Look at Student Work & Data

Look at Student Work

Objective: Describe what students currently know and can do by looking at student work

Purpose: This step will enable your team to build a shared understanding of trends across student work samples so that the team is prepared to name a Learner-Centered Problem. It’s important to remember that the purpose of this particular meeting is not to do a deep dive into each individual student, but to find a balance between breadth and depth such that the team can analyze and understand enough work to see trends.

Recommended time: 25-40 minutes

Preparation: Be sure to ask your teammates to bring enough copies of student work, student names hidden, for each team member. While it’s worthwhile to triangulate by looking at student work samples from every teacher on your team, consider the number of work samples that your team can thoughtfully digest and build shared understanding of at one time. We find that 3-5 pieces at a time is ideal, but this also depends on the time you allot to analyzing student work. Lastly, decide how your team will take notes on student work samples.

Look at Student Data

Objective: Identify a lens to look at student work by reviewing a data overview and a calibrated rubric.

Describe what students currently know and can do within the specified rubric element by looking at student work.

Purpose: This protocol leverages a data overview from a recent assessment to narrow what the team is looking for in student work samples. For example, you might bring essays from an Interim assessment to this meeting, but look at Interim data first to determine that you’ll be analyzing student use of evidence in the writing samples. Using data first creates a lens for looking at student work.

Recommended time : 45-55 minutes

Preparation: Create a data visual of your team’s aggregate writing or open response data on each strand of your team’s normed rubric. Check in with your team and support them in identifying a low, medium, and high student work sample to bring to the meeting. This should be a representative set of student work of the range of performance in each classroom. Make sure the work that each teacher brings is either from the same task or is aligned to the same standard(s). Lastly, decide how your team will take notes, either using this LASW template or this LASW template: google doc, paper copies, or re-created on a poster.

Name a Learner-Centered Problem

Objective: Hypothesize and name a Learner-Centered Problem by identifying the gap between where students are and where the grade-level standards define proficiency

Purpose: A specific and small Learner-Centered Problem is a critical product of every inquiry cycle. Use this protocol to help your team learn about what makes a high-quality Learner-Centered Problem, synthesize their analysis of student work samples, and name a Learner-Centered Problem that meets all the quality indicators.

Recommended time: 10-20 min

Preparation: Before starting this protocol, complete a Looking at Student Work protocol with your team. Make sure the team can easily reference their student work sample notes. Become familiar with the quality indicators of a Learner-Centered Problem so you are prepared to support your team in naming one that meets the criteria.

Remember that the focus here is naming the gap between proficiency on a given skill or standard and where students are currently performing, so make sure your team can refer to the work you’ve done as a team unpacking standards, creating grade level exemplars, and noting trends in student work samples.

Identify Focus Students

Objective: Analyze multiple data points for individual students and choose 3–5 focus students to guide our inquiry

Purpose: Equity -- ie, improving the performance of our most struggling students -- lies at the heart of inquiry. Use this protocol to help each teacher identify 3-5 struggling students that will guide your collaborative inquiry for the cycle.

Recommended time: 20-30 minutes

Preparation: Ensure that all team members have updated the Strategic Inquiry Focus Student Data Tracker, and that the data visuals are ready to view.

Name a Learner-Centered Problem for Focus Students

Objective: Draft one learner-centered problem for the group of focus students

Purpose: Equity -- ie, improving the performance of our most struggling students -- lies at the heart of inquiry. Use this protocol to identify a specific and small Learner-Centered Problem for the group of focus students you named in a previous protocol.

Recommended time: 25-35 minutes

Preparation: Prior to using this protocol, analyze student data to select focus students to guide your inquiry.