The revised writing tool

e-asTTle Writing Seminar

The revised writing tool

e-asTTle Writing Seminar

Key changes?Key changes? AssessmentAssessment

ProgressProgressTeaching and Learning

Teaching and Learning

Viewing reportsViewing reportsEntering the data

Entering the dataYour thoughtsYour thoughtsScoring sheetsScoring sheetsMarking a scriptMarking a script

The exemplarsThe exemplarsThe scoring rubric

The scoring rubric

Creating an assessmentCreating an assessment

Reflections and Evaluation

Reflections and Evaluation Other promptsOther prompts

Scope

Prompts & Purpose

Rubric

Exemplars

Scale

Reporting

What

How

PurposeConsiderationsMaking own prompt?PromptsOther promptsPrompt packAdministration

What are R’s

By category

The layout

Notes

Struc & Lang. notes

R3 is not L3!

Have a read

Your thoughts

Overview

Generic exemplars

What you need

Considerations

Suggested process

Have a go

Splashing in the Waves

Depressing Dogs

Third time lucky

Reflections Interpreting the Overa

ll Score

Imprecision

Individual Elements

R3 does not equal R3

The table

The ILP

An assessment tool

Suggestion for analysis

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E-asTTle Writing – why more changes?

• Both Mathematics and reading have been updated and recalibrated in the last two years. The writing was ‘out of sync’ with the others.

• The original scoring rubric uses curriculum levels. Progressions in writing do not necessarily fit neatly into curriculum levels.

• The previous rubrics did go down to Level 1, but these could not be recorded in e-asTTle and Year 1-3 student scores could not be inputted into e-asTTle.

• The scoring rubrics were not well enough supported with exemplars and were difficult to use accurately even with moderation processes in place.

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What are the key changes? – Scope of the Tool• The tool can now be used to assess writing from

students in Year 1 through to Year 10. The previous version assessed from year 4 to Year 10.

• In order to be assessed accurately by the new tool, students should be able to write at least one or two simple ideas.

(Students who score in the lowest category for every element assessed are not well targeted by the assessment, as it may not accurately indicate the students’ skills and next learning steps.)

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What are the key changes? - Prompts and purposes

• The tool emphasises ‘prompts’ rather than ‘tasks’.• 20 open-ended prompts encourage students to

choose subject matter relevant to their experience.• There is a range of prompts for younger or older

students.• There are now five writing purposes, important to

writing in general.

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What are the key changes? - Rubric

• There is now one rubric for all writing purposes.• There are seven elements of writing, similar to those

in the previous version but with changes that require a shift in thinking by teachers.

• There is a range of achievement categories on a continuum from R1 to R6/R7 for each element.

• The tool is aligned to the NZ curriculum:- it reflects the intentions of the literacy learning

progressions and national standards- it is not specific to a particular learning area

• However mainly developed through an analysis of student responses to writing prompts.

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What are the key changes? - Rubric

Original

Audience Awareness and Purpose, Content/Ideas, Structure/Organisation, Language Resources, Grammar, Punctuation, Spelling

Revised

Ideas, Structure and Language, Organisation, Vocabulary, Sentence Structure, Punctuation, Spelling

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What are the key changes? - Annotated Exemplars

• There 76 annotated exemplars include a set of prompt specific exemplars and generic exemplars to accompany each writing prompt.

• Prompt specific exemplars are examples of writing for the prompt being used. They show a range of abilities.

• The generic exemplars are not necessarily for the same purpose or prompt.

• The exemplars are actual samples of student writing, and are representative rather than ideal examples.

• The annotated exemplars are essential tools for ensuring consistent scoring decisions.

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What are the key changes? – Measurement scale

• The scale provides a measure of writing proficiency and is linked to curriculum performance levels, allowing students’ scores to be reported within curriculum bands.

• The new scale is not directly comparable to the previous e-asTTle Writing scale.

Note: A conversion table is being developed to provide some comparison between scores in the new and previous versions.

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What are the key changes? – Report formats

• There are some minor changes to the report formats to accommodate the new rubric.

• The introduction of + to clearly show error of measurement in scores.

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Assessment – What

E-asTTle writing assesses a student’s ability to independently write continuous texts across a variety of communicative purposes.

These are:•Describe•Explain•Recount•Narrate•Persuade

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Assessment – How

• Up to 40 minutes• Scored using rubric and annotated exemplars (both

generic exemplars and prompt specific exemplars).• Scoring rubric linked to literacy learning progressions

but developed through analysis of student samples• Curriculum level is not part of the marking• When analysed a curriculum level for each element

and overall score will be available

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Creating a writing assessment - Purpose

• Create Test – Choose Writing/Tuhituhi prompt• Choose the purpose first• Describe• Explain• Recount• Narrate• Persuade

• Consider the students being assessed, the type of response that the purpose will deliver and the information you are wanting to acquire.

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Creating a writing assessment – Can you make your own prompt?

