March 9, 2017
We began tracking our download statistics, and will continue to refine this process when we transition to the new website. As of February 2017, ATLAS Looking at Data was the #1 downloaded protocol. Check out both ATLAS protocols: ATLAS Looking at Data and ATLAS Learning From Student Work
Here is what a few SRI Board Members and Facilitators had to say about these protocols:
Gene Thompson-Grove: This protocol is flexible and versatile and sometimes is erroneously referred to as ‘THE’ student work protocol. It was developed by Eric Buchavechy as a response to the need for a version of the Collaborative Assessment Conference that was shorter and included a ‘suggestions’ step (what would you do with this student or these students?). I have used this protocol equally successfully with a class set of work (i.e. first graders who drew pictures of what you should do if you encounter a bully) or work from one student (a single piece of work where the student is evident…or 3 pieces of work from a single student). I have also used it with a class set where everyone in the group has two or three pieces from different students.
Because the presenter doesn’t speak until the very end, a variation of this is to use this protocol when everyone in the group shares the student work (i.e. a common assessment) and rather than having a single presenter speak at the end, each person in the group can share in the reflection.
A caution – because the group says what they would do before they ever hear from the presenter, this protocol should only be used once some trust has already developed. It can also be used with anonymous work (i.e. to practice), but the facilitator needs to closely monitor the tone and comments of participants so they are constructive. Sometimes people can get sloppy in their comments if they think the teacher is not in the room – but people in the group will notice, and resolve to never bring work to that group!
Beth Graham: I sometimes use ATLAS as an introduction to LASW (Looking at Student Work), especially with reticent or skeptical learners new to our work: it offers practical solutions and strategies that teachers can implement tomorrow, builds confidence in the group by playing to their experience and expertise, and moves participants quickly through a structured conversation without too many constraints. Folks new to the work often leave the ATLAS feeling successful, “Huh — so, that’s a protocol? That wasn’t so bad . . .”
The absence of questions (“I wonder”) and deep reflection on practice in the ATLAS, however, always leaves me longing for the Collaborative Assessment Conference — the protocol I’d walk to the end of the earth for . . . but, then again, it’s all about the presenter and their needs, not mine!
I wish I knew why it’s called, “ATLAS.”
Frances Hensley: A strength of this protocol is that it sets boundaries for comment/feedback with rounds of observation, interpretation and implications….but no evaluation. It can be tricky for a group and it illustrates the value of looking at work through different lenses.
It can serve as an introductory protocol experience with a new group since you can use it with anonymous work – early on before folks have developed enough trust in the group and process to put forth their own work. Like Gene said, have to watch that the talk doesn’t get too loose since the presenter is not present.
As a scaffold or introduction to multiple lenses for looking, I use a short excerpt from Chapter 3 (pgs 26 & 27) of the second edition of Looking Together at Student Work. It introduces the ways or modes of looking at work – description, interpretation, and evaluation.
I have used a modification of the ATLAS with a piece of text – similar to the ATLAS Looking at Data version but with the data being a short narrative text.
