1. Vilma Mazzella Cardinal Spellman H.S. vmazzella@cardinalspellman.org
STUDENTS ARE COMING INTO HIGH SCHOOL WITH POOR WRITING SKILLS: grammar and punctuation
Vilma Mazzella
Cardinal Spellman H.S.

2. Select the Best Solution
PPA
Select the Best Solution
Develop Solutions
Identify the Causes
Gather the Evidence
Define the Problem
Today, we are going to look at a problem by using the steps of the Public Policy Analyst

3. What is the Evidence? Poorly written notes and letters
Poorly written essays and research papers
Poorly written cover letters asking for a job:

4. Evidence in our School Poor grades in English
Only ten percent of students received a mastery grade (85 and above) on English Regents in 2013
Seventy percent (the majority) of Sophomore class passed English Regents with a grade of 65-80
Twenty percent failed regents
Poor results on College Entrance Exams
Low PSAT scores
Low SAT scores

5. Examples of signs with grammatical errors— Can you find the error?
Circle it in red
on Smartboard

6. WHY???? Today’s technology:
Facebook
Text messaging
Current Music:
Lyrics: e.g.--
Timbaland—”The Way I are”
Kanye West, “Jesus Walks”
“We at war, we at war….”
What are some of the reasons to the lack of writing skills? Here are some of the possible causes to this problem:

7. SOLUTIONS ON IMPROVEMENT
Make a school policy requiring students to use correct grammar, spelling and punctuation on essays and research papers in all subject areas
Students would be held accountable for errors in their writing in all subjects
Students would have as much as a 10% deduction on grade if writing is poor.

8. Improve? Remedial help clinic
Identify students who need help and suggest they attend a remedial help clinic
This would consist of Honor Society students who tutor before homeroom
Students who attend would receive credit from the referring teacher

9. MORE WAYS TO IMPROVE
Some grammar-building videos on Youtube can be shown in class or can be assigned as homework by teachers:
Advantages
Interesting to students
Does not take time from teaching
Example of video below

10. Determining Best Solution
EFFECTIVENESS
FEASIBILITY
HIGH
MEDIUM
LOW
School Policy 
Remedial Help Clinic 
You Tube Videos 
School Policy would be most effective but harder to implement
The Remedial Help Clinic would be the best solution as it is both effective and feasible

11. Thanks to: Businessinsider.com Cardinal Spellman High School
O'Connor, Kyrie. Houstonchronicle.com
Google.com
LosAngelesTimes.com
Smosh.com
YouTube.com
Videos
Sounds