Because Every Voice Counts
Student Voice and The Learning Equation
Learning requires relationships between both teachers and their students, and teachers and their peers. Effective Professional Learning Communities move learning to the next level when student voice is added to the process.
When teachers work together to create baseline and formative assessments for their students, informed on a daily basis by student understanding, valuable instructional time is focused on what students need. Asking students to explain their grasp of the day’s lesson and reach out for immediate help builds trust and student ownership as they track their progress.
Dynamic collaboration between fellow teachers, as well as collaboration between teachers and students, yields results where it matters most: student achievement.
Student Reactions
Strategic system providing interactive professional development and site-based support to:
1 Create AUTHENTIC, collaborative, data-based professional learning communities.
2 Build your instructional leadership bench.
3 Provide a framework for ongoing baseline and formative assessment to keep a pulse on learning.
Training and support to empower teachers to:
A Maximize time by creating collaborative student-teacher partnerships based on student voice.
B Develop students as metacognitive thinkers who reflect and take ownership of learning.
C Employ best practices and benchmark instructional delivery.
Provides a framework to focus instruction & accelerate learning
Every unit of study begins with a baseline assessment, developed by teachers in the content area PLC. Students know when they take the test that it contains information they have not yet been taught and they will be updating their answers as they learn the material: tracking their own progress.
Every day students reflect on their learning and express their understanding to date through an exit slip or knowledge ticket. Teachers have this feedback from each student as they analyze student data and plan the next day’s lesson.
Teachers share their reflections and adjustments to instruction during their scheduled PLC’s, supporting and learning from each other.
Another way to incorporate student voice into the learning equation is to use exit slips. Students complete these exit slips based on their understanding of the material which gives teachers real-time data about their comprehension at the onset of instruction rather than at the end of the unit. This collaborative environment allows for students to take an active role in their own learning and for teachers to better prepare them for whatever assessment is forthcoming.
- Sample Baseline Assessment
- Using Exit Slips
- Sample Exit Slips
By using EVC+, these teachers were able to teach the material in the way most likely to resonate with their students and the students themselves took ownership of their learning process. This data was compiled from classrooms that included both experienced and novice teachers.
Content Area | Total # of Students | # of Students Making Growth Point | % of Students Making Annual Growth | Average % of Growth in EVC+ Model Classrooms |
---|---|---|---|---|
Math 6 | 8,370 | 1,912 | 22.84 | 43.40 |
Reading 6 | 8,331 | 2,979 | 35.76 | 48.53 |
Math 7 | 8,893 | 5,495 | 61.79 | 84.26 |
Reading 7 | 7,926 | 3,766 | 47.51 | 59.62 |
Math 8 | 12,634 | 6,812 | 53.92 | 75.80 |
Reading 8 | 8,071 | 3,553 | 44.02 | 60.88 |
Student Observations
”Teachers don’t have to waste their time and ours going over what we already know.”
“The best teachers make sure we understand the concepts and the content. This is fun; it makes learning awesome.”
One teacher in a classroom using EVC+ said “this will change the way I teach forever.” Involving students in the learning process not only makes for a more collaborative classroom, it delivers proven results.
Teacher Observations
”Working as teams to break down standards helped us determine what students know and how they would show they learned it.”
”Having team conversations and discussing goals alleviated a lot of problems.”
”It’s amazing how much we teach without thinking of the learning process. So the challenge of teaching is to make thinking transparent. This is why using student voice helps.”
Schultz Center is accredited by the International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET) and is authorized to issue the IACET CEU.