1. Georgia’s Grade 3 Writing Assessment
Grade 3 Writing Assessment Pre-Administration Workshop
on the
Grade 3 Writing Website March 17-28, 2014
Recorded Session 1/28/14 Link Recorded Session 1/29/14 Link
Recorded Session 1/30/14 Link Recorded Session 2/10/14 Link
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2. Resource for
Connecting The Common Core Georgia Performance Standards and the Georgia Grade 3 Writing Assessment
All the writing connection guides may be found at:

3. Highlights
Teachers will enter student assessment data on the Grade 3 Website:
The website will be pre-populated with student demographic information if the school system submitted the Pre-ID Cycle II file
Teachers will select their students from a list of students at their school
There are no paper reports to fill out or submit.
System and School Coordinators can log in to monitor the assessment process:

4. 2014 Grade 3 Writing Assessment Timeline
Date
Activity
January 28-30
Training Webinars hosted by the GaDOE
March 17
Grade 3 Website goes online
March 17-28
Assessment Window
March 28 starting at 5:00 PM EDT
GCA retrieves data from website to generate summary reports (website will be down temporarily)
April 7 – June 13
Website will remain online: teachers may access the site to generate reports or to assess new students; only data entered on or before March 28 will be included in summary reports
May 9
Summary reports will arrive in systems

5. Grade 3 Website Information for Teachers

6. Website Overview
Teachers will record student assessment data on the Grade 3 Writing website:
After you enter performance levels for your students’ writing samples, your students’ individual student reports will be available as a PDF file.
The Georgia Center for Assessment will retrieve the student data to generate summary reports.
You will not have to fill out any paper reports.

7. Logging In Website for Teachers https://gcap.tsars.uga.edu/g3w/
Teachers will use their addresses as their login names and will create their passwords when they go to this site for the first time.
Teachers will have to enter a confirmation code when signing in the first time.
School Coordinators will provide teachers with a confirmation code

8. Teachers: Creating Your Account
Go to the teacher website
Click on the “Create Account” link
This will take you to the page to set up your account.

9. Teacher Sign Up Enter your first and last name and your email address.
Your address will be your Login ID.
Select a password and enter it into the password field and repeat the entry for confirmation.
Passwords should be at least 6 characters with no spaces
Enter your school system’s confirmation code. Ask your school coordinator for this code.
Click “Sign Up” to create your account.

10. Select Your School
After you sign up, you will be taken to your profile page.
Select your school from the drop down menu.
Confirm your school by selecting it a second time.
Click “save profile.”

11. What if I select the wrong school?
If you accidentally select the incorrect school from this drop down menu, contact Jeremy Granade or Roggie Boone at GCA.
Toll free: (888)

12. Home Page
Click on “View Class List” to access the list of students at your school.
You will be able to select your students from this list.

13. Class List Page
The first time you go to your class list page, there will not be any students listed.
You may select students for your class list by clicking on “Add New Student from DOE Database”

14. Selecting Students You will see a list of students in your school.
To add a student to your class list, click on “select” to the right of the student’s GTID#.
As soon as the student is selected, you will be taken to a page to enter performance level ratings for that student.

15. Assessing Your Students
Select a performance level for each domain in each type of writing:
N = Does Not Meet
M = Meets
E = Exceeds
If you are unable to assess a student for a particular type of writing, select “N/A.”
Text Box for Comments
Click “Save Changes” at the bottom of the page.

16. Selecting and Assessing Students
Note that when you select a student, you will then enter performance level ratings for that student.
Have your performance level ratings for each domain and each type of writing with you before you select a student to assess.
You will select and assess one student, save the data, and then move on to select and assess the next student.
Repeat this process until you have assessed all your students.

17. Sample Student Assessment
This is an example of a completed student assessment page.
Note the comment explaining why performance levels were not assigned for narrative writing.
After you click “Save Changes,” you will be taken back to your class list page.

18. What if one of my students is not on the DOE Database list?
The student information in the database is based on Pre-ID Cycle 2 for those systems that submitted.
Students who enrolled after this date will not be included in the list of students at your school.
You can manually add students who are not included in the DOE database.
See the following slides for instructions.

19. Manually Adding Students
If one of your students is not listed in the DOE Database, click on “Add New Student (manually)” to go to the page to enter student information.

