1. Writing Instruction System:
A Formative Approach
Council of Chief State School Officers National Conference on Student Assessment
The Peabody Orlando
June 22, 2011
Jim Kroening, North Carolina Department of Public Instruction

2. Writing Assessments in North Carolina
Writing Assessments began in
Writing Assessment Task Force,
Grades 4, 7, and 10 assessed beginning in
Grades 4 and 7 eliminated in 2008
Grade 10 will be eliminated after the 2012 administration
Writing Instruction System implemented in as the first component of the Accountability and Curriculum Reform Effort (ACRE)

3. Writing Instruction System
Goal: promote the teaching of and student achievement in writing
Online writing entry/ submissions and data entry, including teacher feedback at grades 4 and 7
Two on-demand and two content-specific assignments per year
Professional development courses for credit
Using the system can be used as evidence of meeting specific standards of the Teacher Evaluation Process
Piloting of auto-score feature

4. Log in page

5. Student View

6. Student Text Submission

7. Teacher Assignment View
Student Name
Student Name
Student Name

8. Auto-Score Report
StudentName

9. Auto-Score
Batch process run on text submission assignments that have been newly submitted or revised during the previous day.
3 sentence minimum text required for calculations.
Analysis and assignment of scores for
Grammar: 100 points maximum
Spelling: 100 points maximum
Readability: 20 points maximum
Fluency: 100 points maximum
Coherence: 100 points maximum
Vocabulary: 20 points maximum
Total Score = (Conventions Score * 0.4) + (Features Score * 0.6)
Conventions Score = Grammar Score + Spelling Score + Readability Score
Features Score = Fluency Score + Cohesion Score + Vocabulary Score
Auto-Score does not score for content

10. Individual Student Report
Student Name
School Name

11. Program Evaluation/Next Steps
Assessment “Hangover”
Revision of System Components for
- align to the ELA Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and Literacy Standards for History/Social Studies and Technical Subjects (grades 6-12)
- eliminate traditional on-demand assignments
- focus on content-specific writing
- eliminate features of writing and conventions rubrics
- revise content writing rubrics
- eliminate numeric display for auto-score feature and replace with graphic display

12. Questions?
Contact Information: Jim Kroening, Lead Consultant, Test Development North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (919)