Stories from the Field: Lessons from Designing Successful “Learning from Student Work” Sessions
Reported from the field by Erin Howard
We’ve been working with incredible middle schools in a southern California school district with an overall aim to improve school-wide systems, instructional practices, and school culture so that Black and Brown students reach their fullest potential in Math.
This year, our team, in partnership with the district, is prioritizing rigor and discourse, data-informed continuous improvement, and authentic Race, Class, Culture, and Power (RCCP) integration in school-wide systems.
One of the wonderful schools we work with is making incredible progress on all fronts. And yet, the Math teachers, intent on always improving, requested that we spend more time as a Math team intentionally analyzing student work. That brought me to my Theory of Action at the school:
If their Math department builds their “Learning from Student Work” skill, then we will more effectively address student misconceptions through reteach and intervention and ultimately see growth in Math achievement.
When planning our first Learning from Student Work session, I had a few design principles:
Creating a brave space: We reflected on the question, “How do you feel when looking at student work?,” because, let’s face it, teachers work really hard to deliver impactful lessons, and sometimes the student work shows otherwise. We have to acknowledge that sometimes, students’ work shows their understanding, and sometimes it reveals their confusion. That can be disappointing. We were able to normalize that “Learning from Student Work” in a reflective and meaningful way is a vulnerable practice.
Centering equity: First, I revised the norms to include “Be anchored in equity - how can we support all students?” Then, we had a meaningful department conversation on what equity means in “Learning from Student Work” before starting the protocol. Lastly, we ended our session with, “How will today’s work lead to more equitable outcomes in your class?”
Intentional alignment: The district regularly leads Learning from Student Work sessions with teachers, so the essence of the protocol followed their tried and true process:
Gather student work and determine an exemplar and what students need to know and show in their work
Analyze and sort student work to determine the strengths and highest leverage misconception(s) to address
Create a gap statement and plan the reteach
Action Oriented: I allocated 50% of our time together to plan intervention and reteach - this was a shift from the typical protocol. By dedicating more time to reteaching and intervention, teachers were empowered to better support students intentionally.
How did it go?
Quantitatively…
100% of teachers participated in two rounds of Learning from Student work and continued the protocol on their own, on a weekly or biweekly basis
100% of teachers implemented their reteach and intervention plan with integrity
89% of 6th graders scored 80% or higher on their subsequent assessment (improved from 56%)
8th grade data improved from 31% to 75%
Qualitatively…
Teachers were candid, vulnerable, and student-centered in their reflections. What had felt like a very technical protocol shifted to being more relational.
Coming out of our first session, a pair of co-teachers strategized a new co-teaching model. Now, these teachers use data to inform flexible grouping daily.
I am so grateful to work with the school’s team, because I always leave our time together having learned a lot. For example, we need to…
Go slow to go fast: Take time at the start of technical practices (lesson planning, data analysis, unit unpacking) to check in on how folks are feeling, what they may be holding, and what they might need to authentically and vulnerably engage. And end similarly - hold space for equity reflection so that we are not only building technical skills but also self-awareness so that we can positively and effectively show up for Black and Brown students.
Align minutes to action: Teachers want to make adjustments in their classrooms, and yet, have so much to do. When I left professional development sessions (PDs) as a teacher, my mind completely shifted to something else. So, when we are holding professional development spaces, we have to dedicate at least half of our time for teachers to implement the action step they’ve arrived at. Teachers should leave a PD or coaching meeting 100% prepared to implement.
I’m excited to see what further progress we’ll see with the remaining schools. As an educator thinking about holding spaces for teacher development, what will you prioritize in your planning and facilitation?
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