Analyzing Student Work

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Analyzing Student Work
Robert V. Jervis Consultant for the Council of
Chief Staff School Officers Comprehensive Social
Studies Assessment Project
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Analyzing Student Work A Research-Based Model

• A Strategy for improving student achievement
  adapted from the Standards in Practice Model
  available from ASCD

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Analyzing Student Work

• Why is analyzing student work the logical next
  step in curriculum alignment and module
  development?
• A Focus on Teaching
• or
• A Focus on Learning

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The Learning Blueprint FOCUSING ON INSTRUCTIONAL
PRIORITIES

• TARGETING
• ASSESSING
• TEACHING
• FEEDBACK
• Teacher
• Student

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The Learning Blueprint FOCUSING ON INSTRUCTIONAL
PRIORITIES

• TARGETING
• ASSESSING
• FEEDBACK TO TEACHERS
• TEACHING
• FEEDBACK TO TEACHERS AND STUDENTS

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What can an analysis of student work tell us?

• Principles that guide effective instruction
• Are teachers teaching to the standards?
• Is there alignment of standards (curriculum),
  instruction, and assessment?
• Are teacher tasks and activities elevating
  student thinking to the level of the standards?
• Does assessment provide feedback to students of
  progress toward understanding?
• Is there rigorous instruction in the classroom?

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High Expectations of All Students

• Continuous collaborative feedback to the
  teaching-learning process enables students to
  rise to the level of the standard.

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Rigorous Assignments

• Students can do no better than the assignments
  they are given.

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A Focus on Learning

• What is it we want all students to learn?
• How will we know if they have learned it?
• How will we respond when they dont?
• Rick DuFour

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Analyzing Student Work

• What does a training model for analyzing student
  work look like?

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Analyzing Student Work

• Summative Assessments
• Rigor of Assignments
• Alignment to Standards
• Quality of Student Work
• Teacher and Student Feedback

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Other Benefits of Focusing on Analyzing Student
Work

• Functioning as a Team Member
• Planning and Assessing Collaboratively
• Discussion of Higher Order Thinking Skills
• Sharing in the Teaching-Learning Process
• Justification for including Team Planning as
  Priority During the School Day

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Nuts and Bolts of the Process
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Phase I Analyzing the Task

• The team meets to review the task focusing on the
  rigor of the task and the context for
  demonstrating understanding
• The team discusses the standards identified for
  the task and discusses how well this task
  demonstrates an understanding of these standards
• The team reviews the scoring guide for the task
  to ensure that the criteria provides
• Clear and accurate directions for the student
• Specific criteria for developing the product or
  performance
• Opportunities for students to demonstrate
  understanding

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PRESENTING THE TASKThe Teacher Cover Sheet

• Context for the Task
• Connection to Standards
• The Task
• The Scoring Tool

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Phase IIAnalyzing Student Work

• The teacher provides
• A brief review of the task
• A brief review of the scoring guide
• A review of the standards related to the task
• The team
• Uses the scoring guide individually to score the
  student samples
• Discusses the scores with the team and shares
  strengths and weaknesses of the student work
  using the scoring guide as the basis for comment
• Suggests specific teaching strategies which might
  improve student achievement

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Feedback Form

• Phase I Guiding Questions
• High Expectations
• Focus on State Standards
• Effectiveness of Scoring Tool
• Phase II Guiding Questions
• Task Revision
• Coming to Consensus
• Constructive Feedback

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Role Definition

• What are the roles of all of the participants in
  the process?

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BREAK TIME

• Day Dreaming Time

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Critical Roles in the Implementation Process

• The Facilitator
• The Principal of the School
• Team Members
• Outside Support

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RESOURCE GUIDETechnical Support

• Helping the school team plan the task
• Rigor
• Connection to Standards
• Creating the Scoring Tool
• Monitoring the Process
• Understanding the Task
• Scoring Process
• Coming to Consensus
• Feedback on Teaching Strategies

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RESOURCE GUIDETechnical Support

• Encouraging Principal Support
• Purpose
• Process
• Commitment
• Role of Each Stakeholder
• Team and Teacher Selection
• Talking and Walking with the Principal
• Student Work on Display
• Connection to Research-Based Strategies and
  On-Going Initiatives
• Staff Readiness
• Logistics

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IMPLEMENTATION MODEL

• Organizing for Success
• Forming Teams
• Collecting Data
• Analyzing Results
• Providing Feedback on the Plan

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MONITORING FOR STUDENT PERFORMANCE

• Principal Observations
• Student Behaviors
• Interaction with Students
• Samples of Student Work

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Planning an Onsite Visit

• Critical Roles in the Process
• The Instructional Monitoring Process
• Setting Priorities for the Visit
• Initial Visit A Focus on Instruction
• Second Visit Analysis of Student Work

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Pause for ReflectionSharing Ideas

• Other Ideas for Getting A School Started in the
  Process
• Teaching Goal Setting
• Providing Resources
• Schedule and Planning
• Highlighting Team Efforts
• Expanding the Nucleus to a School-Wide Initiative

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Application
Lets see if it flies!
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A Sample Task
Part Two Modeling the Process
Buy me! Buy me!
Adapted from Focused Feedback, Marcy
Emburger Maryland Classroom, September, 2000
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Assessing the Worth of the Task

• Is this task worth the effort it will take to
  develop and score it?
• Is it a DOL IV task in which students are asked
  to problem solve, make a decision, investigate an
  issue, or invent something?
• If it is a writing assignment, is the topic worth
  writing about and of interest to the the
  students?
• Are students being challenged?

