Reflecting on Writing Data

 

The coaching blog has had quite a focus on reflection the past few weeks, which is perfectly appropriate for this time of year.  There are numerous facets to our roles as educators, prompting reflection in so many areas. After spending 6 consecutive work days on norming writing, I thought it would be appropriate to take some time to reflect on our norming process and results for narrative writing.

I want to celebrate the depth of conversations teachers are having about what grade level expectations do and don’t look like.  There were times throughout the week that I thought forward to our work next year on proficiency tables and absolutely feel that we are on the right track.  An addition to our conversations this spring was the acknowledgement that many of us have bias when grading writing from our own students. With that in mind, several teachers intentionally selected papers to give to their peers to score in recognition that they wanted an unbiased look at that piece of work.

Working to score writing the same, which can be very subjective, is and will be an ongoing focus.  In an attempt to capture our common expectations, I have compiled a folder with writing exemplars for each grade level.  The papers that were selected have scores as close to the grade level target as possible. This is still a work in progress and will be complete by the end of the school year. Each file name has the score in all three areas of the rubric.  Please refer to the chart for grade level point expectations.

While we will continue to reflect and hone this norming process, the data acquired is a valuable representation of your students. However, many of you have expressed that it is hard to make heads or tails of the information. As a participant in all grade level norming for the past 4 years, I have become quite familiar with the rubric and how the numbers fall. We have often reassured teachers in grades 1 through 5 that a score of 75% means that a student is on grade level. Kindergarten, who is using this rubric for the first time this year, identifies grade level at 67%. As we all know, data tells a story. In order to make sense of that data story, it is important to know more than just that one target score or average in order to reflect. When looking at Matrix, you can see individual points scored in each of the three categories of structure, development, and conventions. Below are the listed grade level expectations for your grade level.

The Kindergarten rubric scores look a bit different because the rest of the grade levels span from 2 grade levels below to one grade level ahead.  Kindergarten does not have a level below Pre-Kinder.

While the rubric spans two grade levels below for 1st through 5th grade, it is important for you to recognize where your students fall in comparison to the grade level above and below.  Please note the range that exists between each grade level expecation.

 

 

When you look at your Matrix scores, you can easily scan the three areas for your students.  It is important to take note of the range of points that can be scored between grade levels. In looking at the post scores for this third grade class, I can see that the overall class average is 66%.  That does fall below grade level, but it is also important to recognize that it is closer to the grade level target than the 50% score of the grade level below.

 

 

As I scan the student scores, I can see that this class scored the best in Language Conventions because the grade level target is 6 points and this class average 5.64.  The area that falls the shortest here is Development, scoring 1.92 points below the grade level expectation. The ability to scan individual student scores also helps to recognize a few outliers that need some intense support in a specific area as well as student strengths in each of the areas.

I hope you all take the time to look over your scores as you finish up your grading.  We have zoomed in on what proficiency is for a narrative piece of writing. Where are we?  What are our next steps? As we reflect on the passion we pour into working with our students, this is also a time that we can reflect on their growth.  If we take a look at the same students from the beginning of the year, it is clear the significant gains these students have made. Writing is a challenging process and students all develop at a different rate.  Our common understanding of grade level expectations will result in more targeted feedback to students and will continue support their growth as a writer.

 

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