20. Enter Student Information
For students added manually, enter:
First Name
Middle Initial
Last Name
GTID #
Birth Month
Birth Year
Gender
Ethnicity
Race
SRC Code (see Assessment Guidelines)
Performance Levels

21. What if I get interrupted as I am entering assessment data?
After you assess a student and click “save changes,” that student’s information is saved in the website database.
You may exit the website and log in again at a later time to assess your other students.
Note that as soon as you select a student, you have to enter assessment data at that time. If you exit the website without entering assessment data, you will have to re-select the student when you log in again.

22. What if I selected a student who is not in my class?
If you incorrectly selected a student from the DOE database list OR if you manually entered student information incorrectly, you may delete the student from your class list.
On your class list page, you have the option of deleting a student by clicking on the “delete” link to the right of the student name and GTID#.
The correct teacher will still be able to select the student from the school list.
You do not need to transfer students.

23. Deleting Students
If you accidentally selected a student who is not in your class, you may delete the student by clicking on “delete” on the far right of the page.
You will be taken to a confirmation page before the student is deleted.

24. Delete Student Confirmation
Select “Delete” to delete the student
Select “Cancel” to keep the student on your roster and return to your class list page.

25. What if I entered incorrect information for a student?
If you incorrectly entered information for a student, you may edit the information.
On your class list page, you have the option of editing a student by clicking on the “View/Edit” link to the right of the student name and GTID#.
This will take you back to the “Student Data” page where you may change entered information.

26. Reports
After you have entered student assessment data, a PDF report will be generated to serve as the individual student reports for your students.
From your home page, select “Reports” to go to the reports page.

27. Generate Student Reports
Click “Get Report,” to open or save a PDF file that contains the individual student reports for all the students in your class.
Two copies of the individual student report should be printed, one for the student’s parent or guardian, one for school’s records.

28. Individual Student Report Sample
This is a sample of one individual student report. When teachers generate reports, all of her students’ reports will be included in one PDF file, which may be printed or saved.

29. What if I forgot to print my students’ reports before March 28th?
Even after the data entry deadline, the website will remain online through the end of the school year.
The site will be down temporarily starting on Friday, March 28, 2014, starting at 5:00 PM EDT to retrieve data for summary reports, but it will be back online on by April 7, 2014, through June 13, 2014.
You can continue to access the website to print reports or assess newly enrolled students while the website is live. After June 13, 2014, the information will NOT be available again via the website.
Only data entered by March 28, 2014, by 5:00 PM EDT will be included in the summary reports.

30. Grade 3 Website Information for System/School Coordinators

31. Overview for System & School Coordinators
Coordinators will be able to monitor the progress of the assessment and view reports:
Note that the coordinator web address is different than the teacher website.
GCA will provide with a confirmation code to pass along to teachers.

32. Login IDs and Passwords
Website for Coordinators:
System Coordinators use their 3-digit system code as their Login IDs
School Coordinators use their 7-digit school code as their Login IDs
GCA will provide coordinators with passwords
The password will be sent through the MyGaDOE portal

33. Log in at: https://gcap.tsars.uga.edu/g3w/monitor
System coordinators enter the 3-digit login and the provided system password.
School coordinators enter the 7-digit login and the provided password.
Once you log in, you will be taken to your home page, where you will see a list of options.

34. Coordinator Home Page
On your home page, you will be able to view individual student reports generated by teachers, change your password, or change the password of school coordinators.
Select “Get Reports” to view individual student reports.

35. Report Status Page
After clicking on “Get Reports” on the home page, you are taken to the Teacher Data and Report Status page.
You will see the school name and a list of teachers at each school.
If teachers have assessed students and generated reports, you will be able to click “Get Report” to view the individual student reports.

36. Report Availability
Coordinators will only be able to view reports if the teacher has created an account, assessed students, and generated the PDF report.
If a teacher has not created an account yet, you will not see that teacher on the list.
If the teacher has not created the PDF report for the class, then you will not be able to obtain that PDF report either.
When the teacher creates that report, it will be available for download.
The “Students Entered” column indicates how many students each teacher has assessed.

