Ginger Kastor
Issues in Traditional and Alternative Student Assessment
Instructor: Dr. Sandy Levin
Fall 2002
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Proposal and Analysis

I teach sixth grade language arts, reading and social studies in a K-8 building, Millburn C. C. School. This school takes writing skills very seriously because a well-written student can accomplish so much in their lives. Giving the students a strong foundation in writing will help build their futures. A goal that the Millburn Improvement Plan Committee has set is to concentrate on writing skills so students have experiences in a variety of topics. The measurement for the committee is the ISAT writing exams. In an effort to boost testing scores for the eighth grade ISAT writing exam, the Improvement Plan Committee has decided that all middle school teachers should include writing in all subject areas. More specifically, the writing that is to be practiced is extended responses. Up to this point in the students’ education, they have not had instruction on how to write extended responses.

Through my language arts class, I would like the students to become comfortable with what is expected of their writing and have extensive practice doing extended responses. The students are not familiar with the criteria or what goes into writing a well-written extended response. The ISAT Writing Rubric is a good source for what should be expected from a middle school student, so I will be altering the rubric for class needs. By using the revised version of the ISAT Writing Rubric, students are given a chance to see what is expected from their own writing. Grading examples of other students and their own writing will give the students a chance to evaluate their own writing so they can begin learning how to improve their writing skills. By using the same rubric for all of the extended responses, I hope the students learn how to use high order thinking skills to pull facts together and make connections between relevant subject matter and events in real life. It is a challenge to make facts come together smoothly from the content they have learned and the process of writing the connections down in a way in which it is well-written will take practice.

KWL Chart
Extended Response Practice

Please see Assessment Analysis below for “What I LEARNED”.

What I KNOW	What I WANT to know	What I LEARNED
*Many teachers don't teach how to write extended responses or how they are graded	*Will practicing extended responses in one subject help extended responses in all subject areas?	*1
*Extended responses is a priority for my school's improvement plan	*Will practicing extended responses help students write in other forms?	*2
*Write skills will improve by frequency of practice	*Will self-assessing their own extended responses have a great effect?	*3
*Higher order thinking skills are used when writing extended responses	*Does the use of tools in which to write extended responses have an affect on the effort put into them?	*4
*Meta-writing, or self-assessment, will help students understand their writing skills	*How much improvement will there be based on the frequency of practice?	*5

Millburn C.C. School

Curriculum Mapping and Alignment

September 

Content/Topic	Skills Needed	Assessment	IEP	State Standards
Active Reading	-Comprehension through actively thinking while reading: *Predicting *Connecting *Questioning *Reflecting *Evaluating	-Answering comprehension questions about story in complete sentences -Demonstrate in writing their ability to do each of the five steps of active reading while reading -Draw invention to demonstrate active thinking	-Demonstrating thinking process by answering questions without complete sentences so their focus is more on thinking than writing skills	1.B.3a 1.B.3b 1.B.3c 1.B.3d 1.C.3a 2.B.3a 2.B.3c 3.B.3a 3.B.3b 3.C.3a 3.C.3b 5.C.3a
Extended Responses (*1)	-Writing to make connections and reflect -Understand and use rubric of expectations	-Essay about story	-Graphic organizer used in place of essay so the students can focus on organizing their thoughts before adding the writing skills	1.C.3a 1.C.3d 2.B.3a 2.B.3c 3.B.3a