Yes and No•Yes the rubric can be used to assess teacher’s own prompts.•However, DO NOT put the scored results for your own prompts into e-asTTle as the difficulty of the ‘made up’ prompt is unknown.•‘Teacher made’ prompts should assess continuous texts using the five purposes as this is what the rubric was developed for. A conversion table is available so that you do not put this data into e-asTTle.

e-asTTle training area

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Creating a writing assessment - Considerations

• When choosing a prompt consider possible sources of difficulty• Level of abstraction• Complexity of the structure eg. Narrative harder than

description or recount• Topics better suited to some age levels – 5 in slightly simpler

language as most likely to be used by younger students (the recounts and 3 describes)

• Can use more than one prompt to cater for and engage students, but probably wise to do so at different times

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Creating a writing assessment - Prompts

See other prompts here

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Creating a writing assessment - Prompts

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Creating a writing assessment – Test creation

Once a prompt has been chosen the prompt pack is created. It includes:•Admin instructions•Student booklet•Glossary•Rubric•Annotated exemplars

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Creating a writing assessment – Test administration

• Don’t forget to assign tests to students – cannot put results and generate results until this is done.

• Your turn – please spend time reading the administration guidelines

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The scoring rubric – What are R’s

• The progressions for each element within the scoring rubric is by category - not curriculum level

• R means Rubric• Do not use the rubric in isolation – use it in

conjunction with the specific exemplars, the generic exemplars and the Structure and language notes.

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The scoring rubric – by category

• Using student samples and the literacy learning progressions the rubric has been able to capture stages of skill development in writing.

• A little like children’s art?

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The scoring rubric – like categorising children’s art

Random scribble Controlled scribble Pre symbolism

Symbolism Realism 3 dimensional space

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The scoring rubric – the layout

The focus

Definition

Descriptor

Notes

Generic exemplars – for this element only

Category

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The scoring rubric – R3 is not Curriculum Level 3!

Curriculum Level 1 2 3 4 5 6

Ideas R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6Structure & Language

R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6

Organisation R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7Vocabulary R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6Sentence Structure

R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6

Punctuation R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7Spelling R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6

*** Representative diagram only

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The scoring rubric – Notes

• THEY ARE NOT REQUIREMENTS – for example, in Punctuation there are notes for ‘Other Punctuation” at R2 and R3. Other punctuation is not required in the descriptor until R4.

• The intention of the notes is to describe ‘what else’ you might see in scripts.

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The scoring rubric – Structure and Language notes

• These notes are prompt specific i.e. The notes vary depending on which purpose is being written

• Check carefully that these notes relate to the prompt/s being used.

• For example the prompts ‘Adult and child’ ‘Girl’ ‘The Market’ ‘Stick Insect’ and ‘Dogs at the beach’ use the same structure and language notes

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The exemplars

• 76 exemplars in total. There is a set of generic exemplars as well as exemplars specific to each prompt

• The exemplars are not exemplary items. They represent actual samples of student writing

• The annotated exemplars provide excellent comparative reference points for ensuring consistent marking.

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The specific exemplars

• These are generated when creating a prompt pack in e-asTTle.

• They directly relate to the prompt you have chosen. • The show a range of scores for the prompt you are

using.• DIRECT comparisons can be made• Use these before going to the generic exemplars.

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The generic exemplars

• They are referenced at the bottom of the marking rubrics.

• They do not necessarily directly relate to the prompt you are using.

• Use these for further reference if the specific exemplars have not enabled a definitive decision.

• There are only one set of generic exemplars.

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The scoring rubric – Have a read

• Your turn – please spend time becoming familiar with the scoring rubric using the glossary and definitions as reference material.

• Make sure you look at the Structure and Language notes for ‘Dogs at the Beach’ which is ‘Describe a moment in time’.

• Highlight bits which are important or you will need to remember.

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What we found out about the scoring rubrics

- Key points from the group

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Marking a script – What you need

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Marking a script – Considerations

• Age is irrelevant! Mark it for what it is.• Mark the script in front of you, not what you know about

the student who wrote it.• You can only use the evidence in front of you. e.g. If

technical words are not there, there is a limit to how far you can score in spelling.

• There is no scoring rubric for neatness of handwriting! • Beware of ‘proximal marking’. i.e. Mark each element

independent and separate from the other elements. • It is possible to be at R6 for spelling and R2 for

punctuation.

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Marking a script – Suggested process

1. Read the text right through

2. Go to one of the seven elements and read the descriptors and notes. Get a feel for which category it may fit.

3. Check against the prompt specific exemplars for comparative qualities.

4. Still not sure? – use the relevant generic exemplars as another check.

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Marking a script – Have a go

• The script being given to you is an annotated exemplar.

• Have a go at marking it and then we will discuss the difficult decisions

• We will then compare to the annotated scores.

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Splashing in the Waves – How close were we?Element R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7

Ideas

Structure and Lang.

Organisation

Vocabulary

Sentence Structure

Punctuation

Spelling

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Have another go – same prompt, different sample!

Depressing Dogs

•Have a go at marking and try and come to agreement over scores for each element with a partner.

