Resources
Student Work Web Sites
Many readers of Looking at Student Work have asked for actual samples of student work to be posted. This page provides links to web sites that post authentic samples of student work, along with teacher and student commentary, information about instruction and assessment criteria, etc.
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Active Learning Practices for Schools (ALPS)
This is a Harvard Project Zero project. If you enter the site and click on the "Look" button, you get images of "What meaningful teaching and learning look like": nice case studies of projects with images of student work and the assessment of it. There's lots of other interesting information on the site, including a curriculum building tool.
http://learnweb.harvard.edu/alps
Annenberg/CPB Channel
Making Teaching Public - Interactive Workshop Pasadena (CA) High School teachers use a peer-observation process observing one another in their classrooms, then meeting individually and in groups to offer feedback as a way to improve teaching practice and student achievement. Includes description, samples of student work, online activities, viewer activities, and resources.
http://www.learner.org/channel/workshops/criticalissues/overview.htmlCatalyst: Voices of Chicago School Reform
The December 1999 issue features "Learning to teach better by examining student work. A budding trend and the research behind it." The article includes teacher stories, research findings, and examples of student work. Most interesting of the student work are the samples of high-scoring, typical and low-scoring student work from grade 6 writing, accompanied by the assignments and teacher analysis.
http://www.catalyst-chicago.org/
Electronic Learning Marketplace
A lively center for the exchange of ideas, information, and high quality products related to Maine's goal of promoting learning toward clearly defined and rigorous standards. Includes teacher developed assessments with student work and teacher reflections posted.
http://www.elm.maine.edu/index.asp
Exemplars
This site features teacher assignments with benchmarked student work samples and offers classroom-tested standards-based assessment materials. Each of the following categories is keyed to national standards and includes rubrics and annotated benchmark papers: Math, Science, Reading/Writing/Research, Professional Development.
http://www.exemplars.com/index.html
Hoover Middle School Teachers Examine Student Work
The history team at Hoover Middle School in Long Beach, California meets weekly to scrutinize student work and their own lessons -- a process that team leader Mary Massich describes as "the most powerful experience in my professional life." On this Web page, read a story about the Hoover team's work, listen in on an actual "critical friends" session, examine the student work yourself, and review the Hoover teachers' tips for other teachers who want to start their own collaborative groups.
http://www.middleweb.com/Hooverpromo.html
New York State Academy for Teaching and Learning
This website shows the samples of student work and assessment plans (scoring guides, rubrics) of New York State teachers who volunteer to participate in a peer review process. The learning experiences developed by these teachers that are featured and stored at this website reflect their professional dedication and commitment to improve the quality of education for all students.
http://www.nysatl.nysed.gov/
The Project Approach
This site includes a list of projects you can read about. For each project you will find summary accounts together with pictures of the children engaged in various activities. When the projects are first posted there will just be text. Gradually pictures and samples of children's work will be added along with teacher reflection and student comments. The text is always written by the teacher who carried out the project and/or a participant observer in the classroom.
http://www.ualberta.ca/~schard/examples/projects.htm
Schools Around the World
The Council for Basic Education's Schools Around the World program collects student work in science and mathematics from 9 countries/regions: Australia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hong Kong SAR, Japan, Portugal, United Kingdom and United States. Focused on professional develoment for teachers, this web site includes the SAW protocol for looking at student work, on-line courses and special presentations.
Sunnyside Elementary School
See first and second grade student work created using content on the web, teacher assessments, teacher profile and more. Featured on the PBS Digital Divide program.
http://www.psd267.wednet.edu/~kfranz/index.htm
TCRecord
Two articles examine high-stakes testing from the perspective of the students taking the tests and provide important insights into the assumptions of policy makers regarding student motivation. Lots of student work was looked at (now posted on the web site), by researchers, for very interesting purposes. You have to register to view the articles but it's simple and free.
1. What Can Student Drawings Tell Us About High-Stakes Testing in Massachusetts?
2. Student Self-Portraits as Test-Takers: Variations, Contextual Differences, and Assumptions about Motivation
http://www.tcrecord.org/default.asp
The Web Project
Based in Vermont, "The WEB Project" has built models for online learning, examples of which can be seen at the WEB Exchange. Teachers, students, and mentors discuss student projects, engage in dialogs about literature or public issues, and exchange information across the state and around the world.
http://www.webproject.org
What did you do in the war, Grandma?
http://www.stg.brown.edu/projects/WWII_Women/tocCS.html
An Oral History of Rhode Island Women during World War II, written by students in the Honors English Program at South Kingstown High School. Includes interveiws of 26 women, with photos and audio, a great glossary and timeline, as well as essays on "Teaching English via Oral History", "It Was Everybody's War" and "Women and World War II."
What Story Does the Work Tell?
A Resource of Curricular Units, Student Work, and Commentary
This publication is a tool to help teachers look at student work. The work samples, accompanying commentary, and assessment tools featured in this publication originate from students and teachers in Philadelphia public school classrooms who have participated in the Philadelphia Education Fund's Small Learning Community Mini-Grants program.
http://www.philaedfund.org/slcweb/