WRITING ASSESSMENT AND INTERVENTION

Lisa Bates & Dean Richards 1/9/09

Running with the Squirrels

Objectives for Written Language To build awareness of screening and

progress monitoring assessments used to identify students’ needing intervention and to monitor their progress

To build awareness of core instruction, supplemental and intensive intervention for students

To identify what you may have in place and what you may what to think about developing and refining

Necessary Components

Assessment Universal Screening Progress Monitoring

Instruction Core Program Second Tier Intervention Third Tier Interventions

Purpose of Assessment

Heartland AEA: CBM 2001

Measurement strategies are chosen to... Answer specific questions Make specific decisions

Universal Screening

Why use universal screening?

To determine effectiveness of the core program

To inform instruction To determine which students need

additional support

Universal Screening: Tools and Procedures

Screening tool must dove-tail with progress monitoring tool

Robust indicator of academic health Brief and easy to administer Must have multiple, equivalent forms

(If the metric isn’t the same, the data are meaningless)

Must be sensitive to growth

Make a Plan

Who will conduct Universal Screening? Who will train the screeners? Who will prepare materials? Who will organize at the school? Where will the data go? Who will organize the data and present it

to teaching teams? Who will keep track of which students are

in interventions?

Universal Screening

In an ideal world…… Reality…….

TTSD Standard Written Expression Protocol

What does TTSD use for screening for Written Language?• K-1 Students receiving Emergent/Pre-Writing

level on the Progress Report are “red flagged”

• 2-5 Student’s receiving 1’s and 2’s only in Organization, Conventions, and Sentence Fluency (Writing) on the Progress Report and/or students scoring below the 30th percentile on OAKS are “red flagged” by the EBIS grade level team.

• Each “red flagged” student is assessed using Curriculum Based Measurements (Total Words Written and Correct Writing Sequences in 1-5). Students scoring below the 30th percentile on CBMs are placed in Second Tier Interventions.

Grades 2-5- Organization

Grades 2-5 Sentence Fluency

Grades 2-5 Conventions

Logistics of Writing Assessment Who administers: classroom teachers When: prior to progress reports being

completed (3 times per year) How are assessments scored: ideally as

a grade level team for consistency Who collects the data: grade level

representative, literacy specialist, principal

Time for Reflection

In your team determine the following on your team worksheet: Components of a universal screener that

are in place Components of a universal screener that

you may need to consider

Progress Monitoring in TTSD

Grade Assessment

K Copy the Letter

1-5 Total Words WrittenCorrect Writing Sequences

Quantity produces quality. If you only write a few things,

you’re doomed.

Ray Bradbury

ADVANTAGES TO USING THIS OBJECTIVE SCORING METHOD

Objective High Reliability High correlation with performance of norm

referenced achievement tests and teacher judgments of quality at the elementary levels

Sensitive to student growth in written expression across 10 and 16 week periods

(Tindal & Marson 1990)

CBM Written Expression Admin.

Heartland AEA: CBM 2001

Group or individual administration Story starter One minute to plan & three minutes to

write story Scoring

Total words written: fluency Correct writing sequences: fluency and

mechanics

Story Starters

Cross-Age Suitable for All Benchmark Grades

1. I couldn’t fall asleep in my tent. I heard this noise outside and …

2. My father sold his store last year and my whole family …

3. All during the day I was nervous. I ran home at 3:00. When I got home …

Scoring Total Words Written (TWW)

When scoring TWW underline each word When scoring TWW underline each word writtenwritten

A word is any letter or group of letters A word is any letter or group of letters separated by a space, separated by a space, even if the word is even if the word is misspelled or a nonsense word.misspelled or a nonsense word. Examples:Examples:

TheThe skysky waswas blueblue TWW = 4 TWW = 4 TheThe skysky waswas blewblew TWW =4 TWW =4 II tuktuk aa bafbaf TWW = 4 TWW = 4 II tukatuka bafbaf TWW = 3 TWW = 3

Total Words Written

Writing Fluency NormsWords Written Per 3 Minutes.Grade %ile Ranks Fall Winter Spring

1 75 7 17 20

50 4 13 16

25 3 8 11

2 75 27 33 38

50 21 25 28

25 14 18 22

3 75 41 48 50

50 33 41 42

25 27 34 33

Writing Fluency NormsWords Written Per 3 Minutes.

Grade %ile Ranks Fall Winter Spring

4 75 53 57 60

50 45 48 57

25 36 40 39

5 75 60 65 69

50 51 55 57

25 43 45 45

Shapiro, 2001

Correct Writing Sequences

Heartland AEA: CBM 2001

A correct writing sequence refers to two adjacent writing units (word/word or word/punctuation) that are acceptable within the context of what is written.

The term “acceptable” means that the writing sequence is syntactically and semantically correct.

Correct Writing Sequences

Heartland AEA: CBM 2001

Correct ... Capital letters Ending punctuation Spelling Syntax Semantics

CWS Procedures

ScottGrade 2

^and ^ he ^was ^ jumping ^ on descs and ^ when ^ we tride to ^ get ^ him ^ he ^ would ^ climb ^ up ^ on ^ top ^ of ^ the cupberds and ^ we ^ could ^ not ^ reach ^ him ^. ^ When ^ we ^ went ^ up their on ^ a Ladder he ^ would ^ jump ^ on ^ a ^ light ^.