•Remember to use the rubric, structure and language notes, generic exemplars and specific exemplars to help with your decisions

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Depressing Dogs - How did we go this time?

Element R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7

Ideas

Structure and Lang.

Organisation

Vocabulary

Sentence Structure

Punctuation

Spelling

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Third Script – Your choice

• Choose one of the recount or narrative scripts and mark by yourself or with a partner. Once complete we will get into ‘script groups’ and analyse and scores and debate.

• Don’t forget to use the group scoring grid.

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Third time lucky – your choice

Element R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7

Ideas

Structure and Lang.

Organisation

Vocabulary

Sentence Structure

Punctuation

Spelling

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How was it? – Your thoughts and reflections

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Entering the data

• Checkpoint No.1 – have you assigned it?• Change the date to represent when the actual sample

was taken rather than the date the data was entered• Put the attitude and seven element scores onto

e-asTTle• Click save after each student• Reports are ready!

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Viewing reports

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Viewing reports

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Viewing reports – Interpreting the Overall Score

• The curriculum levels reported for e-asTTle Writing are based on a standard-setting exercise undertaken to link performance on an e-asTTle assessment with the descriptions of writing competence provided in the Literacy Learning Progressions.

• A curriculum level of 4A for example means that

“given 40 minutes to write to a particular prompt under test conditions, the student has produced a text of sufficient quality to indicate they have the writing skills and competencies described as appropriate for students working at an advanced stage for Level 4 of the curriculum.”

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Viewing reports – Interpreting the Overall Score

• e-asTTle curriculum level attempts to identify the student’s performance in

the context of an e-asTTle writing assessment.

• A student who has been assessed by e-asTTle Writing at a particular

curriculum level will not necessarily have produced a piece of writing that

is of the same standard as a National Standards illustration.

• National Standards illustrations show examples completed by students in

class “largely by themselves”.

• An e-asTTle assessment is completed in 40 minutes under test conditions

without any teacher or peer feedback, or access to writing aides such as

dictionaries.

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Viewing reports – Taking imprecision into account• No educational assessment is perfectly precise. e-asTTle

Writing provides a margin of error by presenting scale scores within a “plus or minus” range, for instance 1250 ± 40.

• If the student was to repeat the assessment we could expect him/her to score somewhere between 1210 and 1290 scale units about 70% of the time.

• Imprecision also needs to be taken into account when considering the curriculum level descriptor. A student who scores 4A is probably somewhere in the range 4P to 5B.

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Viewing reports

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Viewing reports – R3 does not equal R3 or Level 3!

Element R score

Explain - Caring for Planet Earth

Narrate - I heard a whisper

Recount – Time with friends

Overall score 2A 3B 2A

Ideas R3 2A 3B 2A

Structure and Lang. R3 3B 3P 3B

Organisation R3 2A 2A 2P

Vocabulary R3 2A 3B 2A

Sentence Structure R3 3B 3P 3B

Punctuation R3 2P 2A 2P

Spelling R3 2P 2A 2P

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Viewing reports – Individual Elements

•In the revised e-asTTle writing each element has only 6 or 7 scoring categories. Moving from say a R2 to a R3 will involve a large shift in the associated curriculum level.

•It is unwise to treat the element curriculum scores as precise measures and comparisons with the old element scores will be very tenuous.

•It is best for teachers to point to the rubric scores given for each element when discussing a report with students.

.

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Viewing reports – Individual Elements

•The reporting system in the e-asTTle tool is built on a system that uses many more bands than this and which are linked to curriculum levels.

•These curriculum bands can impress a sense of precision that isn't there and mean we have to be very aware of the margin of error in an e-asTTle score when interpreting or comparing them.

1B 1P 1A 2B 2P 2A 3B 3P 3A 4B 4P 4A 5B 5P 5A 6B 6P 6A

R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6

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Use to improve teaching and learning

• This is an assessment tool.

• “The primary purpose of assessment is to improve students’ learning and teachers’ teaching as both student and teacher respond to the information that it provides.”

• Therefore we take the information from these samples to identify areas for improvement and deliberate teaching to support the student in his/her learning.

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Use to improve teaching and learning

• Suggestion – use the curriculum level scores to indicate needs and areas for future teaching because R scores by themselves will be misleading.

i.e. R3 ≠ R3

• Then go back to the rubric to identify the progression needed. Use documents such as the literacy learning progressions to support you in the teaching of this element.

Example: Sentence structure R3 – 2A

Use the rubric to see the demands of R4 to identify next steps for this element.

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Viewing reports – showing progress between samples

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What now for you and your school?

• Is this a tool that can add to the improvement in teaching and assessment of writing in your school?

• Is it useable and manageable?• How might you use it?• When?• How?

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Evaluation

• Please spend a minute or two reflecting on this seminar and how it has helped you come to terms with the revised writing tool.

• Your feedback helps us to evaluate our own performance and provides us with information on how to improve the experience for others in the future.

• Thank you

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Other prompts

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Other prompts

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Other prompts

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