Data for Student Success Examining Student Work to

Inform Instruction“It is about focusing on building a culture of quality data

through professional development and web based dynamic inquiries for school improvement.”

Introduction to the Grant

• Federal Title II Part D of the NCLB Act of 2001 Enhancing Education through Technology Grant awarded through CEPI

Agenda for this Module

• Why examine student work?

• Ways to examine student work

• Factors and structures that facilitate meaningful discussions.

Outcomes of this module• Better understand WHY and HOW to examine

student work.• Understand how to use the Examining Student

Work Protocol and the Collaborative Assessment Conference to facilitate the regular examination of student work.

• Understand the factors and structures that facilitate meaningful conversations.

• Identify a game plan to regularly examine student work and use the information to inform instruction.

WHY EXAMINE STUDENT WORK?

“If there is anything close to a silver bullet for improving

student achievement, it would be the continuous,

collaborative examination of student work.”

“The practice of having teachers work together to study student work is one of

the most promising professional development strategies in recent years. Examining student work helps teachers

intimately understand how state and local standards apply to their teaching

practice and to student work.” Joan Richardson, editor of the National Staff Development

Council newsletter

Why Examine Student Work?• To clarify teaching and learning objectives• To understand reasons behind school/district -level

data• To monitor student learning between formal

assessment periods• To inform and adjust instruction and make best use of

teaching time• To improve communication and collaboration between

educators• To encourage mutual accountability between educators• To improve student learning and achievement

Beyond the Surface Level Data

“You can’t ‘guarantee’ what you don’t

monitor.”Mike Schmoker

Moving to the student level…

Surface Level: What Does Our MEAP Data Tell Us?

• Example: MEAP 5th grade reading, 2008-2009

Our students did as well as, or better than,

the state average.

Our students did worse than

the state average.

Define the Student Learning Problem

• These 4 items, as well as 6 others - a total of 10/18 items (56%) on this strand (31% of the reading test)- are based on one GLCE: R.CM.04.03 – “explain relationships among themes, ideas, and characters within and across texts to create a deeper understanding by categorizing and classifying, comparing and contrasting, or drawing parallels across time and culture.”

Do our students have a problem with the expectations of this

GLCE?

Key Questions• Have teachers “unpacked” this GLCE to determine

what students should know and be able to do?

• Do we know if our students have mastered the expectations of this GLCE before they take the MEAP?

• Are we assessing this GLCE?

– If so, how and how often?

– What do we do with the information gained from the assessments?

• Is our instruction matched to our students’ needs?

HOW CAN WE EXAMINE STUDENT WORK IN A MEANINGFUL WAY?

Method #1The Examining Student Work

Protocol was developed to diagnose student strengths and

needs with the primary purpose of informing and adjusting

instruction.

Objectives of the Examining Student Work Protocol

• Show the power of examining student work

• Facilitate the professional dialogue that occurs as teachers come to agreement on criteria for proficiency

• Understand teachers’ misconceptions and their understanding of the GLCE being assessed

The Examining Student Work Protocol asks teachers to

1. Identify characteristics of proficiency on a GLCE using a specific assignment or assessment.

2. Diagnose students’ strengths and needs based on their performance.

3. Determine next instructional steps based on the diagnosis.

Foundational Understanding: Summative versus Formative

Summative – Assessment of learning

Formative - Assessment for learning

To use assessment information effectively,

teachers must shift their mindset from scoring (a

summative examination of) to diagnosing (a formative examination of) student

performance.

In the first part of the Examining Student Work Protocol,

a team of teachers work through the process of reaching consensus on what the team believes constitutes a proficient student response to the question posed in the assessment.

Part 1: Reaching Consensus about Proficiency

• Ask clarifying questions to be sure all members of the team have the same understanding:– What did you ask the students to do? – Which GLCE were you assessing? – What do you consider proficient performance

on this assignment? – Exactly what did students need to say or write

for you to consider their work proficient?

