A Collaborative Approach:
Looking at Student Responses to the SLA
Performance Tasks
Of Critical Importance
• It is important to remember that the SLA tasks are
formative in nature...designed to provide teachers with
formative information to assist them in effective
programming for the upcoming year.
• As you examine your students’ work, consider your
response to the following questions.
oWhat are the strengths and areas of concern for the
group of students you will be teaching this year?
oHow can you use the information to best help all of
your students be successful?
Getting to Know the Standards:
What qualities define student work
at a variety of levels at the
beginning of grade 3?
Understanding Provincial Standards
for Early Grade 3
• Examine the anchor papers provided by Alberta
Education.
• Engage in a discussion about quality of student
response.
oHow is a Level 5 response different from a level 4
response?
oHow is a level 4 response different from a level 3
response and so on?
• Continue the discussion until there is consensus.
Applying the Provincial Standards
• Practice applying the provincial standards by working
with a limited sample of student responses that
represent a range of quality.
• Working in a small group, each teacher selects one piece
of student work. Number each paper with a sticky note.
• Each teacher requires a paper copy of the Alberta
Education SLA Performance Descriptor documents for
each sample of student work that will be reviewed.
Literacy Performance Task Descriptors
Numeracy Performance Task Descriptors
Applying the Provincial Standards
(continued)
• Each teacher assesses the work sample
independently and records his/her judgments on the
paper copy of the Performance Task Descriptor
document.
• At this point, there should be no discussion or
sharing.
• Pass the paper to the right and repeat.
• Continue to pass the papers until all the student
samples have been assessed.
Confirming the Standards
•
When the samples have been assessed by each
group member, discuss them in turn.
•
Compare the assessment decisions made by each
member of the group.
•
Where there are disagreements, discuss and
come to a consensus as to what the most
accurate judgement might be.
Critical Decision Time
With the standards confirmed, teachers could
decide to
• work collaboratively with a partner to assess work
from both classes, or
• independently assess their own students’ work.
Making a Decision
Benefits of Working Collaboratively
• provides an opportunity to discuss student products in
relation to standards
• reduces the tendency to factor in preconceived ideas
about students and instead, attend to the product in
relation to the standards
• provides a sense of what students in another class at
your grade level are capable of doing
Reasons for Working Independently
• time efficiency
• distance from colleagues might prevent collaboration
Time to Begin
• Work with an elbow partner or work independently
to assess student work.
• When you are unsure or if there is disagreement
about how to assess an aspect of the work, include
other teachers and engage in a discussion to come to
consensus.
Remember…
• Performance assessment is an essential part of a
balanced assessment program.
• Although time consuming, performance tasks
provide valuable information about what students
know and can do.
• The results of the early Grade 3 SLA performance
tasks can assist teachers in making sound
instructional decisions to support student learning.
• It’s worth the effort!