Why+look+at+writing?


 * The** [|**Consortium on Chicago School Research**] **looked at student work on a large scale to determine the level of intellectual demands placed on elementary-grade students in Chicago Public Schools. Funded by a grant from the Annenberg Institute for School Reform, the consortium studied 1,400 pieces of student work.**


 * The study found that 70 percent of the work presented either no challenge or minimal challenge to the students.

They also found that if students were given more challenging assignments, they did higher quality work.**


 * "Overall, the quality of authentic intellectual work demanded by the schools and completed by the students is low, but teachers who assign the highest quality work get it from students," said Fred M. Newmann, professor emeritus of education at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, who conducted the study with researchers Anthony S. Bryk and Gudelia Lopez.**


 * In fact, their research found that those students who were assigned more demanding intellectual work scored about 50 percentile points higher on authentic measures of student achievement compared with students whose teachers assigned less demanding work, Newman told Education World.**

**The study found that assignments that don't go beyond reproducing information, such as filling in the blanks, wouldn't prepare students for intellectual challenges posed by the modern workplace and by civic and personal affairs.**