Why is Having a Clear Understanding of Proficiency

Important?

“To assess student achievement accurately, teachers and

administrators must understand the achievement targets their students are to master. They

cannot assess (let alone teach) achievement that has not been

defined.” Stiggins, Richard J. 2001. “The Principal’s Leadership Role in

Assessment.” NASSP Bulletin (January 2001): 13–26.

“If you know what you want, you’re more likely to get it.”

A pre-requisite to interpreting student work is a clear

understanding of what you are looking for. What does a

proficient response look like? What exactly do your students already know and what do they

still need to learn?

It is not enough that an individual teacher defines proficiency.

It is critical that at least a grade level or subject team has reached consensus on the definition of proficiency to ensure that all students are held to the same performance

expectations.

Only after the team has agreed on what constitutes a proficient

response are they able to diagnose student strengths and

needs.

Walking Through The Examining Student Work Protocol

• One way to assess R.CM.04.03 at the classroom level: Assess student responses to a comprehension prompt by using a targeted rubric.

Practice with this Assessment

What would proficiency look like on this assessment for a third

grader?

Which of These Students is Proficient?

• Use the rubric to evaluate the student responses.

• Use the proficiency criteria you determined.• How well does each student seem to be

comprehending?• How do you know? What is the evidence?• What insights did you gain from your

discussion?

Part 2: Diagnose Student Strengths and Needs

• What do our students know and what are they able to do?

• What is their next instructional need?– Based on student work, what is their next step in

learning? What is the learning challenge?– What is our next instructional step to meet this

challenge?

• Define the learner-centered problem – the problem or challenge in a student’s understanding or skills that interferes with the student’s performance.

Moving Towards Knowing the Learner

• Analyzing student responses– Understand

• a student’s response is the end product of his/her thinking.

• there is a logic to the thinking process that the student used.

– Need to answer questions such as:• Do students have any skills or knowledge to build on? • Do we need a total re-teaching of a concept?• Are students lacking skills and/or content knowledge?• Is the design of the assessment itself an issue?

Part 3: Determining Next Instructional Steps

Based on this information – • What students need additional support?• What are the next learning steps for these

students in the next 3-6 weeks? • What students are proficient?• What are the next learning steps for these

students?

Diagnosing and Planning

• Use the “Planning a Data Conference” worksheets to discuss group data with your table.

• Be ready to share your plans.

Based on what we know, how well does this assessment align

with this GLCE?

• R.CM.04.03 – “explain relationships among themes, ideas, and characters within and across texts to create a deeper understanding by categorizing and classifying, comparing and contrasting, or drawing parallels across time and culture.”

Student Achievement

• Schmoker cites in Results Now:– Instruction itself has the largest influence on

achievement.– The two things that matter most: What is

being taught and how well.– “Regardless of what a state policy or district

curriculum spells out, the classroom teacher decides…what topics to cover.” (Manzo, 2003)

More Practice with the Examining Student Work Protocol

• The student work samples relate to mathematics – Grade 6 MEAP Fall 2005– GLCE D.RE.05.02-Data and Probability

• What are we asking students to do? What is the mathematics behind the task?– Do the problem.– Make a list of the needed

skills/concepts/understandings.

Examining Student Work Protocol Part 1

• Work on this problem by yourself.

• What would a proficient student need to do to be successful on this?– Make a list of the criteria for success.– Prioritize the list – What is most critical for the

student to have in place to be proficient?

Examining Student Work Protocol continued

• Examine the student work samples against the prioritized list.

• Sort samples into two piles – proficient, not proficient.

• Compare with a partner-do your piles match?– If not, discuss until you can agree.

Examining Student Work Protocol Part 2-Diagnosis

• What are the strengths of the proficient students?

• What are the challenges of the non-proficient students?

Examining Student Work Protocol Part 3-Adjusting Instruction

• For the students who are not proficient: what is their next instructional step?

• How will you group them?

