Similarities and differences in constructs represented by U.S. States’ middle school writing tests and the 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress writing assessment

Mo, Ya; Troia, Gary A.

doi:10.1016/j.asw.2017.06.001

Cited by 14 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 18 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In addition, goals for instruction must be identified, the curriculum content specified, and effective instructional practices applied (Bransford et al, 2005). If high-stakes assessments used to measure students’ writing were used as a guide, the primary goal for writing at national, state, and local levels would be to capably write specific kinds of text, for no real audience or purpose (other than testing), using information held in long-term memory (Mo & Troia, 2017). If writing instruction is to be changed for the better, goals for writing need to focus on using writing for real purposes and writing in a more realistic fashion (e.g., access to source material, engaging in critical thinking).…”

Section: Writing Knowledgementioning

confidence: 99%

Changing How Writing Is Taught

Graham

2019

Review of Research in Education

314

192

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

If students are to be successful in school, at work, and in their personal lives, they must learn to write. This requires that they receive adequate practice and instruction in writing, as this complex skill does not develop naturally. A basic goal of schooling then is to teach students to use this versatile tool effectively and flexibly. Many schools across the world do not achieve this objective, as an inordinate number of students do not acquire the writing skills needed for success in society today. One reason why this is the case is that many students do not receive the writing instruction they need or deserve. This chapter identifies factors that inhibit good writing instruction, including instructional time; teachers’ preparation and beliefs about writing; national, state, district, and school policies; and historical, social, cultural, and political influences. It then examines how we can address these factors and change classroom writing practices for the better across the world by increasing pertinent stakeholders’ knowledge about writing, with the goal of developing and actualizing visions for writing instruction at the policy, school, and classroom levels. This includes specific recommendations for helping politicians, school administrators, teachers, and the public acquire the needed know-how to make this a reality.

show abstract

Section: Writing Knowledgementioning

confidence: 99%

Changing How Writing Is Taught

Graham

2019

Review of Research in Education

314

192

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The use of varied writing processes such as planning, drafting, revising, and editing has been demonstrated to be related to qualitatively superior writing in a number of studies (Bereiter & Scardamalia, 1987;Fitzgerald & Markham, 1987;Graham, MacArthur, & Schwartz, 1995;Koutsoftas, 2016Koutsoftas, , 2018Lienemann, Graham, Leader-Janssen, & Reid, 2006;MacArthur, Schwartz, & Graham, 1991;Saddler & Asaro, 2007;Tracy, Reid, & Graham, 2009;Troia & Graham, 2002). Moreover, writing process use is emphasized in the CCSS (CCSS, 2010) and state and national tests of writing (Mo & Troia, 2017).…”

Section: Discourse-level Predictorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many local and state education agencies that directly assess students’ writing performance do so using writing samples elicited with genre-focused prompts (sometimes linked to an accompanying text or texts read by students) and scored with trait-oriented rubrics—the specified traits define the quality dimensions deemed indicative of writing quality for the tested genre (e.g., Behizadeh & Pang, 2016; Mo & Troia, 2017). Likewise, many classroom teachers use trait-oriented rubrics such as those provided in 6 + 1 Traits of Writing (Culham, 2003) or Writing Pathways (Calkins, Hohne, & Robb, 2014) to guide their writing instruction and feedback to students.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Multidimensional Levels of Language Writing Measures in Grades Four to Six

Troia

Shen

Brandon

2019

Written Communication

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study examined multiple measures of written expression as predictors of narrative writing performance for 362 students in grades 4 through 6. Each student wrote a fictional narrative in response to a title prompt that was evaluated using a levels of language framework targeting productivity, accuracy, and complexity at the word, sentence, and discourse levels. Graderelated differences were found for all of the word-level and most of the discourse-level variables examined, but for only one sentence-level variable (punctuation accuracy). The discourse-level variables of text productivity, narrativity, and process use, the sentence-level variables of grammatical correctness and punctuation accuracy, and the word-level variables of spelling/capitalization accuracy, lexical productivity, and handwriting style were significant predictors of narrative quality. Most of the same variables that predicted story quality differentiated good and poor narrative writers, except punctuation accuracy and narrativity, and variables associated with word and sentence complexity also helped distinguish narrative writing ability. The findings imply that a combination of indices from across all levels of language production are most useful for differentiating writers and their writing. The authors suggest researchers and educators consider levels of

show abstract

“…Prompts used for different formative assessment administrations within a grade also should be written at a consistent length and difficulty level to ensure that students' performance reflects their abilities and not any changes in the challenge of the task (Crawford et al, 2004;Lim, 2010). Similarly, although administering prompts of different genres can yield a more complete picture of students' writing abilities (Mo & Troia, 2017;Wilson et al, 2019), multiple administrations of a single genre are needed to track growth in the skills that define that type of writing, as indicated by the unique rubrics for each genre on a state writing test (e.g., Pearson Education, n.d.a; TDOE, n.d.).…”

Section: Recommendation 3: Accessible and Fair Promptsmentioning

confidence: 99%

High–Quality Formative Writing Assessment for Middle School Students in Tier 2 Literacy Interventions

Reed

Binning

Jemison

et al. 2023

Learning Disabilities Research & Practice

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Increased expectations for writing performance have created a need for formative writing assessments that will help middle school teachers better understand adolescents' gradeappropriate writing skills and monitor the progress of students with or at risk for writing disabilities. In this practice piece, we first explain research-based recommendations for highquality writing prompts that are interesting to students, provide clear directions, and ensure accessibility and fairness. Then, we use lessons learned from working with adolescents in Tier 2 literacy intervention classes to demonstrate how teachers can apply the recommendations to identify or develop prompts that will encourage students to write responses. In addition, we explain how analytic rubrics may be used to evaluate responses as a means of informing instruction and further refining the prompts.Standardized writing assessments have become an established facet of today's educational system (Olinghouse & Colwell, 2013). After repeated calls for greater attention to writing in the literacy curriculum to better prepare adolescents for their future educational and occupational endeavors (Graham & Perin, 2007), states have been adopting more rigorous writing standards as well as accountability assessments in recent years (Shanahan, 2015). Rather than the formulaic five-paragraph essay that would have been considered proficient a couple of decades ago, current standards require middle school students to demonstrate expressive writing that is complex in both content and structure (Campbell & Latimer, 2012). Thus, there is a need for formative writing assessments to help teachers identify and plan Tier 2 interventions for students at risk of not meeting the more rigorous on-grade-level expectations.

show abstract

Similarities and differences in constructs represented by U.S. States’ middle school writing tests and the 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress writing assessment

Cited by 14 publications

References 18 publications

Changing How Writing Is Taught

Changing How Writing Is Taught

Multidimensional Levels of Language Writing Measures in Grades Four to Six

High–Quality Formative Writing Assessment for Middle School Students in Tier 2 Literacy Interventions

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About