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Excerpt from Leaders of Their Own Learning

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Kindergartner, Trinity, shares her academic progress, supported by evidence from her portfolio, with her parents and teacher, Jennifer Rocker, at Delaware Ridge Elementary School in Kansas City, KS.

This video accompanies the book Leaders of Their Own Learning: Transforming Schools through Student-Engaged Assessment.

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Flip traditional parent-teacher conferences on their head and put students in charge of the discussion.

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Developing Agency With Student-Led Conferences

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Developing Agency With Student-Led Conferences

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Grade 8 (5 min.)

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When students lead meetings with their parents and teachers, they gain a voice in their education and develop skills like goal-setting and metacognition.

This video is part of our How Learning Happens series, which explores teaching practices grounded in the science of learning and human development.

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Developing Agency With Student-Led Conferences

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When students lead meetings with their parents and teachers, they gain a voice in their education and develop skills like goal-setting and metacognition. This video is part of our How Learning Happens series, which explores teaching practices grounded in the science of learning and human development.

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Oakland’s Graduate Capstone Project: It’s About Equity

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Oakland’s Graduate Capstone Project: It’s About Equity

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What should a high school student be able to do upon graduation?
While students ultimately choose many different roads after high school, the Oakland Unified School District has made a commitment that we will prepare all students for college, career, and community. To this end, we expect all seniors to complete a Graduate Capstone Project in which students choose a topic, conduct original field research, write a research paper, and present orally to an audience that includes school staff and often community members.

Research shows that, when designed and implemented well, performance assessments like OUSD's Capstone Project are essential for measuring and improving student performance with higher-order thinking skills like inquiry, research, analysis, problem solving, and communication. They are also essential for developing other important skills, like planning, organizing, reflecting, and self-assessing, as well as teaching students to be resourceful and resilient.

Oakland's decision to institute a senior project in 2005 was rooted in advancing these goals. However, for many years, the district had not made any concerted effort to support the equitable implementation of the requirement. Five years ago, it was common for seniors at some schools to complete a rigorous research project and defend it publicly in front of strangers, while their peers at other schools were not expected to complete any kind of project in order to graduate.

Our teachers surfaced these equity issues, and together we began an effort to promote consistent expectations of high-level work through what we now call the Graduate Capstone Project. The work began in earnest in 2014, when teachers from a handful of schools convened first to identify a set of key graduation competencies, then to incorporate those competencies into evaluation rubrics, and finally to pilot them in their schools.

One high school's experience with the rubrics illustrates their importance. At this school, students in all career academies had to write a paper as part of the senior project, but the academies had never used the same rubric for scoring until the 2014-15 school year. During that academic year, they also required every paper in the school to be scored without the students' names and by two adults.

When the first drafts of the papers were scored in May, every single student from the academy with the highest number of Black students failed. This was not a failing of those students. Rather, the results revealed that the students in this academy had been allowed for years to think that their work was meeting a standard for college. When the school adapted a common rubric for all seniors and created a transparent scoring process, it exposed a history of low expectations.

Those students with unsatisfactory first drafts rallied with the help of teachers to improve the quality of their work in the final days before graduation. More importantly, the teachers and staff organized to figure out how to ensure students in all academies would not only be held to the same rigorous expectations the following year, but would also receive the same high-quality instructional supports to be successful. Their key steps included having regular meetings of the Graduate Capstone Project teachers to share instructional practices, identifying an adult mentor in the school for every senior, and moving up deadlines to ensure that students receive early feedback on the progress of their projects. The following year, students from all academies had comparable pass rates on the Capstone research paper.

By looking at student work and discussing how we would score it using the rubric, teachers calibrate their expectations of what high-quality work looks and sounds like.

This story speaks to the value of clear expectations for quality and to the even more critical question of how we ensure that all students learn what they need to be successful. In Oakland, we have found that the real opportunity of having common rubrics has been the resulting conversations that teachers have been able to have across our district. These conversations have led teachers to change their practices to reflect the level and types of instructional supports students need to be successful. Four times a year and for a week every summer, Graduate Capstone Project teachers from across our high schools learn together. We start with the rubrics because they give us a common language, but we don't stop there.

