Data for Student Success Examining Student Work II

1. Data for Student Success Examining Student Work II “It is about focusing on building a culture of quality data through professional development and web based dynamic inquiries for school improvement.”

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

3. Agenda for this Module • Why examine student work? • Ways to examine student work • Factors and structures that facilitate meaningful discussions.

4. Icebreaker: My job is like __________ because ______________.

5. 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.

6. Why Examine Student Work?

7. “If there is anything close to a silver bullet for improving student achievement, it would be the continuous, collaborative examination of student work.”

8. “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

9. 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

10. Beyond the Surface Level Data “You can’t ‘guarantee’ what you don’t monitor.” Mike Schmoker Moving to the student level…

11. Surface Level: What Does Our MEAP Data Tell Us? • Example: MEAP 5th grade reading, 2008-2009

15. Our students did as well as, or better than, the state average. Our students did worse than the state average.

16. Define the Student Learning Issue • 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.”

17. Do our students have a problem with the expectations of this GLCE?

18. 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?

19. How can we examine student work in a meaningful way?

20. Method #1The Examining Student Work Protocol was developed to diagnose student strengths and needs with the primary purpose of informing and adjusting instruction.

21. 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

22. The Examining Student Work Protocol asks teacher teams to • Identify characteristics of proficiency on a GLCE using a specific assignment or assessment. • Diagnose students’ strengths and needs based on their performance. • Determine next instructional steps based on the diagnosis.

23. Foundational Understanding: Summative versus Formative Summative – Assessment of learning Formative - Assessment for learning

24. To use assessment information effectively, teachers must shift their mindset from scoring (a summative examination of) to diagnosing (a formative examination of) student performance.

25. 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.

26. What Does “Proficient” Mean? • Dictionary definition: “well-advanced or competent in any art, science, or subject; skilled • MEAP Level 2 = Proficient • In many cases, students can achieve a Level 2, or “passing” score, if only 50% of their responses are correct. • On the MEAP, “proficient” does not necessarily mean “mastered.”

27. 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?

28. Why is Having a Clear Understanding of Proficiency Important?

29. “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.

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

31. 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?

32. 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.

33. Definition of “consensus” • general agreement or concord; harmony

34. Only after the team has agreed on what constitutes a proficient response are they able to move to the next steps and diagnose student strengths and needs.

35. Walking Through The Examining Student Work Protocol • One way to assess part of R.CM.04.03 at the classroom level: Assess student responses to a compare/contrast prompt by using a targeted rubric. • This GLCE also appears in third grade, and our student samples are from this grade, using the book Tacky the Penguin.

36. Practice with a Targeted Assessment

37. What would proficiency look like on this assessment for a third grader?

38. 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?

39. 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 issue – the problem or challenge (“opportunity”) in a student’s understanding or skills that interferes with the student’s performance.

41. 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?

42. 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?

43. Diagnosing and Planning • Use the “Planning a Data Conference” worksheets to discuss group data with your table. • Be ready to share your plans.

45. Based on what we know, how well does the Compare/Contrast assessment align with this GLCE? • R.CM.03.03 – “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.”

46. Compare/Contrast Assessment with Two Texts

47. Videos of the Examining Student Work Protocol http://www.data4ss.org/resources/

48. 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)

49. 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.

50. 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?