September through October

Content/Topic	Skills Needed	Assessment	IEP	State Standards
Novel: Tuck Everlasting	-Dictionary skills -Recognition and use of vocabulary -Outlines for notes -Reading fluency -Comprehension -Compare characters -Group work skills -Predicting outcome -Persuasive thoughts -Evaluate movie and novel (*4) -Final assessment	-Meaning of vocabulary words from dictionary -Definition test (*2) -Portfolio/outline check -Reading aloud in class -Essays once a week (*1) -Essay quizzes given every couple chapters (*3) -Timeline of events -Draw pictures and quote book -Informal teacher observation -Chart events and predictions -Worksheets to generate opinions -Debate -Wheel of Life creation/simulation -Essay to compare book and movie (*5)  -Test with fill in the blank and short answers	-Matching test for definitions to make it easier, but they still must know the meaning of the words -Pre-made outlines with fill in the blanks so it is not overwhelming for these students -Graphic organizer will help organize the students’ thoughts before having to write an essay as well  -Fewer quotes for same grade because they still are working on the same skill, but it will take them less time to complete, which will equal the time that the other students are spending on the assignment -Graphic organizer to complete book and movie so they can focus on the comparing and contrasting skill rather than putting it together with the writing skills -Modified test will give the students fill in the blank with a word bank and matching but will cover the same questions	1.A.3b 1.B.3a 1.B.3b 1.B.3c 1.B.3d 1.C.3a 1.C.3b 1.C.3d 2.A.3a 2.A.3b 2.A.3d 2.B.3a 2.B.3c 3.B.3a 3.B.3b 3.C.3a 3.C.3b 5.C.3a
Extended Responses (*1)	-Writing to make connections and reflect -Understand and use rubric of expectations	-Essay about story	-Graphic organizer before writing the essay so the students can focus on organizing their thoughts before adding the writing skills. This will be worked on with a Special Education Teacher that can spend more time with the student to help with the writing skills	1.C.3a 1.C.3d 2.B.3a 2.B.3c 3.B.3a

November

Content/Topic	Skills Needed	Assessment	IEP	State Standards
Mythology: “Orpheus and Eurydice” “Iduna and the Magic Apple” Creation stories God/goddess report Major project to learn mythology characters and stories	-Inferences  -Comprehension -Comprehension -Comparing characters -Comparing events to real life -Comparing stories  -Compare/contrast characters, society values and different creation stories  -Research/Organizing information -Different skills depending on projects chosen by students with teacher input: *Research Greek culture *Illustrate *Writing *Synthesis/Dramatize *Compare to other cultures *Summarize *Reading fluency	-KWL chart -Recognizing inferences (*6) -Produce song or play about story in groups -Essays/written paragraphs -Illustrations -Essays/paragraphs -Venn Diagram -Written report of god/goddess -Oral report -Use techniques to feel comfortable speaking in front of audience -Model characteristics and clothing of god/goddess  -Greek culture worksheets -Illustration -Create myth -Create newspaper -Puppet play -Venn Diagram/paragraphs -Graphic organizer/paragraphs -Tape of storytelling and book	-Graphic organizer to help before writing paragraphs. Again, a teacher or aide will give more attention to the students that need to focus on writing skills -Outline of when each item should be complete so the students can have a time table and will have to have their assignments checked off by a teacher for organizational purposes -Teacher input into projects so student chooses ones that are appropriate for students	1.B.3a 1.B.3b 1.B.3c 1.B.3d 1.C.3a 1.C.3b 1.C.3c 1.C.3d 1.C.3e 2.A.3a 2.A.3b 2.A.3c 2.A.3d 2.B.3a 2.B.3b 2.B.3c 3.B.3a 3.B.3b 3.C.3a 3.C.3b 4.B.3a 4.B.3c 5.C.3a
Extended Responses(*1)	-Writing to make connections and reflect -Understand and use rubric of expectations	-Essay about story	-Graphic organizer before writing the essay so the students can focus on organizing their thoughts before adding the writing skills. This will be worked on with a Special Education Teacher that can spend more time with the student to help with the writing skills	1.C.3a 1.C.3d 2.B.3a 2.B.3c 3.B.3a

Changes or Added Assessments

This is an explanation of all the changed or new assessments. Number one is the assessment that will be analyzed for Stage 4 of this major project.

*1 Changed: The students would have a two-three day lesson on how to effectively write an extended response. The students would look at samples of other students writing and grade it with the other students in class. Then the students would write one essay and grade it themselves using the same rubric. See an example: Old Extended Response Lesson. Now, the assessment is improved. Performance-based assessment is the idea behind this assessment. At the beginning of the year, extended responses and rubrics will be introduced to the students. There will be one essay a week that will be given to the students during the Active Reading, Tuck Everlasting, and the Mythology units. The students will be keeping their essays in a working portfolio. A reflection will also be included in the portfolio and the students will be choosing one essay of their choice to hand in for a grade at the end of each unit. See the First Extended Response Lesson, the Second Extended Response Lesson, and the Third Extended Response Lesson.