By looking at student work and discussing how we would score it using the rubric, teachers calibrate their expectations of what high-quality work looks and sounds like. From there, they learn about different instructional practices from their peers and from instructional experts. They investigate these practices by trying them in their own classrooms to see whether they support all students to achieve the level of quality that we expect

With the district having adopted the common rubric, our next step is to begin central collection of data relating to student performance on the Graduate Capstone Project. With these data, we will be able to conduct a detailed analysis across school sites and student groups to understand how well we are meeting our equity goals by preparing all students with the knowledge and skills they need after graduation.

In 2017, we surveyed graduating seniors for the first time to better understand how they felt the Graduate Capstone Project was supporting their development of key college-ready skills. The results were promising: 83% of the 1,290 students who took the survey said the assessment was valuable for improving their skills as researchers; 81% said it was valuable for improving their skills as writers; and 84% said it was valuable for improving their skills as presenters. Further, 81% of the student respondents said the Graduate Capstone Project was valuable in helping them become more proactive learners. We'll continue to administer this survey annually.

As we move forward, we hope to work with an external evaluator on a rigorous evaluation of the impact of the Graduate Capstone Project on student skills, engagement, and graduation rates. In the meantime, feedback from students and staff tells us we are on the right track. Our alumni come back and say their Capstone helped them get ready for college. Educators, for their part, remark on the sense of accomplishment students feel on completion of a Capstone and their excitement and engagement as they explore issues they care about.

We have included teachers as true partners at all stages of the work, from identifying key competencies for our graduates to revising the rubrics and developing the instructional improvement goals.

There are several practices that have contributed to our progress from a district that lacked a clear way to assess graduate outcomes to a district that has articulated competencies that are measured using common rubrics at most of our high schools. As central office leaders, we have listened to our teachers, whose perspectives are too rarely taken into consideration when making decisions. We have included teachers as true partners at all stages of the work, from identifying key competencies for our graduates to revising the rubrics and developing the instructional improvement goals. We have modeled the process of calibration on scoring student work, so that principals and teachers can lead this process with their staffs. We have also provided guidance to leaders to ensure that there are financial resources for teachers to participate in professional learning both during the school year and over the summer.

In our schools that have embraced this work most fully, we hear the staff having conversations about the quality of student Graduate Capstone Project work at various levels of the school-from grade level to department to career pathway to instructional leadership. If you walk through these schools during Graduate Capstone Project presentations, the audience won't just be teachers who work with seniors. Instead, you will see members of the entire high school staff, because they understand that their efforts throughout a student's high school career are a critical part of a senior's success.

By starting with the end in mind, the school faculty can see where their instructional strengths and gaps are and set clear improvement goals. These concerted and unified efforts by a school to improve instruction lead to better student outcomes. There's no quick fix for improving a school. Instead, it takes deliberate and persistent work for a school to transform student learning so that schools fulfill our promise to educate all students.
Young Whan Choi is the Manager of Performance Assessments for the Oakland Unified School District.

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Oakland's Graduate Capstone Project: It's About Equity

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What should a high school student be able to do upon graduation? While students ultimately choose many different roads after high school, the Oakland Unified School District has made a commitment that we will prepare all students for college, career, and community.

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The Power of Performance Assessments: Oakland Unified’s Graduate Capstone Project

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The Power of Performance Assessments: Oakland Unified’s Graduate Capstone Project

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(6 min.)

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The Power of Performance Assessments: Oakland Unified’s Graduate Capstone Project

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The Power of Performance Assessments: Oakland Unified’s Graduate Capstone Project

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The Power of Performance Assessments: Oakland Unified’s Graduate Capstone Project

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(6 min.)

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The Power of Performance Assessments: Oakland Unified’s Graduate Capstone Project

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pages 24-39

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Transforming Schools - Chapters 1-3 combined.pdf

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Tarshea Buffin - Envision Schools - Senior Portfolio Defense (Part III)

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Tarshea Buffin - Envision Schools - Senior Portfolio Defense (Part III)

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HS (5 min)

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Tarshea Buffin - Envision Schools - Senior Portfolio Defense (Part III)

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Gabriella, a seventh-grade student at the Washington Heights Expeditionary Learning School (WHEELS) in New York City discusses her academic progress with her father at her student-led family conference. Learning targets, derived from Common Core standards, anchor Gabriella’s reflections on her progress. 

This video accompanies the book Leaders of Their Own Learning: Transforming Schools through Student-Engaged Assessment.

