Introduction

Learning from Student Work means using the 4 PLC questions, teachers engage in collaborative processes (e.g., TBT, BLT) focused on student work to identify student strengths/needs, research, plan, implement, monitor strategies, and adjust instruction.

Key Components

The Student Work Analysis Protocol was designed using the 4 PLC questions as a way for teachers to engage in collaborative processes that focus on student work. The benefits of this work include:

Increased professional knowledge about curriculum, students, methods, strategies, assessments, and contextual factors.
Positive opportunities to collaboratively share expertise and move away from isolated teaching.
School improvement goals and resource allocation are driven by classroom data.
Professional development planning is targeted to teachers’ needs based on student evidence.

The three steps of the protocol are outlined below. Teachers and teams are encouraged to to use this process as they analyze student work.

Step 1: Reaching Consensus about Proficiency - Read over the formative or performance task and discuss the following questions: (PLC questions 1 & 2)

What do we want all students to know and be able to do? Grade level Standards (KNOW)
How will we know if they learn it? Assessment (SHOW)

Step 2: Diagnosing Student Strengths and Needs - After reaching consensus, read over the student work and without scoring, do a “quick sort” of students’ work by the general degree of the objectives met, partially met, not met.

Step 3: Identifying Instructional Next Steps - After diagnosing what the student knows and still needs to learn, discuss as a team the learning needs for the students in each level considering the following questions: (PLC questions 3 & 4)

How will we respond when some students do not learn? Interventions/Enrichment
How will we extend the learning for students who are already proficient? Extension

Connection to Learning Design Process

Learning From Student Work is directly embedded into the Lesson Design Process. Four parts of the design process expand on the four PLC questions and provide supporting questions as teachers design unit/lesson plans.

Part 1: What do my students need to know and be able to do?
Part 2: How will I know that my students have learned it?
Part 4: How will I respond when some students do not learn it?
Part 5: How will I extend the learning for students who have already learned it?