*2 Changed: These definition quizzes used to be fill-in-the-blank with a word bank. Here is the example: Old Vocabulary Quiz. Now the test will be to use the word in a sentence to show its meaning so the students really have to demonstrate that they know the meaning and they cannot guess using the word bank. Here is the example: New Vocabulary Quiz.

*3 Changed: The essay quizzes every couple chapters is a way to see if the students really have a strong understanding of the story while measuring complex achievement. This is a revision to the assessment I used to use that was an oral quiz every day that the students read a chapter. See an example: Old Tuck Quiz. The assessment was not very good because I would focus on asking them details from the story rather than seeing if they understood the material they read. Now the essay quizzes will really measure if they understand the text. See an example of the Tuck Everlasting Chapter 15 and 16 Essay Quiz.

*4 New: This will be a fieldtrip to the local movie theater to see Tuck Everlasting coming to theaters on October 11, 2002. The actual assessment is *6.

*5 New: The essay will be more practice with writing and will be graded using a rubric on comparing and contrasting.

*6 Changed: The assessment for interpreting text used to be a worksheet that was very difficult for the students to understand and they really did not put much thought into it. See an example: Old Inference Worksheet. This will be an interpretive exercise that is much improved to the skills and assessments used in my class and I plan to use it periodically throughout the school year so the students will become better at this skill. See an example: New Inferences Worksheets.

Illinois State Standards

State Standards Met: ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS

STATE GOAL 1: Read with understanding and fluency.	A. Apply word analysis and vocabulary skills to comprehend selections.	1.A.3b Analyze the meaning of words and phrases in their context.
	B. Apply reading strategies to improve understanding and fluency.	1.B.3a Preview reading materials, make predictions, and relate reading to information from other sources. 1.B.3b Identify text structure and create a visual representation (e.g., graphic organizer, outline, drawing) to use while reading. 1.B.3c Continuously check and clarify for understanding (e.g., in addition to previous skills, draw comparisons to other readings). 1.B.3d Read age-appropriate material with fluency and accuracy.
	C. Comprehend a broad range of reading materials.	1.C.3a Use information to form, explain and support questions and predictions. 1.C.3b Interpret and analyze entire narrative text using story elements, point of view and theme. 1.C.3c Compare, contrast and evaluate ideas and information from various sources and genres. 1.C.3d Summarize and make generalizations from content and relate them to the purpose of the material. 1.C.3e Compare how authors and illustrators use text and art across materials to express their ideas (e.g., foreshadowing, flashbacks, color, strong verbs, language that inspires).
STATE GOAL 2: Read and understand literature representative of various societies, eras and ideas.	A. Understand how literary elements and techniques are used to convey meaning.	2.A.3a Identify and analyze a variety of literary techniques (e.g., figurative language, allusion, dialogue, description, word choice, dialect) within classical and contemporary works representing a variety of genres. 2.A.3b Describe how the development of theme, character, plot and setting contribute to the overall impact of a piece of literature. 2.A.3c Identify characteristics and authors of various literary forms (e.g., short stories, novels, drama, fables, biographies, documentaries, poetry, science fiction). 2.A.3d Identify ways that an author uses language structure, word choice and style to convey the author's viewpoint.
	B. Read and interpret a variety of literary works.	2.B.3a Respond to literary material from personal, creative and critical points of view. 2.B.3b Compare and contrast common literary themes across various societies and eras. 2.B.3c Analyze how characters in literature deal with conflict, solve problems and relate to real-life situations
STATE GOAL 3: Write to communicate for a variety of purposes.	B. Compose well-organized and coherent writing for specific purposes and audiences.	3.B.3a Produce documents that convey a clear understanding and interpretation of ideas and information and display focus, organization, elaboration and coherence. 3.B.3b Edit and revise for word choice, organization, consistent point of view and transitions among paragraphs using contemporary technology and formats suitable for submission and/or publication.
	C. Communicate ideas in writing to accomplish a variety of purposes.	3.C.3a Compose narrative, informative, and persuasive writings (e.g., in addition to previous writings, literature reviews, instructions, news articles, correspondence) for a specified audience. 3.C.3b Using available technology, produce compositions and multimedia works for specified audiences.
STATE GOAL 4: Listen and speak effectively in a variety of situations.	B. Speak effectively using language appropriate to the situation and audience.	4.B.3a Deliver planned oral presentations, using language and vocabulary appropriate to the purpose, message and audience; provide details and supporting information that clarify main ideas; and use visual aids and contemporary technology as support. 4.B.3b Design and produce reports and multi-media compositions that represent group projects. 4.B.3c Develop strategies to manage or overcome communication anxiety and apprehension (e.g., sentence outlining, note cards). 4.B.3d Use verbal and nonverbal communication strategies to maintain communications and to resolve conflict.
STATE GOAL 5: Use the language arts to acquire, assess and communicate information	C. Apply acquired information, concepts and ideas to communicate in a variety of formats.	5.C.3a Plan, compose, edit and revise documents that synthesize new meaning gleaned from multiple sources.

