STATE OF TEXAS ASSESSMENTS OF ACADEMIC READINESS (STAAR

1
STATE OF
TEXAS ASSESSMENTS OF ACADEMIC READINESS (STAAR )
English I and II EOC Writing

• Adapted from Victoria Young
• Director of Reading, Writing, and
• Social Studies Assessments
• Texas Education Agency

2
STAAR Test DesignEnglish I and II

• Reading and writing combined into one test with
  one score (no separate reading and writing
  scores)
• Tests administered in a single day5-hour time
  limit
• Reading and writing contribute equally to total
  score
• 30 reading multiple choice
• 20 short answer questions
• 24 writing multiple choice
• 26 essay
• Multiple choice 54 of total test score
• Performance 46 of total test score

3
STAAR Writing Performance Spring 2013 Statewide
ResultsPhase-in and Recommended Standards
Grade/ Course Phase-in 1 (current) Phase-in 2 (probably 2014-15) Recommended (probably 2015-16)
Grade 4 71 51 35
Grade 7 70 50 29
English I 48 37 30
English II 52 38 30

• meeting passing standard

4
2013 STAAR Expository Writing Grades 7 9
Statewide Distributions
Expository Summed Scores Expository Summed Scores Expository Summed Scores
1/1 2 10 58
1/2 3 13 58
2/2 4 35 58
2/3 5 21 21
3/3 6 14 21
3/4 7 5 21
4/4 8 2 21
English I Expository Summed Scores English I Expository Summed Scores English I Expository Summed Scores
1/1 2 18 72
1/2 3 18 72
2/2 4 35 72
2/3 5 14 14
3/3 6 9 13
3/4 7 3 13
4/4 8 1 13
Need to write more informa-tional text in 6th,
7th, and 8th grades!!
5
2013 STAAR Writing English I and II Statewide
Distributions
English I Expository Summed Scores English I Expository Summed Scores English I Expository Summed Scores English II Persuasive Summed Scores English II Persuasive Summed Scores English II Persuasive Summed Scores
1/1 2 18 72 1/1 2 4 44
1/2 3 18 72 1/2 3 6 44
2/2 4 35 72 2/2 4 34 44
2/3 5 14 14 2/3 5 23 23
3/3 6 9 13 3/3 6 24 32
3/4 7 3 13 3/4 7 6 32
4/4 8 1 13 4/4 8 2 32
This indicates that two years of sustained
instruction in informational writing pays off
with higher scores!!
6
WRITING EOC

• Essays

7
What Drives Scoring RESPONSIVENESS

• RESPONSIVENESS to both the purpose and the topic.
  Responsiveness is weakened when the student
• pays too much attention to the think statement
• uses an inappropriate ( score 1) or marginally
  appropriate ( score 2) organizing structure
• includes ideas that are extraneous or only
  marginally related to the topic

8
What Drives Scoring FOCUS

• FOCUS - Expository
• be focused on the central charge of the prompt
  (the Write about)
• have an explicit, specific thesis (controlling
  idea), the earlier in the paper, the better.
• FOCUS is weakened when the thesis is
• general or vague

9
What Drives Scoring FOCUS

• FOCUS - Persuasive
• focused on the central charge of the prompt
  (the Write about)
• Have an explicit, specific position statement is
  critical, the earlier in the paper, the better
• Focus is weakened when position statement is
• general or vague (wishy-washy, no position)
• evolving ( writer switches or writes into
  position)
• show students examples of where the position or
  thesis changes and how it negatively affects the
  reasoning/ organizing structure

10
What Drives Scoring PROGRESSION

• What isnt required a specific of ideas or
  paragraphs
• What is required moving logically from sentence
  to sentence so that the reader can easily follow
  the writers train of thought
• PROGRESSION is weakened when the writer
• moves randomly from sentence to sentence

11
What Drives Scoring CONNECTIONS

• What isnt required a specific of ideas
• What is required connecting ideas with
  meaningful transitions so that the reader can
  easily follow the students train of thought
• CONNECTIONS are weakened when the writer
• does not use transitions
• relies on perfunctory transitions
  
• (e.g., The first thing that happened, The next
  thing that happened First, Second, Third My
  first reason, My final reason)