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The Power of Defenses

The mark of a well-designed defense of learning is that when you watch one, you know exactly what the school is about: whom it serves, what it values, and the quality of work its student produce. It's the ultimate "show, don't tell."

What students defend and to whom they make their defense varies in creative, practical and school specific ways. Regardless of the variations on well-designed defenses, the transforming effect that they have on learning communities is similar.

Defenses help schools focus on what is elemental to its core around teaching and learning. Defenses also help students make sense of their education. Students have deep understanding of what they must learn and are not only asked to do work but to also reflect on what it means.

Defenses of learning offer schools a strong leverage for transforming itself into a place of deeper learning.

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Defending Learning - Envision Learning Partners

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The mark of a well-designed defense of learning is that when you watch one, you know exactly what the school is about: whom it serves, what it values, and the quality of work its student produce. It's the ultimate "show, don't tell."

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One District's Graduation Portfolio and Defense

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One District's Graduation Portfolio and Defense

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In order to graduate, an LAUSD student must assemble a portfolio of work that demonstrates how he or she has met the standards of the LAUSD Graduate Profile. The student selects evidence from the portfolio and orally defends, in front of a live panel:
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In order to graduate, an LAUSD student must assemble a portfolio of work that demonstrates how he or she has met the standards of the LAUSD Graduate Profile. The student selects evidence from the...

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The Envision Portfolio-Defense System: Tiana

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The Envision Portfolio-Defense System: Tiana

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HS 7 min.

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The Envision Portfolio-Defense System: Tiana

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The Teaching Channel: A Defense of Deeper Learning

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The Teaching Channel: A Defense of Deeper Learning

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HS 15 min

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The Teaching Channel: A Defense of Deeper Learning

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SFUSD Grad Profile Vertical Articulation 2.5

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SFUSD Grad Profile Vertical Articulation 2.5

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An examples of Vertical Articulation

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Copy of SFUSD Grad Profile Vertical Articulation 2.5

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PK-6

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Copy of Katherine Smith Habits Rubrics 20-21 

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Assessment Capable Visable Learners poster

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Aligning Standards, Learning Targets, and Assessments

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Aligning Standards, Learning Targets, and Assessments

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Excerpts from Leaders of Their Own Learning

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Learning Intentions and Success Criteria

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Learning Intentions and Success Criteria

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From The Success Criteria Playbook

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Learning Intentions and Success Criteria.GIF

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Learning Intentions and Success Criteria

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Learning Intentions and Success Criteria

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From The Success Criteria Playbook

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Learning Intentions and Success Criteria.GIF

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John Hattie Learning Intentions and Success Criteria

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John Hattie Learning Intentions and Success Criteria

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9 min

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John Hattie Learning Intentions and Success Criteria

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Clarifying, Sharing, and Understanding Learning Intentions

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Clarifying, Sharing, and Understanding Learning Intentions

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4.5 min

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Strategy 1: Clarifying, Sharing, and Understanding Learning Intentions

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Teaching at a distance...Learning Intentions and Success Criteria, Trigonometry

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Teaching at a distance...Learning Intentions and Success Criteria, Trigonometry

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3 min

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Teaching at a distance...Learning Intentions and Success Criteria, Trigonometry

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Learning at a distance...Success Criteria and Using a student model

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Learning at a distance...Success Criteria and Using a student model

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8 min argumentative writing

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Learning at a distance...Success Criteria and Using a student model

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Douglas Fisher & John Almarode: Teacher Clarity Webinar

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Douglas Fisher & John Almarode: Teacher Clarity Webinar

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One hour webinar

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Douglas Fisher & John Almarode: Teacher Clarity Webinar

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from Great School Partnership

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Scoring criteria describe the quality of evidence at different levels of achievement for each performance indicator. Common scoring criteria are an essential component of a proficiency-based system of learning, designed to promote equitable, challenging, and personalized outcomes for all students. There are four traits of effective scoring criteria:

Trait 1: Scoring criteria articulate a clear progression of learning.

Trait 2: Scoring criteria describe the quality of student work at each performance level.

Trait 3: Scoring criteria describe affirmatively what students can do at each level of performance.

Trait 4: Scoring criteria are task neutral; they can be applied to a variety of learning experiences and products.

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Common scoring criteria establish a clear definition of achievement of the essential skills and knowledge defined in performance indicators that is shared by teachers, students, and families. By providing descriptions of different levels of performance, common scoring criteria promote consistent expectations.