Assessment Analysis

*1. Will practicing extended responses in one subject help extended responses in all subject areas?

Writing in all subject areas will help students writing skills. Writing skills must be practiced just like any other skill. The more it is practiced, the better the student will do in any writing assignment. In an interview with Erika Lindemann, a professor at the University of Maryland University College, stated students writing in all subjects will help students with writing skills. “Writing skills have to be practiced and reinforced if they’re to get better…[Writing across the curriculum programs help solve this problem]” (UMUC, 2001).

Not only will writing in all subjects help the students’ writing skills, but it will work the other way as well. Student that have an opportunity to write have a chance to organize their thoughts and internalize the information they have taken into their short term memory so they will retain all information more successfully. "Writing is a medium with which people communicate with themselves and with others at other places and times. When I write, I write to learn what I know because I don't know fully what I mean until I order the words on paper. Then I see ... and know. Writers' first attempts to make sense are crude, rough approximations of what they mean. Writing makes sense of things for oneself, then for others" (Graves, 1985). “Writing ensures that the student has read, comprehended, and is able to demonstrate the knowledge through writing” (Kastor, 2001).

Writing also comes in handy when the students are being assessed, even if the assessment does not include writing. “On both of these indicators of student performance, more frequent student writing is associated with improved performance. Interestingly, students who write more frequently perform better not only on essay exams or other tests that require student writing, but also on multiple-choice tests across a range of subjects” (Reeves, Ph.D., 2002). In agreement is Dr. Douglas B. Reeves, PH.D. who wrote, “Writing improves performance in all academic areas” (2002).

*2. Will practicing extended responses help students write in other forms?

Writing in one form will help students write in all different kinds of forms. As was previously stated, “Writing skills have to be practiced and reinforced if they’re to get better” (UMUC, 2001). Organizing thoughts and writing them in meaningful words is the same procedure for all writing forms. The more writing a student does, the more easily this skill will be for them. “As you improve your thinking skills, your writing skills will improve; as your writing improves, your language will become more articulate and reflect your evolving critical thinking” (UMUC, 2001). Applying knowledge gained to written work is a higher order thinking skill in the Bloom's Taxonomy of Cognitive Domain. Knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation are the steps in the hierarchy of the classification of active learning (Huitt, 2000). The more times a student practices writing, it will help because the students will be practicing the thought process which is essential to writing in any form.

