Meet A Team - Meet our ELA Assessment Team!
Rachel Thomas
We know educators have concerns about assessments. We do, too. That’s why we design ours to make teaching easier. Educators often feel that assessments result in over-testing and lost instructional time. They’re used as blunt tools for evaluation and accountability. They raise artificial stakes—and so high that they create panic. That’s the opposite of what our assessments are about. Ours are tools for instruction that help you see your students more clearly.
Behind our ELA assessments is a dedicated team of previous educators who strive to create equitable outcomes for all students. These teammates create formative, flexible and reflective ELA and literacy assessments that help teachers get actionable data to maximize student learning. Alongside their work to create rigorous, standards-aligned content is the selection of affirming and empowering passages and narratives that mirror the diverse identities in schools across the country.
This team credits their success to the deeply collaborative nature of their work. As members of the Instructional Products Team they are one department dedicated to ensuring the quality of our assessments and work closely with our assessment operations content editors and Spanish-fluent assessment associate. They also work with colleagues across ANet to gather on-the-ground feedback and partner with industry leaders outside the organization, such as those specializing in early literacy and the Science of Reading, to ensure that our content reflects the most current research. This passionate team shares their “why” for working at ANet, why educational equity is important, how their team contributes to ANet’s mission, and some of their favorite team moments.
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“Having spent my career teaching in schools serving marginalized student populations, ANet's focus on equity in education is what gets me up and keeps me motivated. On the ELA assessment team, I'm able to bring together my passion for equity, love of literacy, and "nerdiness" about standards-aligned ELA instruction on a daily basis, alongside a fantastic team of people, and that means I find true joy in my work at ANet every day!”
-Emma McCandless
I wholeheartedly believe in the mission of ANet -- we strive to make a meaningful difference in students' lives by standing shoulder-to-shoulder alongside educators and providing the extra support that they may need. What keeps me at ANet for almost nine years, is beyond my commitment to our mission, I truly respect my immediate team and other colleagues across the organization. We care about each other as people first, are passionate about our work to advance educational equity, and honor the expertise that we each bring to the organization. I feel seen both professionally and personally here, which allows me to do my best work and do it while having fun!
-Marie Kodama
“Working at ANet allows me to draw on my 18 years of experience in using data-informed instruction and my content area expertise to support teachers and school leaders in improving student outcomes.”
-Jodie Ptak
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“All students deserve access to high-quality teaching and resources so that they're able to reach their full potential.”
-Kara Waters
“It is one very significant lever to combat structural inequities that have existed in society throughout US history.”
-Dan Park
“All students deserve the opportunity to live a life in which they can make their dreams a reality and pursue their passions. Education provides the path and tools they need to achieve that life.”
-Jessica Long
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“We create formative ELA and literacy assessments that help teachers identify students' strengths and areas of growth and then determine what instructional steps will maximize student learning.”
-Dan Park
“We ensure that all students, regardless of background, are not only held to high expectations through our rigorous, standards-aligned interim assessments but also affirm and empower the diverse identities of our students through our intentional selection of different types of narratives that we feature on our assessments.”
-Marie Kodama
“When I joined the team a few months ago, what immediately stood out to me is the diversity and representation found in the reading passages on the standards-based ELA assessments we develop. It is so important that students see themselves in the texts they read!”
-Jodie Ptak
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“Our team is incredibly collaborative and supportive of each other.”
-Emma McCandless
“Our team works so collaboratively and with a shared sense of collective responsibility for our product. We all share the goal of putting the highest quality product we can in front of students.”
-Kara Waters
“I love working alongside a team with a range of experiences and learning from their areas of expertise. My favorite memories are the times when my teammates have shared about their past and what led them to ANet; our team is full of passion and brings so many unique qualities.”
-Jessica Long
Explore the expertise of this team:
Through our interim, formative ELA assessments. Contact us today to talk about your assessment strategy!
With Maria Kodama’s blog post, ‘The impact of affirming and empowering representation in literature for students of color.’
In the team infographic!
With Emma McCandless’ blog post, ‘Ensuring student access to diverse representations in literature.’