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Welcome friends to PassedTPA. Today we will discuss Collecting Student Work Samples and
Providing Feedback.
Every subject requires three student work samples, except special education.
Generally, work samples are documents of some kind, such as paper-pencil assessments, though
in some subject areas, video of student performance may be used as work sample evidence. Note
that physical education requires work samples in the form of videos. And, in special education,
there are additional elements associated with the focus learner’s performance, including
daily assessment record and baseline performance data.
Some formatting requirements and procedures for work samples include the following.
Conceal names including student, teacher, school, or district.
Refer to work samples as Student 1 Work Sample, Student 2 Work Sample, and so on. As mentioned,
some subject areas permit video format work samples, such as physical education or special
education. You need not conceal student names in videos but may refer to students by their
first names, and nearby adults by their preferred name.
Although most portfolios will include documents as work samples, the exact characteristics
of the document may vary depending on subject area. In most cases, the document will be
an assessment. In other cases it will be a document with inserted photographs and captions,
such as an artistic work for visual arts.
Illegible writing or incompressible speech as part of a work sample may require transcription
so selecting focus students who will produce evidence that does not require transcription
saves time.
Let’s briefly examine some segments of student work samples from high-scoring portfolios.
Here’s a work sample for elementary literacy
And a portion of a sample from elementary mathematics
English language arts
English language learners
history social studies
secondary science
secondary mathematics
visual arts
performing arts
physical education
and special education.
Digitizing work samples is readily done using a digital camera or camera phone. A scanner
can also be used.
Digital images created with cameras may be copy-pasted into word processing software
and saved as document files.
Handbooks do not require use of the chosen or final assessment as the work sample. However,
writing prompts for task three include elements that make use of the assessment an excellent
option for the work sample.
Using the assessment as the work sample requires inclusion of items that generate quantitative-numerical
and qualitative-descriptive information.
The assessment should also be aligned with learning the targets in explicit ways, such
as including words shown in targets as part of assessment items.
The assessment should have an evaluation criteria for analyzing student learning, both of the
whole class and individual focus students. The evaluation criteria may take many forms,
such as rubric, description, right-wrong checklist, answer key, or combination of these.
The evaluation criteria will assist in producing analysis that is quantitative and qualitative.
Analysis of whole class and focus student learning is made easy using a preassessment
and postassessment model, since performance can be examined across time through changes
in pre- and postassessment scores.
Writing prompts for task three require description of student learning in the form of a graphic,
such as table or chart, or narrative. This example shows a graphic of whole class learning
in a table and chart comparing pre- to postassessment performance.
The same analysis can be applied to individual focus students.
Feedback is most often, and most efficiently, written on the work sample. However all portfolios
permit submission of feedback in audio or video files, one file for each focus learner.
If a video is used to show feedback, it must also show student use of academic language
and be five minutes or less.
In the area of physical education, feedback will likely be shown on the student work sample
video, but there is also an option for submitting written feedback.
Some formatting requirements and procedures for feedback include the following.
Cite the location of feedback in commentary, such as, “feedback for students is shown
on the work samples,” or “feedback for students is shown on the physical education
instruction video at four minutes and 32 seconds.”
Feedback not written on the work sample will be managed as separate files and labeled Student
1 Feedback, Student 2 Feedback, and so on.
Illegible writing or incompressible speech requires transcription, so ensure the clarity
and quality in written or spoken feedback.
For students who are unable to read or write, feedback may be written on the work sample,
with an indication the teacher read the feedback and recorded student responses.
Whether feedback is written or spoken it must contain three elements. It must identify correct
and incorrect performance. It must identify resource(s) for helping improve performance,
such as getting help from a teacher, peer, handout, or textbook. And it must prompt students
to respond. An ideal response is to have students make corrections to the work sample or assessment.
Thanks for participating in this module of PassedTPA, Collecting Student Work Samples
and Providing Feedback.