Visual registers in memory can only hold about seven to nine pieces of information for about half a second (Bruning, et. al, 1999). Therefore, the more reading that is done, the more information can complete the transition into memory. As stated in the response to Forum 5 Lesson 5: Forgetting, "All information that is in our memory is associated to another piece of information that we have in memory (North, 2000). For example, when you think of an apple, you might think of all the things that are connected to the apple as well, such as, "APPLE: red, round, sweet, teacher, tree, fruit "(North, 2000). If a student does not associate a piece of information within the four seconds that it is held in working memory, the information is lost" (Kastor, 2001). To combat the information processing lack of time, teachers need to "(p)rovide opportunities for students to elaborate on new information." Student must "(c)onnect new information to something already known." They should also "(l)ook for similarities and differences among concepts" to relay into long-term memory (Huitt, 2000). Once the knowledge is included in long-term memory, the student can now use this knowledge to improve writing skills.

*3. Will self-assessing their own extended responses have a great effect?

Sixth grade students have a difficult time monitoring their writing skills accurately because they have a difficult time realizing their own thoughts. Therefore, editing their own thoughts that are written is also difficult because they are inexperienced. I agree with Heidi L. Adreon's statement, "Very few students have the knowledge of how to successfully work through the writing process. Because my students are inexperienced writers, they are unable to view their pieces as a work in progress. For example, they always view their work as acceptable because they don't know how to critically evaluate their text (Adreon, 2001)." I find the same to be true with my students.

"In a variety of studies, children between kindergarten and sixth grade consistently show an inability to monitor their comprehension accurately and, just as importantly, to describe their own cognition” (Bruning, et al., 1999). Students need practice and guidance when metawriting to assess their writing skills. To help the student accomplish this difficult task, I have created a series of questions to help them think about their writing. When the students complete the rubric about their own extended response, there is a worksheet of questions to fill out to analyze their writing skills in an effort to help them figure out what to improve next time. When students evaluate their own work by reviewing it and reworking the writing to make improvements, they become better writers. “They will become better writers by writing more frequently and, most important, critically reviewing their work, revising it, and getting detailed feedback from other writers, including fellow students, teachers, and parents” (Reeves, Ph.D., 2002). By using this writing process after the students have written a paper, the students can think about their writing in an external way. This may help the students develop their metawriting skills and become better at expressing their thoughts on paper, which is the entire goal of metawriting.

*4. Does the use of tools in which to write extended responses have an affect on the effort put into them?

The tools in which to write a paper is only a medium for which to use to put down words. The actual skill that is being assessed has to do more with how the students’ minds work and their ability to put down their thoughts in an organized and well-written way on paper. Making connections from the short-term memory, the long-term memory, and the working memory is not affected by what medium is used to put the thoughts down on paper. The medium for which they use does not affect the students’ ability to put their thoughts into words. Some students claim to write better on the computer or writing it on paper. The medium for which the students’ use to put words on paper is a personal preference that has to do with their comfort level. If a student feels more comfortable using paper because their typing or word processing skills are not as developed, then that student would do better writing thoughts down with a pen or pencil and paper. On the other hand, if a student feels comfortable with typing or word processing skills then it is possible to write better with a computer. It really is a personal preference. There is not a blanket statement that can be used with all students because their comfort level varies when using different mediums.

*5. How much improvement will there be based on the frequency of practice?

Frequency of practicing any skill is essential when improving. After researching the amount of time students spent on writing, Donald H. Grave stated, "Our data show that children need to write a minimum of 4 days a week to see any appreciable change in the quality of their writing. It takes that amount of writing to contribute to their personal development as learners” (Graves, 1985). Working memory of students while writing is crucial. This is where students need the most practice. The marriage between long-term memory and the working memory is crucial to having good writing skills in order to use the external storage, which is the medium used to put the thoughts down on paper.

Long-term memory is the knowledge the writer embrace in their memory prior to the newly created facts. Prior knowledge about the topic, and knowledge about how to write effectively are an important part of the writer's model. To be an effective writer, the writer must make connections between external storage and long-term memory. The younger the writer, the more challenging this is to the student.

Working memory is where the connections between external storage and long-term memory work together. Planning is one of the factors involved. Planning includes setting goals, generating ideas, and organizing the structure of the written assignment and ideas. Translating is next, which includes converting the ideas of a passage into their own thoughts, and generating their ideas into a written form. Reviewing is to make sure the message is up to standards with the goals for the writing assignment. Part of the reviewing process involves evaluating, judging the quality, and revising, changing the written message to meet the quality expectation of the assignment.