• What resource will you use? How will you provide instruction?

• How will you know they have learned what they need? What evidence will you collect? When?

Examining Student Work Protocol Part 3 continued

• For those students that are proficient: what are their next learning steps in the next 3-6 weeks?

• How will you group them?

• What resource will you use? How will you provide instruction?

• How will you know they have learned? What evidence will you collect? When?

Kinds of Student Work• Examining student work is about teachers

looking at individual student demonstration of learning – evaluating, determining instructional needs, planning for instruction, teaching to the objective determined as the next step in student learning. Demonstrations can include:– Student oral responses– Student writing– Student test results – answers to questions,

multiple choice, short answers– Student performance

Benefits of Examining Student Work

• Examining student work– Provides neutral, observable data.– Challenges assumptions.– Helps build common understanding of

knowledge and skills students need.– Leads to discussions of work quality:

• What are we considering proficient?

– Supports a culture of improvement.– Leads to improved teaching and learning.

The examining student work process requires the regular

collection of student performance data that is analyzed for where the

student needs to go next instructionally and used to modify

instruction.

Method #2: The Collaborative Assessment Conference

What is the Collaborative Assessment Conference?

• The CAC was developed by Steve Seidel and his colleagues at Project Zero.

• http://www.lasw.org/CAC_description.html

The structure for the CAC evolved from three key ideas:

• First, students use school assignments, especially open-ended ones, to tackle important problems in which they are personally interested.

• Second, we need to suspend judgment long enough to look carefully and closely at what is actually in the work rather than what we hope to see in it.

• Third, we need the perspective of others to help us to see aspects of the student and the work that would otherwise escape us, and we need others to help us generate ideas about how to use this information to shape our daily practice.

Steps in the CAC1. Getting Started

2. Describing the Work

3. Asking Questions about the Work

4. Speculating about What the Student is Working On

5. Hearing from the Presenting Teacher

6. Discussing Implications for Teaching and Learning

7. Reflecting on the Collaborative Assessment Conference

» Times are flexible

El L El PROTOCOLS-LOOKING AT WORK COLLABORATIVELY El O El

COLLABORATIVE ASSESSMENT CONFERENCE

Steps in the Collaborative Assessment Conference Adapted from Steve Seidel by Lynn Gaddis

1. Getting Started • The group chooses a facilitator who will make sure the group stays focused on the particular issue

addressed in each step. • The presenting candidate puts the rubric, standards, questions, and/or directions along with the video,

student work, artifacts, documentation, or written commentary in a place where everyone can see it or provides copies for the other participants. The candidate says nothing about the work, the context in which it was created, or the student until Step 5. • The participants observe the video or read the work in silence, perhaps making brief notes about aspects of it that

they particularly notice in response to the directions, questions, rubric, and standards.

2. Describing the Work • The facilitator asks the group, "What do you see?" • Group members provide answers without making judgments about the quality of the work or their personal preferences. • If a judgment emerges, the facilitator asks for the evidence on which the judgment is based. The evidence should link examples from the video, student work, artifacts, documentation, or written commentary to the rubric, standards, questions, and/or directions. 3. Asking Questions about the Work

• The facilitator asks the group, "What questions does this work raise for you?" • Group members state any questions they have about the video, student work, artifacts, documentation, or written

commentary in reference to the rubric, standards, questions, and/or directions. • The presenting candidate makes notes about these questions (but does not answer them yet).

4. Speculating about What the Student is Working On • The facilitator asks the group, "What is the impact on student learning?” “What did the student(s) learn and not learn?” • Participants, based on their reading or observation of the work, make suggestions about the problems or issues

that the student or students focused on.

5. Hearing from the Presenting Teacher • The facilitator invites the presenting teacher to speak. • The presenting candidate provides her perspective on the student learning, describing what (s)he sees responding to the questions raised, and adding any other information that (s)he feels is important to share with the group. • The presenting candidate also comments on anything surprising or unexpected that (s)he heard during the describing, questioning, and speculating phases.