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Context of the Task
This task is part of an 8th grade unit on how
magazines use art and persuasive techniques to
persuade us to buy their products. At the
beginning of the unit, the teacher asked students
to talk about what they already knew about
advertisements in magazines and on television.
She also used examples of various kinds of
advertising to demonstrate techniques of
advertising. She modeled the process of
analyzing advertisements to identify the
persuasive techniques by using a think aloud
strategy to explain her thinking to the
class. She then had several students practice the
process as they analyzed various advertisements
and went through the think aloud process for the
rest of the class. Class discussion added
additional information to the process. Students
then worked in small groups so each student would
have the opportunity to use the think aloud
process to analyze an advertisement from a
magazine. The teacher is now ready to
individually assess student understanding of how
magazine advertisements are used to persuade us
to buy their products.
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Assessing the Connection of the Task to State
Content Standards

• Does the task provide evidence of an
  understanding of a state standard(s)?
• Is the connection the teacher making a realistic
  one?
• Are there opportunities to connect this task to
  standards in other program areas?
• Are connections made to specific skills?

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Standards

• This task targets the following indicators
• Writing to Inform (Grades 6-8)
• Students support all statements and claims with
  relevant anecdotes, descriptions, facts,
  statistics, and/or specific information.
• Students write reports for an intended audience
  that convey a clear and accurate perspective on
  the subject, and that support the main idea with
  facts, details, and explanations.
• Students write essays for an intended audience
  and purpose that state the thesis or purpose of
  the paper, that follow an organizational pattern,
  and that offer compelling evidence in the form of
  facts and details to support the thesis.

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Assessing the Scoring Tool

• Does the scoring tool provide clear and accurate
  directions telling the students what the product
  should look like?
• Does the scoring tool provide opportunities for
  the student to be creative and inventive?
• Does the scoring tool provide opportunities to
  demonstrate understanding?

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Rubric
4 This answer shows a thorough understanding of
the advertisement with evidence of connections
between the readers ideas and the advertisement
the answer has references to text/art in support
of inferences to the advertisements
effectiveness responses indicate clear personal
judgment with support. 3 This answer shows a
good understanding and evidence of connections to
the readers ideas the answer has references to
text/art in support of inferences to the
advertisements effectiveness responses indicate
a personal judgment with some support. 2 This
answer shows some surface understanding of
persuasion the answer has minimal references to
text/art in support of inferences to the
advertisements effectiveness responses indicate
little personal judgment of effectiveness. 1
This answer indicates there may be some
understanding of the advertisement, but there is
little evidence of constructing meaning (some
unsupported inferences). 0 No evidence of
understanding
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Scoring the Task (Individually)
Is each team member using the scoring guide to
score the student samples? Is each team member
scoring each example of student work? Are they
keeping their score confidential until it is time
to discuss the score with the team? FOCUSED
FEEDBACK Is the feedback corrective in nature? Is
the feedback specific to the criteria and the
scoring guide? Have I used questions to focus the
feedback on specific criteria? Have I provided
some positive feedback? Will I be able to use the
focused feedback to make suggestions to the
teacher?
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What did the students work show?

• A need to do some re-teaching
• Student work showed only a surface understanding
  of the criteria.
• Students did not make connections between their
  ideas and the advertisements.
• Most students were not able to link the art and
  the text.
• Responses did not indicate clear personal
  judgment with relevant or adequate support.

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FOCUSED FEEDBACK

• Is the feedback corrective in nature?
• Is the feedback specific to the criteria and the
  scoring guide?
• Is the feedback provided in a positive manner?
• Does the feedback lead to specific suggested
  teaching strategies for the classroom?

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Teaching Strategies

• What are the areas in which students are
  performing well?
• What teaching strategies seem to be working well?
  
• What are the areas in which students need to
  improve?
• What specific teaching strategies might we
  suggest to bring about improvement?
• What specific feedback should the teacher give
  the students about overall performance on this
  task?
• Are there any students who need individual help
  in critical areas of performance?

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Teacher Feedback
How I have helped the team become a more
effective instructional unit?
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Analyzing Student Work

• Analyzing student work is a logical extension of
  the module development process
• Provides the critical element of feedback to the
  planning process