Much time has been spent in my district on creating quality assessments in math and ELA. I should say, that we thought we were creating quality assessments. I see many teachers, including myself, just following along with the assessment plan, and not necessarily letting the students in on the plan. I don't think we are very good with letting our students know the purpose or learning targets we are assessing.
I have already made a conscious effort to be more transparent with my students. We are starting a new math unit tomorrow, and I will be posting learning targets to go along with the unit. I've also tried very hard this past week to make my communication with my students be more effective. At the end of second grade my students can read well enough to read the comments I write on their papers. I think they appreciate them.
I honestly think my only roadblock right now is time. When I lay awake at night thinking about what I need to do in my classroom, I always have good intentions. Then I wake up and life happens. I have to set priorities of what I want to start implementing. Maybe I can't do it all this year, but I can plan for next year. Nothing is stopping me, but me.