A METHOD FOR GENERATING CRITICAL & CRITERIAL QUESTIONS
©2002 Edward G. Rozycki, Ed. D.

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edited 10/18/04

Suppose our text is

Committed to Excellence, Springfield School District . . .


Empowers students to reach their fullest potential
Creates challenging educational experiences through dynamic and innovative programs
Cultivates an environment of safety, respect, and tolerance
Prepares leaders who serve communities of the future.

A. Identify all items that may need definition or clarification (shown in italics below)

Committed to Excellence, Springfield School District . . .

Empowers students to reach their fullest potential
Creates challenging educational experiences through dynamic and innovative programs
Cultivates an environment of safety, respect, and tolerance
Prepares leaders who serve communities of the future.

B: Form your critical questions from the italicized items:

a. How do we know what a student's potential is, especially when it has reached its fullest state?

b. What does an empowered student look like? How does that aim at their potential?

c. What makes a program challenging, dynamic and innovative? For whom?

d. What is the environment? What makes it safe? How is respect and tolerance related to this?

e. How can you tell when a student has become a leader? What communities will not be, in the future, communities of the future?

C. We can form criterial questions in a fairly mechanical way by using the same italicized terms and putting into a formula such as: What are the criteria for identifying X to be Y.

Examples:

a. What are the criteria for identifying a student to be empowered?

b. What are the criteria for identifying student potential to be fullest?

c. What are the criteria for identifying a program to be dynamic?

We could also prefix these terms with "How can we identify ... ?" or something similar.

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