TWW: 42CWS: 34

Writing CBM Administration and Scoring Resources

AIMSWeb (www.aimsweb.com)

Intervention Central (www.interventioncentral.org)

How do we know how students are performing? We need to look at the norms…..

CBM Written Expression-Norms

Goals for understanding norms

1. To understand how to read the norm table

2. To become aware of where we want students to be performing (low risk level)

Let’s take a closer look!!!

Low risk

v v v

Let’s try this together!

What is the “low risk” scores for the fall of 3rd grade?What is the “low risk” score for the winter of 3rd grade?What is the “low risk” score for the spring of 3rd grade?

Let’s practice in pairs

What is the “low risk” score in the winter of 4th grade?What is the “low risk” score in the spring of 4th grade?

Class Scores on Writing Assessment

Student Organization Conventions Sentence Fluency

Sarah 1 2 1

Ethan 3 4 3

Miles 2 1 1

Emma 3 4 4

Jordan 1 1 1

Taylor 2 1 3

Nolan 1 1 2

Malia 3 4 4

Iris 5 5 5

CBM Written Language Score

Student CBM CWS Score

Sarah 7

Taylor 6

Miles 4

Nolan 2

Jordan 1

Time to reflect…

What is important about progress monitoring for written language? Please share with a tablemate.

In your team, what do you have in place already for progress monitoring and what might you want to consider?

Problems with Written Language Instruction

minimal attention to explicit writing instruction

minimal time allocated to writing tasks

writing instruction is introduced too late in the curriculum

Instruction in Written Language Provide explicit instruction in both

process and mechanics Provide more demonstration of writing

process procedures Provide more demonstration of the

revision process Increase use of self monitoring

Components of Expressive Writing Products

Fluency Content Conventions

Syntax Vocabulary

Number of words written

Originality of ideas

Spelling Complexity of sentences

Originality and maturity of words

Organization of ideas

Margins

Punctuation

Capitalization

Grammar

Handwriting

Progression of Expressive Writing Skills

Copying and editing text

Composing simple sentences

Composing paragraphs

Composing multi-paragraph prose

TTSD: Core Program

MacMillan (grammar and spelling components) and Lucy Caulkins

Time: 30 minutes per day during 90 minute literacy block time

Who Delivers: Classroom teachers Group size: determined by grade level

TTSD: Second Tier Interventions K: ERI 1-5:

Increased teacher attention during core writing instruction

More guided practice Who delivers:

K: Reading interventionist 1-5: Classroom teacher

TTSD: Third Tier Interventions K: ERI and Language for Learning 1-5:

Core plus 20 minute weekly session focused on guided

practice Who delivers:

K: Reading Interventionist 1-5: Grade Level Team

Other Resources

Step Up to Writing® features research-based, validated strategies and activities that help students proficiently write narrative, personal narrative, and expository pieces; actively engage in reading materials for improved comprehension; and demonstrate competent study skills.

Creates a common language and approach across grade levels and content areas

Provides models of student writing for teacher and student reference

Explicitly connects reading and writing Teaches all stages of the writing process, with an

emphasis on planning Provides tips specifically for kindergarten students in

Primary Level Aligns with the Six Traits assessment model

Other Resources

Expressive Writing 1 & 2 (2005) Helps poor writers improve their skills

with an easy-to-use approach to teaching the basics of good writing.

Expressive Writing focuses on the writing and the editing of basic sentences, paragraphs, and stories. Instructional strands include Mechanics, Sentence Writing, Paragraph and Story Writing, and Editing.  

Time to Reflect

In your team determine what components of instruction you have in place and what components you may want to consider or refine on your team worksheet

How do you know if the intervention is working in TTSD? Progress Monitoring

CBMs are given every other week Trendlines are reviewed every 12 weeks Intensifying the intervention

If progress is below the expected rate after 12 weeks of Second Tier Intervention, students should move to Third Tier intervention

If progress is below the expected rate after 12 weeks of Third Tier intervention, EBIS team makes a referral for special education.

Steps to Draw a Trendline

1. Start with at least 7 data points2. Approximately divide the data points into

three equal sections using vertical lines. The outer two sections should have at least three data points

3. In the first and third sections, calculate the mid-date (draw a vertical line) and mid-rate (draw a horizontal line).

4. Mark the points on the graph where the two values intersect.

5. Connect the points to draw a trendline.

Steps to Redraw an Aimline

• When an intervention needs to be changed, the aimline needs to be redrawn

1. Using the last three data points, find the intersection of the mid-date & mid-rate.

2. Draw a new aimline from this point to the end of the year benchmark.

3. Draw a phase line to reflect that the intervention has changed (after that point).

Aimlines & Trendlines

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

7 6 6 11

10 8 14 9

Aimlines & Trendlines

10

20

30

40

50

60

2 7

4 5

10 6

10 7

3 3

14 4

2 5

10 3

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

3 3

14 4

2 5

10 3

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Contact Information

Lisa Bates lbates@ttsd.k12.or.us 503-431-4079

Dean Richards drichards@ttsd.k12.or.us 503-431-4135