Overall, the mini-sabbatical appears successful in helping teachers attain the first three goals, but somewhat less successful with the last. Teachers did not fully develop assessments to accompany their curriculum. This is partly due to the situation--teachers taught an experimental class where students were paid for their participation. Students were not working for grades, and teachers were not required to turn them in. In addition, the curriculum templates that teachers completed to record their curriculum design did not explicitly ask about assessment plans. This can be remedied in the future by simply modifying the form.
In addition, we found that most of the teachers were unfamiliar with the concepts and approach toward developing assessments presented in the mini-sabbatical curriculum. Only one relatively new teacher reported that the lessons on assessment were straightforward and "obvious." He did not understand why the other teachers felt challenged by the material. As a result of limitations in teachers' knowledge about assessment design, the staff did not press teachers to complete assessments. Rather, it seemed more important to pay attention to other aspects of their curriculum and teaching.
Future implementations of the mini-sabbatical can be modified to accommodate teachers' level of expertise or comfort with their assessment development skills. The schedule could be modified by extending class time to permit more time for discussion and practice and, as discussed above, to explicitly require teachers to develop assessments for their particular curricular units. It might also incorporate examples of alternative assessments from actual "classrooms that work." In addition, the workplace observations could include an assignment to identify assessment or evaluation practices used at the worksites. These might provide additional models for creating authentic assessments.