37. Changing Passwords
School Coordinators can change the password of teachers in your school.
Note that for security the system will ask you for your password followed by the new password to be assigned to the teacher.
System Coordinators can change the password for the school coordinator account, not teacher accounts at that school.

38. Reminders from the Fall 2013 Pre-Administration Webinar

39. Georgia Grade 3 Writing Assessment
Administration Dates
Ratings window is March 17 – 28, 2014
The information entered into the database will also serve as the Teacher Report Form; therefore, nothing will need to be sent back to GCA.
Grade 3 reports shipped to systems by May 9, 2014 39

40. Planning for the Grade 3 Writing Assessment
Writing assessment at grade three is an outgrowth of the writing instruction program.
Each elementary class, school, or system should develop a plan at the beginning of the school year for teaching the three genres and collecting assessment samples.

41. What is an Assessment Sample?
The assessment sample is the piece of writing that the teacher selects for the Grade 3 Writing Assessment. Teachers must select one assessment sample per genre for each student.
Assessment samples should demonstrate how well the student has learned to apply the writing process independently.
This does NOT mean that students must write to a prompt in an on-demand context. Writing samples may be collected throughout the year as students are instructed on the three genres of writing.

42. Cautions for Collecting Assessment Samples
Samples that consist of short-answer responses may lead teachers to underestimate students’ abilities to write independently.
Samples that incorporate someone else’s ideas would overestimate students’ abilities to write independently
Teacher-corrected samples may be used for the Grade 3 Writing Assessment if it is clear what the student wrote without assistance.

43. Preparing for the March Reporting Window
In late February, make certain each student has produced an assessment sample for each genre.
If some students have not produced an assessment sample for each genre, use the first two weeks of March to provide an appropriate writing assignment.
The last two weeks in March are designated for scoring assessment samples and completing the Teacher Report Form.
This “scoring window” is not intended as a time for giving writing assignments or collecting assessment samples.

44. Using the Student Writing Record Throughout the School Year
Teachers may select and score assessment samples prior to the March scoring window.
As teachers select a sample for a particular genre, they may use the Student Writing Record to record the performance levels for each domain (see the sample Writing Record on the next slide).
Each student’s Writing Record may be completed or revised during the school year, prior to the March scoring window.

45. Scoring Grade 3 Writing Samples
Each assessment sample (one per genre) is assessed in four domains:
Ideas
Organization
Style
Conventions
A performance level is assigned for each domain:
Does Not Meet
Meets
Exceeds
Teacher makes four scoring decisions about each of the three assessment samples.
There is no overall score for an individual paper or the assessment portfolio.

46. Informational Rubric

47. Rating Options There is flexibility in models for rating student work:
Teachers rate their students’ papers.
Grade level teams rate papers.
System identified teachers score all student papers.
Schools exchange papers for rating.

48. Reminders Third grade students are allowed to use a word processor.
ALL responses must be written in English.
Only state-approved accommodations may be provided for students with an IEP, 504/IAP, or TPC Plan.
Accommodation information is not collected on the Student Data webpage. 48

49. Verifying Materials Received
System/School Coordinator’s Manuals
Assessment Guidelines
Both will also be posted on the Grade 3 Writing Assessment webpage:

50. Materials for Scoring Samples
A copy of the Assessment Guidelines document, which contains instructions for completing the Grade 3 Online Writing database
The Grade 3 Writing Assessment and Instructional Guide, which contains samples of student writing and an explanation of the “Performance Level Rubric.”
A computer with internet access to the Grade 3 Online Writing database.
Student Writing Samples – multiple examples of students’ writing collected during the current school year.

51. Returning Materials
The Assessment Guidelines should be returned to the School Test Coordinator as soon as ratings are complete.
Before printing reports verify that all information on the reports are correct.
One copy of the report should be filed in Permanent Records.
A second copy may be sent to parents or shared in conferences.
Retain the Assessment and Instructional Guide for instructional use.

52. Grade 3 Reports Shipped to Systems
Student Population Summary
One per genre
Indicates performance by subgroups (e.g., ethnicity, gender, SRC code)
School/System Summary Report
Percentage of students at each performance level by domain and genre
Indicates school, system, RESA, and state performance
To be received by May 9, 2014

53. Contact Information
GaDOE
Michael Huneke
GCA
Jeremy Granade