The more these parts of the memory work together to organize and put thoughts down on paper, the better the skill will become. As stated previously, “As you improve your thinking skills, your writing skills will improve; as your writing improves, your language will become more articulate and reflect your evolving critical thinking” (UMUC, 2001).

Overview:

In past years, extended responses were incorporated into a three-day lesson in my reading classes. I realized students needed more opportunities to write extended responses but never took time away from the other curriculum to spend on this type of performance-based assessment. A lot of time and effort on the students’ part and a lot of time taken away from other curriculum will inevitably occur. This concerned me at the beginning of this project. While working to create more experiences for extended responses, I convinced myself through research that this is well worth the amount of time it will take to complete this task. Critical thinking and making connections is part of the process and these two skills will help students become prepared for a variety of educational and life experiences. The amount of skills covered while writing extended responses and the time spent on this skill will not be time wasted when the students could be learning different skills because there are such a variety of different uses that this skill will be benefiting.

To make the experience of writing about a variety of extended responses work effectively in my classroom, the students will write frequently in order to practice putting their thoughts and connections down effectively and in well-written paragraphs. “Writing improves writing…. This may sound obvious, but the process of writing, editing, and rewriting will help your child become a better writer (Reeves, Ph.D., 2002). Once a week the students will answer, grade and reflect on their writing of an extended response and create a working portfolio.

In an effort for students to become familiar with a revised version of the rubric on the Illinois State Board of Education website, the student will be grading themselves using the rubric. Then the students will be assessing their own writing skills by answer a series of questions. “The prompts on the form are intended to encourage students to think about what they planned to do and what they actually did as well evaluating the strong and weak points of the entry. By asking students to say what they might do differently next time, students are encouraged to think about how their work might be improved” (Gronlund and Linn, 2000). Having questions ready for the students is a helpful step to their independency of analyzing their own writing skills. “To help students reflect on their choice of entries for a portfolio it is useful not only to have guidelines specifying requirements, but also to have students complete a brief form with each entry…. By asking students to say what they might do differently next time, students are encouraged to think about how their work might be improved” (Gronlund and Linn, 2000). This will also help the students gain the skill of metawriting by analyzing their own writing and how to improve it. Reviewing their work and metawriting is an important skill that can easily be practiced though this project. “They will become better writers by writing more frequently and, most important, critically reviewing their work, revising it, and getting detailed feedback from other writers, including fellow students, teachers, and parents” (Reeves, Ph.D., 2002).

Reading peer work is also valuable to students learning how to become better writers. Group evaluations will occur after the students have a chance to assess their own skills. "Teachers can encourage kids to watch and learn from one another. Students are frequently their own best models" (Harvey, 1998). Having students explore others writing in groups is a great way not only for the student to have experience of learning from others, but also to learn to work in a group. Connecticut Common Core of Learning Alternative Assessment Program suggests, “Students first work individually to provide information about their knowledge and conceptual understanding, then work in collaborative small groups on a complex task or experiment, and finally carry out similar activities individually.” Students working on extended responses will follow this procedure. Students will first be given an extended response to complete individually. They will grade themselves using the rubric provided for all extended responses. Then the students will work in groups to explore others work and have an opportunity to respond to it. “Let students respond to each other’s writing. Have them read each other’s drafts and offer suggestions on a specific set of standards. Students benefit from reading each other’s work because they are learning the standards of criticism and self-analysis that can help them improve their own writing” (UMUC, 2001).

Each of the extended responses will be put into a working portfolio. The working portfolios are where the students will keep their work, the completed rubrics, the self-reflection, and any comments that their peer groups had to offer. The information included in the portfolio is essential and the book, Measurement and Assessment in Teaching, supports this idea. “Portfolios contained a variety of supplemental materials such as notes, student reflections on the writing experience, self-evaluations and evaluations by others (e.g., teacher, peer, and/or parents), rather than only the written response to a prompt (Gronlund and Linn, 2000). After the completion of each reading unit, the students will choose one extended response from their working portfolios. “Much of the strength of a portfolio depends on students’ involvement in the selection of work to include and on their reflections on that work. Hence, it is important to have students involved in the selection of portfolio entries” (Gronlund and Linn, 2000). The students will revise the chosen extended response and hand it in to the teacher so it can be graded using the same rubric in which the student graded their first draft of the extended response.

