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| Annotations ENTRY 1: STUDENT LEARNING AND CONTRIBUTIONS Annotation 1 Students were involved in all aspects of developing the portfolio, as this sentence and several previous points in the section make clear. This addresses the aspect Promotes student ownership and control within the theme Student Intellectual Growth. Annotation 2 Once the students, staff, and mentors were exposed to the portfolio process, they adapted it for multiple assessment purposes. This is relevant to at least two aspects of the theme Assessment: Involves all participants in assessing learning and Relies on multiple sources of information to assess learning. The fact that the portfolio was adapted in a way that supports students to take on greater leadership is relevant to two aspects of the theme Academic Rigor: Engages students in investigation, inquiry, and problem solving (the portfolio process is an inquiry process), and Enhances student learning through materials, resources, and support (the portfolio is a resource that supports learning about your own learning, among other things.) Annotation 3 Rich descriptions of Guffey give readers a flavor for the community. Specifics like “no gas station for twenty miles” provide a sense of both the challenges and freshness of the community. The history, ecology, and discussion of how people support themselves help place the project that is presented later in context – the community really needs the community newspaper. This goes to the theme Authenticity of the Project in several ways.  Annotation 4 Rich description of the school deepens the reader's understanding of what is presented here, and also provides context to better understand the featured project. Annotation 5 Clear and compelling description of the history of and need for a community newspaper in the Guffey area. This makes clear the significance of the news magazine for the community, which goes to the aspect Addresses a real community need or interest, within the theme Authenticity of the Project. Annotation 6 Honest about Helen's early misgivings about working with students. This provides a later opportunity to document her change over time. Annotation 7 The students made the decision to do the news magazine, which is good evidence of Promotes student ownership and control, within the theme Student Intellectual Growth. Annotation 8 Honest presentation of the successes and difficulties students faced in the beginning of the project. This provides a baseline to track changes over time and also suggests a degree of self-reflectivity on the part of the writers. In the next paragraph and in Section III, we see how the school grappled with the burn-out problem, showing that they are Using the results of assessment to facilitate learning (see Assessment). The sustained nature of this endeavor – long enough and hard enough to cause burn out – also addresses part of another aspect, Promotes in-depth learning about important content, within the theme Student Intellectual Growth. Simply put, deep learning takes time. Annotation 9 The choices the students made and the survey they created to inform their decisions are good examples of the aspects Promotes student ownership and control (see Student Intellectual Growth) and Engages students in inquiry, investigation and problem solving (see Academic Rigor). In addition, the fact that students' research documents are presented as part of the discussion as to how the project got chosen, goes to the aspect Engages students in real work that produces results, within the theme Authenticity – the work these students do is obviously valued beyond simply being evidence of their learning. Annotation 10 The mini-grant application is a very powerful piece of evidence that goes toward aspects in every one of the Entry 1 Themes. First, the theme Academic Rigor of the Project is addressed in regard to two aspects: Establishes clear and challenging learning goals (illustrated in the goals for students) and Engages students in investigation, inquiry, and problem solving (in the thinking displayed in the students' preparation and presentation of data to support their request). This piece of evidence also goes to Assessment: Involves all participants in assessing learning (it connects the project to criteria within specific State standards and school standards) and Relies on multiple sources of information to assess learning (e.g., see the reference on page 3 to student reflections as one way of tracking progress). The community goals listed in this piece of evidence also suggest a genuine school-community connection, which addresses several aspects of Authenticity of the Project. These include Addresses a real community need or interest, and Develops students' appreciation and understanding of place. Finally, the fact that the students themselves played a significant role in the preparation of the mini-grant application means that it can be looked at as an example of student work, which in a general way addresses both aspects of the theme Student Intellectual Growth. Annotation 11 The discussion of budget and the fact that students had to figure out how to make up the shortfall shows that the project and the students' work is well anchored in financial realities. This addresses the theme Authenticity of the Project in at least two respects: Helps students take on community roles (e.g., ad salesperson) and Engages students in real work that produces results. Annotation 12 Both the content and the fact that Exhibit P is student work goes to Authenticity of the Project: Engages students in real work that produces results. Also the calculations and comparisons over time show Academic Rigor: Engages students in investigation, inquiry, and problem solving. Annotation 13 The narrative discusses changes in approach without first outlining the initial approach all that well. The reader has to depend on the news magazine examples and the mini-grant application to glean what participants did. These pieces of evidence might have been complemented by a paragraph or two that simply states what everyone did. A specific gap is that we don't know much, if anything, about the specific inputs provided to students in general or to the featured students that would explain how they learned what they learned, especially about writing. This leaves us with questions for some of the aspects in Academic Rigor. Annotation 14 This paragraph and the next extend the analysis and reflection on the "burn-out" problem. As discussed in an earlier annotation, this suggests that assessment extends to more than student learning and also that results are used to improve learning. Annotation 15 Extensive list of student jobs that equate with real-world jobs and skills. Goes to Authenticity of the Project: Helps students take