So, you've developed your common targets, and your kids have turned in their easy-to-manage common formative assessment...now what??

It's kind of like going home after trick-or-treating - you spread out all your candy on the table and see what 'cha got!

Once in your team, do a little sorting first - here are some options:

• three piles: "Got it, " kind of got it," "nothing close" (or whatever titles you give them!)
• Sort by similar mistakes
• others?
• Be sure to go beyond simple correct/incorrect - look for breakdowns or gaps in thinking/knowledge.

Next, look at the WHAT and then the WHY - in that order. Make objective observations first - this is critical! 
Questions to consider when looking at results:

WHAT?

• What do they know/what can they do now?
• In what areas do you see success?
• What patterns in student mistakes do you see?

Our tendency is to gloss over this step and jump to the why - I can almost promise it will happen. Take the advice of Axl Rose and have a little Patience. You'll overlook important details if you jump too soon.

WHY?

• Where are the possible places their thinking broke down?
• Two students can get a question/problem wrong but for very different reasons. Group common mistakes together. 
• What could be the root cause of each mistake?

This Lit Tip installment is brought to you by the letter "D" as in, "data." Yep, I said it...that four letter word that conjures up images of spreadsheets, colored graphs, 0's and 1's, quintiles, quartiles, and percentages (or is it percentiles?). 
I contend that we can tame the data beast. 

Rather than wrestling with common assessments in the form of unit tests or even large quizzes, let's shift our thinking to common formativeassessments. In your PLCs, agree on a common exit slip question (or two). Create an item that will give you the best insight into student progress toward a target or standard. Sort the exit slips into "Got it," "Kinda got it," and "Nowhere close" piles. 
BAM! That's data!
Remember the purposes of data and formative assessments are to keep an eye on how your students are progressing rather than waiting for a unit test.


Take your results to your next PLC meeting and compare with your team. Keep it manageable, informative, and efficient.

Next week.."Data, data everywhere, but what do we do with it now???"

Word of the week: simplify