Scoring criteria can be used to evaluate a wide range of possible tasks and assessments while maintaining high expectations for all students. In this way, common scoring criteria support the design of assessments aligned with both the competencies and IEP or language learner accommodations.

Through collaborative use of scoring criteria, teachers calibrate their expectations about evidence of proficiency. This common understanding further promotes consistency of scoring across teachers,improving the reliability of assessments.

Scoring criteria are used to create rubrics for a range of specific assessment tasks. This practice promotes consistency and clarity of expectations as well as the transfer of skills across topics and content areas.

Scoring criteria help students understand the specific knowledge and skills they must demonstrate to reach or exceed proficiency. These descriptions can be used to promote reflection and growth and to provide specific, actionable feedback , leading to increased student ownership and deeper levels of learning.

Teachers can use the data and information from consistent use of scoring criteria to determine appropriate supports and extensions for a class or individual learners. This promotes equitable outcomes by meeting the needs of all students, including those on IEPs and language learners.

Trait 1
Scoring criteria articulate a clear progression of learning.

Align to a taxonomy of thinking skills (Webb's, Bloom's, etc.) consistently.

Describe a logical sequence of increasingly challenging thinking skills, often on a 4-point scale, aligned with the performance indicator and taxonomy.

Show progression through a change in the cognitive demand of verbs at each proficiency level (see Example 1A) or in the depth and detail to which a student completes a task of similar cognitive demand (see Example 1B).

Progressions that result solely in more or longer work products by applying the same skill repeatedly.

Progressions that don't describe distinguished work.

Progressions with large leaps in thinking skills between levels of performance (e.g., requiring description at the developing level and evaluation at the proficient level).

Writing criteria for the highest performance level in a way that equates to perfection or 100% accomplishment.

Using assessments that limit any student's opportunities to demonstrate the highest performance level.

Use geometric shapes and their properties to model physical objects.

Trait 2
Scoring criteria describe the quality of student work at each performance level.

Use precise, specific language and objective descriptions of the evidence students produce at each proficiency level which can be more consistently evaluated by different individuals (see Example 2A).

For proficient and distinguished descriptions, include all elements of the performance indicator (see Example 2B).

Include specific, technical expectations (number of pages, number of sources, types of graphs, etc.) in a supplemental checklist or assignment requirements rather than in scoring criteria. Use these elements of an assignment to determine if it is complete or to inform habits of work assessments and feedback.

Using the number (e.g., "I can include 3-5 [elements]") or frequency (e.g. "rarely," "sometimes," or "always") of an element of performance.

Vague descriptors (e.g., poor, excellent, high-quality, visually appealing). These are difficult to evaluate consistently and don't clarify expectations.

Trait 3
Scoring criteria describe affirmatively what students can do at each level of performance.

Write scoring criteria from the student's point of view. Starting with "I can..." or "Students can..." helps to reinforce this idea (see Example 3A).

Use positive, specific language and an asset-based approach that focuses on what students can do to foster continual improvement (see Example 3B).

Deficit-based descriptions and framing or statements that articulate undesirable learning outcomes (e.g., "I cannot [do something]").

Negative language that may reinforce unhelpful mindsets and emphasize learning deficits(e.g., "weak use [of something]").

Trait 4
Scoring criteria are task neutral; they can be applied to a variety of learning experiences and products.

Write scoring criteria for each performance indicator and use them to assess a variety of learning experiences or products (see Examples 4A and 4B).

Create rubrics for any assessment or assignment by combining scoring criteria for the relevant performance indicators.

Scoring criteria that apply only to specific lessons, units, courses, projects, or assignments. (e.g., "I can write a report that evaluates risk factors and prevention strategies related to smoking.")

Resources
→ Scoring Criteria: Overview (.pdf)
→ Scoring Criteria: Design Guide (.pdf)
→ Scoring Criteria: Frequently Asked Questions (.pdf)
→ Scoring Criteria: Evidence and Readings (.pdf)
→ Framework for Proficiency-Based Learning (.pdf)
→ Learning and Assessment Pathways (.pdf)

2018. This work by Great Schools Partnership is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Verifying Proficiency: Scoring Criteria | Great Schools Partnership

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Scoring Criteria: Overview Scoring criteria describe the quality of evidence at different levels of achievement for each performance indicator. Common scoring criteria are an essential component of a proficiency-based system of learning, designed to promote equitable, challenging, and personalized outcomes for all students. There are four traits of effective scoring criteria: Trait 1: Scoring criteria ...