on community roles. This also addresses Student Intellectual Growth: Promotes in-depth learning about important content. Annotation 16 "Teachable moments" approach is well-illustrated with teaching subject-verb agreement during the proofreading stage. This shows that the teaching and learning is well-embedded in a real-life project and also illustrates Academic Rigor: Enhances student learning through materials, resources, and support, within the theme. Annotation 17 This is a reference to a piece of evidence that we are currently unable to display in print or web formats. The video shows students, staff, and community members at work on the news magazine, including planning and evaluating their work. Annotation 18 A broad group of participants worked on the portfolio and thus helped to select the students whose work is featured here. This fact itself goes to Promotes student ownership and control of the theme Student Intellectual Growth. Annotation 19 Good description of why certain students were chosen to feature. Annotation 20 Here and in the following two paragraphs are good background descriptions of the strengths and challenges of each of the three featured students, Savanna, Amanda, and Josh. The range of students selected is wide, ranging in age from 8 to 13, and they show different interests, abilities, learning styles, and challenges. The writers of the portfolio briefly and respectfully address academic, cognitive, social, and emotional development of the students in general and in relation to the news magazine project. This allows the breadth and flexibility of the project and its impact to be demonstrated well, better perhaps than if the students were very similar or if only academic growth were considered. Annotation 21 The writers selected a single, important area to focus on – writing skills – in evaluating the students' learning in this entry. This goes to the Student Intellectual Growth: Promotes in-depth learning about important content, because writing skills impact students' success in a range of thinking and learning activities, as well as being an important area of academic endeavor in its own right. Also, this clarity of focus constrains the entry in a way that makes it possible to go more deeply into the investigation of the learning that took place. Annotation 22 This is an example of the way the portfolio process itself impacted the way teaching and learning is accomplished in the school, which is directly relevant to Assessment: Uses the results of assessment to facilitate learning. This also alludes to some of the difficulty the writers encountered in doing an analysis of student learning for this portfolio entry, due to some gaps in "baseline" information. Annotation 23 Together, Exhibit E, the narrative description of the writing process, and the final version of the essay as published in the April/May issue are helpful in tracking the way the Master Plan editorial evolved. Together, these three things serve as baseline data and show growth of a piece of writing. The entry goes a step further to track growth in writing skills over a longer period of time by also providing the evidence in Exhibit F and the final version of the Dec/Jan article on "Little Girl." The narrative does a good job of pointing the reader to specific points, such as the evidence of Savanna doing most of her own revision and otherwise taking the lead role in writing. All together, this paragraph and the accompanying evidence pertain to Student Intellectual Growth: Promotes in-depth learning about important content. However, while the ability to edit and revise your own work is an important writing skill, there are probably additional ways that Savanna grew as a writer, which are not analyzed or discussed. For example, there seems to be growth in her ability to handle transitions between the Master Plan article and the Little Girl article. We also don't know why the growth in editing/revision skill is significant for this particular student at this particular time in her life. For example, we don't know how old Savanna is, so we don’t know if the writing skills she shows are exceptional, ordinary, or "lagging behind." A more extensive portrait and discussion of Savanna as a writer would be important to include. (This could be written with Savanna.) Also, there is little or no evidence or discussion in the narrative of the experiences or teaching Savanna received to promote the development she shows. In fact, the last sentence in the paragraph about Savanna seems to attribute her growth as a writer to something internal in Savanna and observation of her classmates, which puts Savanna clearly at the center of her own learning, though it also minimizes the role of teachers and other adults. This is somewhat related to Student Intellectual Growth: Promotes student ownership and control and Academic Rigor: Enhances student learning through materials, resources, and support. Annotation 24 The sequence of exhibits (G and H) and the final article on pine beetles does an excellent job of showing how Amanda worked through the stages of writing the article on pine beetles. This matches with the narrative's discussion of the challenges she faced (developing the chain of contacts, writing the interview questions, getting the notes down fast enough). The final conclusion, about her complete ownership of the article from start to finish offers a nice contrast with her abilities in the previous year. All this goes to Student Intellectual Growth: Promotes in-depth learning about important content and also Promotes student ownership and control. However, all the evidence we have is from this year, and the cumulative portrait we get from it is of a very competent journalist. There is nothing about what might have been holding Amanda back the previous year, and there is little or no evidence regarding what experiences or teaching Amanda received to support her development to this stage. This leaves us with questions in the area of Academic Rigor. There is good evidence that the project encouraged Amanda to Engage in investigation, inquiry and problem solving, especially in regard to Exhibit G, the researcher and interview questions. Annotation 25 Two stories from Josh (The Fox and the Pig and Two Certify as Firefighters) are offered. Where Josh previously only wrote fictional stories about animals, his Firefighters article demonstrates great improvement in the depth of content, interviewing, analyzing, and writing skills that Josh currently possesses. Over the course of one year, Josh made significant advances in his writing ability, as evidenced by the more complex sentence and paragraph structure in the Firefighters article. All this demonstrates strong evidence in the themes Student Intellectual Growth and Academic Rigor. Annotation 26 Goes to Student