Throughout this school year, NTI sessions, district/campus professional development, and PLC meetings emphasized the importance of using student work samples as a key data source. These experiences helped me understand how to move beyond just test scores and use authentic student work to assess understanding, guide instruction, and inform intervention strategies.

I used student work samples regularly across content areasespecially in reading responses, math problem-solving, and writing assignments. During PLCs, we often brought samples to analyze rigor, alignment to standards, and student thinking. These discussions were instrumental in helping us calibrate our expectations and determine next steps for instruction. Work samples also helped me identify misconceptions, monitor growth over time, and celebrate student progress.

For example, reviewing writing samples allowed me to pinpoint specific grammar or structure issues and reteach those areas. In math, looking at how students approached word problems gave insight into their reasoning process, not just whether they got the correct answer.

Yes, using student work samples was absolutely beneficial. It gave me a clearer picture of student learning than test data alone. It also supported a more personalized and responsive approach to instruction. In addition, it fostered meaningful conversations in PLCs about instructional practices, scaffolding, and rigor.

Moving forward, I plan to continue to collect and review student work even more consistently, use rubrics to support analysis, and include students in reflecting on their own work to deepen ownership of their learning.

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