One of the best ways to assess student writing is by analyzing student work. This allows the teacher to determine the effectiveness of the learning experiences they have designed for their students. Teachers should also take time to analyze student work collaboratively to ensure they’re in agreement on established criteria for success and that they’re using standards-based rubrics or checklists consistently.
By analyzing student work, teachers should be able to answer these questions:
- What are my students’ strengths with the focused skill?
- What are my students’ learning needs?
- How can I support growth through scaffolding and differentiation?
The most important benefit of analyzing student work is improved student learning.
We suggest starting each skill with a pre-assessment to see what students know and need to learn relative to the written expression focus area. Review the pre-assessment against the student work checklist, which includes the subskills you will teach. This provides a base skill level, allowing the teacher to analyze growth at the end of the instruction.
After spending instructional time on the focused skill, assign a post-assessment in which students can work independently to demonstrate the growth in their skills as a result of instruction.
- Step 1: Give students a pre-assessment on writing a basic sentence.