6. Discussing Implications for Teaching and Learning • The facilitator invites everyone (the participants and the presenting candidate) to share their reflection on the presented work and asks the NBPTS questions, “What would you do next?” and “What would you do differently if you could reteach this?”

7. Reflecting on the Collaborative Assessment Conference • The group reflects together on their experiences of or reactions to the conference as a whole or to particular parts of

it. What went well? What could they do to work together more effectively?

CAC in Action-The Virtual Protocol

• http://www.lasw.org/vp.html

Collaborative Assessment Conference Protocol Simulation

• Using 9th grade social studies responses

Scenario• You are a member of a team of middle school or

high school social studies teachers.• Your students have been asked to write to the

prompt on the next slide and handouts.• Each teacher has scored his or her responses

with the rubric before coming to the group.• One teacher on your team is especially

frustrated by the low level of student responses.• That teacher (presenting candidate) has brought

samples of student work to the conference.

Read through the prompt, rubric, and student responses.

CAC Simulation

• Groups of 4-5

• Choose one person to be the presenting candidate and one to be facilitator.

• 20-30 minutes

Debriefing the CAC

• What went well?

• What was difficult?

• What are the potential benefits of using this protocol on a regular basis?

WHAT NEEDS TO BE IN PLACE FOR EFFECTIVE WORK EXAMINATION MEETINGS TO OCCUR?

Some things look like, or are supposed to be, examining

student work, but aren’t.

• Just because assessments are used, it doesn’t mean they are of good quality.

• Just because data is being collected, it doesn’t mean it’s being used meaningfully.

• Just because teachers are meeting, it doesn’t mean they’re using the time well.

A True Scenario

• In 06/07 the district curriculum coordinator mandated a requirement for a comprehension assessment to be completed 3 times a year K-8. (Data Inventory)

• Student responses were to be scored and data collected in a table format.

• This data was sent to the curriculum coordinator and never seen again.

A True Scenario• In 08/09, a new curriculum coordinator

instructed principals to continue with the assessment, but expected the principal to analyze building data as they relate to the student achievement goals.

• Questions to ask:– Looking at the data collected, what do you do with

it? – What process is used to begin to make sense of

the data?

Building the Context to Examine Student Work

What are the systemic pieces needed in a school to measure student progress over time? What needs to occur?– Decisions are made to collect data.

– Assessments are developed and given.

– Data is collected in some format and provided by teachers.

– Data is analyzed and used to make instructional decisions by teachers.

– Data and student samples are discussed by grade level teams and administrators.

– Student work is used to determine proficiency and the next learning steps.

“Collaborative Inquiry”

• Read the article.

• Pick out one sentence you feel is most important.

• Identify two factors or structures that facilitate collaborative inquiry.

The Context for Examining the Data

• Using the Five Critical Questions of Learning: – What is it we expect them to learn?– How will we teach so that they can learn?– How will we know when they have learned it?– How will we respond when they do not learn?– How will we respond when they already know

it?

Keep in mind…

• The quality of the learning information is dependent upon the quality of the assessment data gathered.

• The teacher needs to see the link between the usefulness of the data being gathered and the learning information about the student it will provide in order to use it to adjust instruction.

Instruction for Learning

• It is what the teacher knows and understands about the quality of the assessment data that determines the quality of learning instruction that occurs in the classroom.

Student Work – A Vehicle for Learning

“Teachers have lately been required to conduct exhaustive, student-by-student reading assessments that can take days to conduct. But few are told how to use their results. We never encountered a single case where teachers used these assessment results to adjust or improve instruction; they used them to group or regroup students.” –

Mike Schmoker

What would we see and hear in a school where effective

examination of student work is occurring?

• What behaviors would you observe?

• What is the evidence?

• How well does your school align with this list?

• What are your next steps?

Anyone too busy to reflect on one’s practice is also too busy

to improve.

Robert Garmston