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from Great School Partnership

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As schools work to achieve more equitable outcomes for all students, the movement to adopt proficiency-based approaches to teaching, learning, and graduating has gained momentum as a lever for change. By focusing on proficiency-based practices, such as prioritizing the most essential knowledge and skills, providing rigorous and engaging learning experiences aligned to clear outcomes, and ensuring that all students have access and supports to reach the competencies, schools graduate students better prepared for college, career, and civic life.

Beliefs are inextricable from practices, and both are essential for implementing effective and equitable proficiency-based systems. The practices identify core activities to support proficiency, but without these foundational beliefs, the practices alone will not necessarily create more equitable outcomes for all students.

LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

Belief 1: All students can and will learn when they feel included, respected, and valued by their learning community.

1. Students are known as individuals and learners, and they are supported in developing positive relationships with each other and with adults in the learning community.

2. The curriculum, classrooms, and structures of the school recognize and honor student identities and interests.

3. The district and school communities have systems and structures that engage and include all students, families, and the broader community in meaningful ways.

4. The district and school actively work to uncover and eliminate systemic inequities based on demographic groups and identity traits.

OUTCOMES

Belief 2: All students must be challenged, believed in, and supported to reach common, high expectations.

1. Learning outcomes are clearly articulated and consistently applied to all students, including those that are long-term (graduation competencies and performance indicators), short-term (learning targets), and habits of work.

2. All students engage in complex thinking and the application of skills and knowledge throughout the learning process within and across content areas.

3. Interventions, extensions of learning, and opportunities to revise and relearn are systemic and provided regularly so that all students achieve common outcomes.

ASSESSMENT AND FEEDBACK

Belief 3: Student learning is enhanced by clear cycles of practice, feedback, assessment, and reflection.

1. All forms of assessment are aligned to a common set of competencies.

2. Habits of work are assessed and reported separately from academic knowledge and skills.

3. The continual use of formative assessment provides opportunities for students to practice, self-assess, and give and receive feedback.

4. Summative assessments, evaluated against common scoring criteria, are used to evaluate a student's level of achievement on competencies and performance indicators at a given point in time.

5. All forms of feedback (including grades) are used to adjust instruction and learning, to inform academic interventions, and to identify extensions of learning.

6. Students regularly reflect on their learning progress and are taught to evaluate and use feedback.

LEARNING PATHWAYS

Belief 4: Students are empowered and engaged by choice in their learning experiences.

1. All learning pathways (courses, internships, extended learning opportunities, etc.) are aligned to a common set of competencies.

2. Learning in different ways and at varied paces is expected and planned for in all settings, requiring differentiation, student choice, and personalized learning options to meet common outcomes.

3. Students make important decisions about their learning experiences and how they will demonstrate their knowledge and skills.

→ Download Beliefs and Practices of Proficiency-Based Learning (.pdf)

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Beliefs and Practices of Proficiency-Based Learning | Great Schools Partnership

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As schools work to achieve more equitable outcomes for all students, the movement to adopt proficiency-based approaches to teaching, learning, and graduating has gained momentum as a lever for change. By focusing on proficiency-based practices, such as prioritizing the most essential knowledge and skills, providing rigorous and engaging learning experiences aligned to clear outcomes, and ...

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Meriden Scoring Criteria Sample - Social Studies (1).pdf

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Grading and Reporting for Educational Equity

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Grading and Reporting for Educational Equity

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From Great School Partnership

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Grading and Reporting for Educational Equity | Great Schools Partnership

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Download this tool as a printer-friendly PDF The purpose of a grading system is to give feedback to students so they can take charge of their learning and to provide information to all who support these students-teachers, special educators, parents, and others. The purpose of a reporting system is to communicate the students' achievement to ...

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From Great School Partnership

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Elements of Effective Instruction | Great Schools Partnership

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The Elements of Effective Instruction Download this tool as a printer-friendly PDF Download the Elements of Effective Instruction Self-Assessment The Elements of Effective Instruction framework outlines five intertwined elements of instructional practice that complement and enhance one another. When integrated into learning experiences, these elements foster student engagement with the ultimate goal of improving student ...

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Math and ELA