being hosted at Queen’s on May 13-14 under the banner of Moving Forward: Assessment for Learning in Policy, Research & Practice.

The goal of the conference, explains Chris DeLuca (Education), is to create permanent links between the research and theory from the academic side with the practice of the educators in the elementary, secondary and tertiary levels.

“The conference is really about bringing people together because what we see in the teacher world, for professional learning, is that educators are doing a lot of professional education on their own or in their schools. But this is an opportunity where teachers can talk to teachers from across districts, across regions, across provinces and also then have a conversation with researchers,” says Dr. DeLuca, an associate professor of Classroom Assessment in the Faculty of Education. “It’s emphasizing assessment to be used in very positive ways – classroom-level assessment and how teachers grade and do test and performance assessments with their students – how they can do that in a more productive, generative and supportive way for students.”

The event is expected to draw approximately 200 educators, assessment researchers and policy leaders from across the country, including some 100 local educators. After the conference, it is hoped that the participants will maintain the connections they have made and share what they have learned with their colleagues.

Previous conferences have already yielded positive results.

“This is a real opportunity to work with practitioners and establish networks for them to continue their learning,” Dr. DeLuca says. “We’re hoping to continue to build the CAfLN and have teachers really connect with one another and establish greater connections to support their efforts at positive assessment in schools and classrooms.”

Visit the Faculty of Education’s website to learn more about the CAfLN conference.