12
What Drives Scoring CONNECTIONS-Transitions

• Meaningful transitions and when to use them
• Contrast words
• Nonetheless,
• On the other hand,
• Alternatively,
• Conclusion words
• Given that this is true,
• Therefore,
• In light of the evidence,
• As is clear from

13
What Drives Scoring CONNECTIONS -Transitions

• Meaningful transitions and when to use them
• Introduce Examples
• Consider the case of..
• As _____ suggests
• Similarity words
• Similarly,
• Additionally,
• Moreover,
• Likewise,
• Just as

14
What Drives Scoring CONNECTIONS -Transitions

• Meaningful transitions and when to use them
• Contrasting Alternatives
• To be sure. . ., but
• Undoubtedly , nevertheless
• Granted. . . ,yet. . .
• Paragraph hook A sentence that connects two
  paragraphs by including ideas from both

15
What Drives Scoring PROGRESSION/CONNECTIONS

• The biggest problem
• Clusters of ideas
• linked to the prompt, but
• not connected to each other (important in all
  cases, but especially if ideas are different
  grain sizes)
• This is a roadblock to substance/depth/
  thoughtfulness because the student does not
  build from one idea to the next.
• Remember
• Unconnected ideas superficial development
• Superficial development a score of 2

16
What Drives Scoring DEVELOPMENT

• DEVELOPMENT Given the space constraints of 26
  lines, what makes the most sense
• Narrow and deep development
• fewer ideas with more depth better than more
  ideas with less depth
• Building meaning from one idea to the next
• each idea enriched/enhanced by what came before
  it

17
What Drives Scoring DEVELOPMENT

• What causes the worst development problems
• Formulaic approaches
• 5-paragraph essays almost always result in a lack
  of thoughtfulness, individuality, depth
• Overly erudite ideas
• too complicated, abstract, philosophical for a
  students writing skills
• Remember
• The best development is real, based on a
  students own experiences and thinking about the
  world.

18
The Space Issue

• Primary causes of space problems (not enough)
• Introductions that
• repeat the prompt
• incorporate an unnecessary framing device
• include preview statements (average 5-9 lines)
• Conclusions that
• simply repeat introduction

19
The Space Issue

• Primary causes of space problems (not enough)
• Weak organization
• repetition
• meandering
• randomness
• Use of filler description, details, examples,
  reasons)
• that doesnt contribute to the quality of the
  development
• Remember
• Using space effectively requires both planning
  and revision!

20
Using Space IneffectivelyAn English II 23-line
Persuasive 2

• Ive lived in little ol _____, Texas my whole
  life. Its one of the smallest towns around here.
  And I love it.
• First, theres the train tracks, then theres the
  old general store, across from the post office.
  Near that is a odd shaped builing that was
  supposed to be a car museum, but never really
  made it. Down the road is the dump, where I
  rescued my cat a few years ago.
• The best part of living in a small town is my
  school. Its small, maybe 200 people. So you know
  everyones name. And down the road from the school
  is Petes. Its amazing. It is a gas station and
  they have personal pan pizza.
• Living in a small town gives me a sense of
  comuity, Standing and cheering at a football
  game. Thats where its at. Its amazing to know
  that small towns still exist at this day in age.

Filler details
21
Making Space WorkA 19-line Persuasive 4

• Ive had the benefit of experiencing both a large
  city and a small town. If given a choice between
  the two, hands down Id choose the city any day.
  Big cities provide invaluable opportunities that
  small towns cant match to any degree.
• In cities there is always something to do. When
  boredom attacks, a person is never very far from
  some sort of park/movie theatre/diner/something
  to waste time. The mass of things around you in a
  city is great. You can always rely on a city to
  give you what you want. In a small town you can
  barely rely on a grocery store to supply decent
  out-of-season fruit.

22
Making Space WorkAn English II 19-line
Persuasive 4

• The people are the seller, though. In a city you
  meet more people in a lifetime than you could
  ever count. Each one different, too. Mean, nice,
  old, young, interesting, dull - they each teach
  you a little something about the world and they
  each teach you a little more about yourself. I
  didnt know how much I valued books until a man
  on a bus challenged their worth. That interaction
  taught me about a new side of life.
• Small towns have this supposed charm, but I
  think cities have a charm - a better charm - all
  of their own. Theyre a place to enjoy yourself
  and bask in the glory of life and all it entails.