Student Work as Formative Assessment

One of the most effective ways of assessing student progress is through student work and high quality feedback. Research shows that when students receive frequent feedback designed to help them improve, they are more successful. Similarly, students who are exposed to student work and feedback are more likely to learn from their own work and the work of others. This is why teachers are asked to post student work with descriptive feedback in the classroom and hallway. Posting student work also provides students with an opportunity to feel successful about the work they do and receive recognition from their peers.

To help you prepare high-quality tasks for your students and display in the hallways consult the following resources:

Student Work Analysis Protocol (and Student Work Reflections/Feedback Form)
SLPS Project Description Sheet

High-quality student work should demonstrate a deeper level understanding (DOK 3 & 4) and indicate a student's achievement towards a specific learning target or standard. When posting student work, work should include a project description sheet, rubric and descriptive feedback. Multi-step projects or processes should be displayed, rather than simple recall worksheets or exit tickets. The examples below are recent examples of student work postings from our hallways that reflect some of the work students are doing in ELA classrooms:

Would you like to win a donut for reading the blog? What about a cup of coffee? Be one of the first five teachers to e-mail a task (with rubric) that you plan to use in your classroom in an upcoming lesson to Mr. Archer for feedback and you'll receive a donut and coffee the week after Spring Break! You'll also receive feedback about the task you plan to do with your students.