Assessing and Improving Writing Sue Taylor-Foley South Shore Regional School Board staylorf@ssrsb.ca

Assessing and Improving Writing

Sue Taylor-FoleySouth Shore Regional School Board

staylorf@ssrsb.ca

• Rubrics

• Using Rubrics in Assessment

• Grading

To improve students must have the opportunity to:

• Understand the outcome/target

• Know what good work looks like

• Compare their work to a standard

• Know how to work to close gaps

• Have conversations about their work

• Watch themselves grow

Why use rubrics?• Gives us opportunity to know and understand

the targets• Let’s us reflect on our work • Helps us to self assess • Helps us to know how to improve our work• Avoids comments that derail the writer- instead

helps to provide a direction for the writer• As teachers it gives us a clear defined marking

strategy • Focuses on the outcomes we are assessing

from our teaching• Let’s us assist our students in closing the gaps

Effective Assessment EvidenceComes from More than One

Source

Observations

Conversations/Conferences Products

To assess teachers may use-

Portfolios, Anecdotal Records, Teacher made tests, Checklists, Outcomes tracking, Analysis of written work, Running records, Miscue analysis, Conferences, Demonstrations, Journals, Presentations, Rubrics, Observation, debates, models, dramatizations, Stages of reading development, Stages of writing development, Benchmark materials, Self-assessments, Surveys, Questionnaires, Video/audio tapes, Projects etc.

“There are three general sources of assessment evidence gathered in classrooms: observations of learning, products students create, and conversations- discussing learning with students. When evidence is collected from three different sources over time, trends and patterns become apparent. Collecting information this way is one way the reliability and validity of our classroom assessment is increased. This process is called triangulation.”

Anne Davies, Making Classroom Assessment Work, page 35.

Examining Rubrics using a meta approach

• Content• Clarity• Practicality• Technical Quality/Fairness

-Source- Judy ArterAssessment Training Institute

Not all rubrics are created equally.

Task

• Everyone in the group will read page 1• Assign sections (content, clarity,

practicality, or technical quality/fairness)• Share your insights on the section read with

your group (content will begin discussion)• With your group or on your own evaluate

the rubrics- use the Master Score sheet to complete your scoring

• Have one person record your results on the room chart

Addressing the Issuesof the Rubric ‘7’

1. Counting inappropriately

2. Important details left out

3. Irrelevant details left in

4. Rubric misaligned with outcome

5. Inappropriate student developed rubrics

6. Skimpy scoring guide

7. Wrong type of rubric

“Students who not only can assess their work but who can also use

that assessment to revise and edit have gained personal control of their own writing process. The student assesses to revise; the teacher, to evaluate. And in so

doing they become partners in the process of learning about writing.”

V. Spandel, Creating Writers, page 162

STUDENT INVOLVEMENT

Anything that helps students:

* Understand learning targets

* Engage in self-assessment

* Watch themselves grow

* Talk about their growth

* Plan next steps

Using Rubrics

Student Task - Writing is a complex

thinking process which involves more than the correct use of conventions

- Writing is a purposeful activity

- We write for an audience

- Students knew the outcomes that were being addressed

- Students knew they were to write a persuasive letter using supporting evidence from their prior learnings in class

- They were given reasons to write and knew who their audience would be

- Students generally had one class period to complete the assigned task

1. Read the three student responses.2. Order them from what you feel is the least

strong piece to the strongest piece.3. Discuss this briefly at your table and then

choose as a table one piece of student writing that you will use to examine more closely with a rubric.

4. Each individual will apply the green rubric to this piece of student work.

5. Discuss your positions on the Levels you chose and adjust your thoughts if you wish to based on the discussions you have in your group.

6. Complete in your handout your ideas on Using Rubrics and what you got out of the professional discussion with your peers.

Grading

How confident are you that the grades you give are:

• Consistent

• Reliable

• Accurate

• Meaningful

• Relate specifically to the outcomes taught

• Promote and support learning

The primary purpose of classroom assessment is to inform teaching and improve

learning.

McTighe, J., and Ferrara, S., “Performance-Based Assessment in the Classroom”’ ASCD

What do ‘grades’ mean?

• Write a couple of clear descriptors for a grade at the top of your grading scale.

• Do not use numbers or letter grades in your descriptions.

Provincial standardized report grade 1-8 scale

• A - The student consistently demonstrates achievement of the expected learning outcomes addressed during the current reporting period. The student's work may exceed program expectations.

• B- The student demonstrates achievement of most of the expected learning outcomes addressed during the current reporting period. The student's work meets program expectations.

• C- The student demonstrates achievement of some of the expected learning outcomes addressed during the current reporting period. The student's work approaches program expectations.

• D- The student rarely demonstrates achievement of some of the expected learning outcomes addressed during the current reporting period. The student's work does not meet program expectations.

What do your Grades represent?

• We often combine various factors in our grades this obscures what we should be reporting on in achievement.

• “No studies support the use of low grades or marks as punishments.” Guskey and Bailey, Developing

Grading and Reporting Systems for Students Learning, 2001, page 34

• “…grades often reflect a combination of achievement, progress, and other factors.

…this tendency to collapse several independent elements into a single grade may blur their meaning.”

Bailey, J and McTighe, J., “Reporting Achievement at the Secondary School Level: What and How?”, in T.R. Gutskey (Ed.) Communicating Student Learning:ASCD Yearbook 1996, ASCD

“Students should be assessed or checked on everything (or almost everything) they do

BUT

Everything that is assessed and/or checked does not need a score

AND

Every score should not be included in the grade.”

Ken O’Connor, How to Grade for Learning

• Research shows that feedback that EMPHASIZES LEARNING GOALS leads to greater learning gains than feedback that emphasizes self-esteem.

--Ames, 1992; Butler, 1998; Dweck, 1986

“…final grades should (almost) never be determined by simply

averaging the grades from several grading periods (e.g., adding the grades from terms one through three and dividing by three).”

K. O’ConnorHow to Grade for Learning: Linking Grades

to Standards

How do you grade for learning?

• Strategies and Solutions

What is your performance standard?

• What is good enough?

• What demonstrates attainment of the outcome?

• How do you use this information in instruction?

• How do you use this information for grading?

Rubric Scores

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

#1 #3 #5

writingideas

• How can you create grades from these rubric scores?

Today’s lessons on Grading

• Lesson #1- remember the parachute story• Lesson #2- grades need to reflect

achievement• Lesson #3- clearly articulate how your

rubric will translate into grading based on a performance criteria- create a reasonable rule

• Lesson #4- aim for consistency• Lesson #5- communicate

Additional Reading

• Scoring Rubrics In The Classroom- Using Performance Criteria for Assessing and Improving Student Performance- J. Arter & J. McTighe

• Making Classroom Assessment Work- A. Davies• Classroom Instruction That Works- R. Marzano• How to Grade For Learning- K. O’Connor• Creating Writers Through 6-Trait Writing

Assessment and Instruction- V. Spandel• Write Traits Kits• English Language Arts Curriculum Guide

Web Resources

• Assessment Resources

• Literacy and Technology

• Assessment Training Institute

• Alberta Assessment Consortium

• Active Readers/Writers In Action

• Coming soon- Nova Scotia Writing Exemplars

Ways to do look at these issues in your classroom, school and in your

Board.