The reports, tools and resources from the Learning Progressions (LP) Project reflect outcomes from a two-year partnership with Denver Public Schools (DPS) to pilot the use of learning progressions in mathematics and visual arts with teachers.  Although the pilot work was completed in math for the 2014-2015 school year, the LP project will continue this work in the arts and physical education with the DPS Department of Arts and Physical Education.  Beginning in the 2016-2017 school year, the learning progressions project will expand to include a new partnership with the Thompson School District. 

Publications

Briggs, D.C. & Peck, F.A. (in press). Using learning progressions to design vertical scales that support coherent inferences about student growth. Measurement: Interdisciplinary Research and Perspectives.  

Project Reports

Full Report from Year 2 of the Learning Progressions Project Math Pilot Work with DPS
This report presents findings from the second year of the Learning ProgressionsProject Math Pilot work.  

Working Paper
Briggs, D.C., Diaz-Bilello, E., Peck, F., Alzen, J., Chattergoon, R., & Johnson, R. (2015). Using a learning progression framework to assess and evaluate student growth. Center for Assessment, Design, Research and Evaluation (CADRE) and National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment. [Click here for the Executive Summary.]

Full Report from Year 1 of the Learning Progressions Project Pilot Work with DPS
This report provides extensive detail on findings from the first year of a joint project with CADRE and the National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment referenced in the April 2015 Working Paper “Using a Learning Progression Framework to Assess and Evaluate Student Growth.”

Supporting Materials

Student Focus Session Reference Guide
Student focus sessions are opportunities for teachers to have collaborative, structured conversations around student reasoning. Designed for two 1-hour sessions, student focus sessions help teachers learn more about how students reason with tasks, plan instruction, and improve the assessment items for future use.

Student Focus Session Scoresheet
The tables in this scoresheet help the session leader decide which tasks and scores need the most focus from the student focus session participants.

Task and Assessment Analysis Tool [Revised]
These two tools provide guidance for teachers looking identify and improve mathematics tasks and assessments suitable for SLOs in a learning progressions framework. Cognitive demand is adapted from Stein, Smith, Henningsen, and Silver (2009), while fair and unbalanced is adapted from Diaz-Bilello, Thompson, & Hess (2013).