INTRODUCTION: HAVEN'T WE ALWAYS ANALYZED STUDENT WORK? SO, WHAT THE BIG DEAL?
Ronald S. Thomas
Towson University
This year's Maryland ASCD Journal focuses on analyzing student work. In these pages, we are pleased to highlight the efforts of several Maryland educators who describe their experiences in looking at student products in different ways, both on the preK-12 and on the college and university levels.
But haven't teachers always analyzed student work? As a teacher, I remember the many nights I spent at home pouring over student responses to extended constructed responses (or, as we called them then, essay tests) in my social studies class. As you will see in these articles, however, analyzing student work in 2003 means a lot more than it did a few years ago.
First and foremost, we now know that analyzing student work is most effectively done collaboratively. Teachers are working together to understand and analyze the thoughts and ideas of students and to determine the implications of these findings for their future instruction.
Secondly, there are efforts to come to common expectations of what excellent, good, mediocre, and poor responses look like and about the characteristics of excellent assignments. Consistency of expectations among teachers and progression of rigor as students advance through the grades and go on to advanced courses is key if all students are to reach rigorous standards by graduation time.
Finally, there is usually an established protocol that is followed. While the use of a protocol often feels awkward for the participants at first, following established steps reduces defensiveness and builds collaboration, allowing a more thorough and analytical examination to occur.
Enjoy this journal and learn from it. The authors invite you to contact them for further information about their programs. Contact information is at the end of each article.
Maryland ASCD thanks the contributors for sharing their outstanding work with us.
Dr. Ronald S. Thomas is the Associate Director, Center for Leadership in Education, at Towson University. He may be reached at rathomas@towson.edu .