Intellectual Growth: Promotes student ownership and control. Annotation 27 This whole section goes to the theme Assessment. The use of rubrics to assess diverse aspects of many different types of writing relates to Relies on multiple sources of information to assess learning. The progression from teacher assessment to students constructing the rubric and using it to assess their own writing (especially well-evidenced in Amanda's self-assessment) is strong evidence of Involves all participants in assessing learning. Students being involved so centrally in assessment also goes to Student Intellectual Growth: Promotes student ownership and control. The clarity and rigor of the criteria that are listed on both the original rubric and the student-designed rubric show attention to Academic Rigor: Establishes clear and challenging learning goals, as does the linkage and comparison to state standards. Annotation 28 The very fact that projects are assessed (not just student work) is strong evidence of attention to several aspects of Assessment. Furthermore, the fact that students engage with teachers and community members in the project assessment process continues the evidence chain around Student Intellectual Growth: Promotes student ownership and control. Honest self-assessment regarding the lack of an effective process for revisiting and revising plans throughout the year suggests that the project may well support the aspect Uses the results of assessment to facilitate learning. This is further bolstered by the fact that the decision about continued funding is based on the assessment finding. Annotation 29 This mention of controversy, and text below that explains it, give weight to the project's importance to the community. When you're doing work-in-place that matters to that place, controversy is sure to erupt. It's a sign that the news magazine is truly a resource to the community. See these aspects of Authenticity of the Project: Addresses a real community need or interest, Helps students take on community roles, and Engages students in real work that produces results. Annotation 30 Discussion of Mrs. MacDonald's role goes to Academic Rigor: Enhances student learning through materials, resources, and support. The flow-chart for soliciting advertising is a concrete example of ways student learning is supported. Annotation 31 The discussion of Mrs. Cahill and the evidence in her own reflection paint a picture of a community member who has been transformed through her connection to the project. This goes more directly to some of the themes and aspects of Entry 2: Community Learning and Contributions, but is also an integral part of the story of the news magazine project. The fact that Helen Cahill has become so central to the project adds to the Authenticity of the Project to some extent. And, inclusion of this community member reflection goes to Assessment: Involves all participants in assessing learning. Annotation 32 Exhibit O (reflections from Amanda and Alex) provide more insight into student learning. Amanda reviews the project against the goals, which suggests that she feels ownership of the project (Student Intellectual Growth: Promotes student ownership and control). Amanda's final comment about being "empty" is tantalizing. The comparison of the two reflections adds a great deal to the reader' understanding of the reflections and the project. This kind of analysis suggests that reflecting on the project itself is a routine part of Assessment. The inclusion of student reflections as a routine part of the project also adds to the weight of Involves all participants in assessing learning within Assessment. Annotation 33 With the introduction of Alex, it is worth noting that between the reflections, the student work samples, the news magazines, and other exhibits, we get to "meet" numerous students. This adds to the sense of inclusion in the project and to the overall credibility of the claims made in the narrative – the writers didn't just pick a few "stars" to feature. Also, it takes some amount of self-reflective honesty to include a reflection like Alex's, because it's not glowing. Goes to Assessment in a general way. Annotation 34 The entire news magazine project is situated within place, and thus makes a significant contribution to Authenticity of the Project: Develops students' appreciation and understanding of place. Furthermore, the fact that the work is routinely presented at conferences provides a venue for sharing of results widely. This goes also goes to Authenticity: Engages students in real work that produces results. Annotation 35 The challenges described here are further proof of the Authenticity of the Project – the news magazine is an important feature of community life, so community members actually stew over it sometimes. Annotation 36 The story in this paragraph is a good example of the way work on the project is geared appropriately to student needs and developmental levels, without taking the control away from them. Goes to Student Intellectual Growth: Promotes student ownership and control . Annotation 37 Another example of the way the work is supported and facilitated by Mrs. MacDonald (see earlier annotations). Goes to Academic Rigor: Enhances student learning through materials, resources, and support. Annotation 38 This anecdote is very telling evidence about the impact of the project. Goes to several themes and aspects, including Student intellectual Growth: Promotes student ownership and control, and Authenticity of the Project: Helps students take on community roles and Engages students in real work that produces results. Annotation 39 The discussion of the budget issues for the project shows several important things. First, students have a real world role in the sustainability of the news magazine (the student's tracking of revenues from ad sales lends credence to this idea). This goes to Academic Rigor: Engages students in investigation, inquiry, and problem solving. It also supports Authenticity of the Project: Helps students take on community roles. Second, the fact that the school administrator decided the project was addressing educational goals established by the school board provides even more weight for the claim of Academic Rigor. Annotation 40 There are some plans shaping up to address the problem of inadequate documentation and assessment of student work over time, which was brought home during the creation of this portfolio entry. This goes to several aspects of Assessment, both in regard to assessing student work, and also in regard to evaluating the project.
Comments on Guffey's Evidence Exhibit A
Exhibit C
Exhibit D
Exhibit E
Exhibit F
Exhibit G
Exhibit H
Exhibit J
Exhibit K
Exhibit L
Exhibit M
Exhibit N
Exhibit O
Exhibit P
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Amanda's self-assessment