Looking Within to Find Our Way Forward!

STAAR Writing Performance – Expository State and FBISD’s Results Summed Scores FBISD 1/1 = 2 17% 14% 1/2 = 3 12% 2/2 = 4 38% 41% 2/3 = 5 15% 16% 3/3 = 6 11% 3/4 = 7 3% 4/4 = 8 1% 2% And we have… 67% Basic Writers in Expository With only 85 “8s” out of 4633 student papers.

How do your scores compare? Look at your campus data… What is the % of “basic writers”? Do the results surprise you? Why or why not? Explain

What Drives Scoring? Responsiveness Focus Progression/Connections Development

Writing—What Drives Scoring RESPONSIVENESS to both the purpose and the topic. Responsiveness is weakened when the student: Does not address the topic AND/OR Does not respond to the purpose Students must also use the appropriate organizing structure – expository. Big pieces of expository were written in personal narrative Students can’t be removed from the topic or adjacent to the topic – They must address the topic

Writing—What Drives Scoring FOCUS Must be focused on the central “charge” of the prompt (the “Write about”) An explicit, specific controlling idea is critical to a focused essay—the earlier in the paper, the better. Focus is weakened when the central idea is general or vague Some students have multiple ideas rather than a specific central idea, thus their paper is superficially developed

Writing—What Drives Scoring PROGRESSION/CONNECTIONS What isn’t required: a specific number of ideas or paragraphs What is required: moving logically from sentence to sentence and connecting ideas with meaningful transitions so that the reader can really (easily) follow the student’s train of thought Progression/connections are weakened when the student: moves randomly from sentence to sentence does not use transitions or use them effectively to connect ideas

Writing—What Drives Scoring PROGRESSION/CONNECTIONS The biggest problem we see when an essay is lacking in this area: clusters of ideas that are each linked to the prompt but not connected to each other a roadblock to substance/depth/thoughtfulness because the student does not “build” from one idea to the next Remember Unconnected ideas = superficial development Superficial development = a score of 2

Writing—What Drives Scoring DEVELOPMENT Given the space constraints of 26 lines, what makes the most sense: Narrow and deep development— fewer ideas with more depth better than more ideas with less depth Building meaning from one idea to the next—each idea enriched/enhanced by what came before it

Writing—What Drives Scoring DEVELOPMENT What causes the worst development problems: Formulaic approaches (e.g., 5-paragraph essays)—almost always result in a lack of thoughtfulness, individuality, depth Remember The best development is real, based on a student’s own experiences and thinking about the world.

Now It’s Your Turn…

Looking at the 2s Locate your set of 2s Divvy them up and work in pairs. Read and discuss each paper. Jot down what patterns/ahas you have as a group – what are the student needs…teaching needs for writing at this level? Be specific.

Looking at the 4s Locate your set of 4s Divvy them up and work in pairs. Read and discuss each paper. How are these papers different from the 2s? Jot down what patterns/ahas you have as a group – what are the student needs…teaching needs for writing at this level? Be specific.

Looking at the 6s Locate your set of 6s Work as whole group. Have someone read each paper aloud - discuss each. How are these papers different from the 4s? Jot down what patterns/ahas you have as a group – what are the student needs…teaching needs for writing at this level? Be specific.

What are the major areas of weakness in the students’ writing? Debrief What are the major areas of weakness in the students’ writing? Where do we go from here?