This process of practicing extended responses will help students tremendously. The more opportunity students have to polish their writing skills the better they will demonstrate their writing. By having a set routine of writing, self-assessment, peer-assessment and revision, the students will know what is expected of them and concentrate on their writing skills. The more comfortable the students are with writing and the rubric, the better the students will be when it comes to being assessed on the eighth grade writing exam, which is the goal for the Millburn School Improvement Committee.

Resources:

Adreon, Heidi L. (2001). Blackboard: Discussion Board: Lesson 9, Question1: Meta. Retrieved on November 12, 2001 on the World Wide Web: http://courseinfo.cet.uiuc.edu:80/courses/1/EDPSY399OL_FA01/db/_31944_1/edpsy399ol_meta_19q1.html

Bruning, Roger H., et al. (1999). Cognitive Psychology and Instruction. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

Center for Teaching and Learning, UNC, Chapel Hill. (1989). Professor Erika Lindemann on Writing Across the Curriculum and Writing to Learn. Retrieved on December 4, 2002 on the World Wide Web: http://204.211.175.67/wachome/30sept/interview.htm

Grave, Donald H. (1985). All Children Can Write. Retrieved on November 11, 2001 from the World Wide Web: http://www.Idonline.org/Id_indepth/writing/graves_process.html

Gronlund, Norman E. and Robert L. Linn. (2000). Measurement and Assessment in Teaching. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

Huitt, Dr. William G. (2000). Bloom et al.'s Taxonomy of the Cognitive Domain. Retrieved on November 29, 2001 on the World Wide Web: http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/cogsys/bloom.html

North, Kevin Jay. (2000). How Memory Works by Association: How to Improve Your Memory. Retrieved September 29, 2001 from the World Wide Web: http://marriage.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.premiumhealth.com/memory/htiym.htm

Kastor, Ginger. (2001). Lesson 9, Question1: Meta. Retrieved on December 4, 2002 on the World Wide Web: http://students.ed.uiuc.edu/gkastor/399OL/final.html

Reeves, Ph.D, Douglas B. (2002). Why Write? - A Message for Parents. Retrieved on December 4, 2002 on the World Wide Web: http://www.reasontowrite.com/why_write/parents.htm

University of Maryland University College (2001). Online Guide to Writing and Research: Chapter 3: Thinking Strategies and Writing Patterns. Retrieved on December 4, 2002 on the World Wide Web: http://www.umuc.edu/prog/ugp/ewp_writingcenter/writinggde/chapter3/chapter3-22.shtml

Extended Response Rubric

Circle the number in each category that indicates your score you think your extended response deserves. Then reflect on your essay by answering the provided questions.

SCORE	CRITERIA
	Demonstrate key ideas from text (1.C.3d)
4	I demonstrate understanding by explaining the key ideas from the text, both what the author stated and what the author meant.
3	I demonstrate understanding by explaining some key ideas from the text, both what the author stated and what the author meant.
2	I demonstrate understanding by explaining only the stated or the unstated key ideas from the text.
1	I explain little or nothing from the text.
0	I write nothing related to the text or about something other than the assignment.
	Interpreting and connecting to text (2.B.3a and 1.C.3a)
4	I use information from the text to interpret or connect the text to my own ideas or experiences.
3	I use information from the text to interpret or connect the text to my own ideas or experiences, but there are some gaps in my comparison.
2	I use information from the text with little or no interpretation (a summary).
1	I use inaccurate, unimportant or no text examples.
0	I write nothing related to the text or about something other than the assignment.
	Text examples and details for support (1.C.3a and 2.B.3c)
4	I include specific text examples and important details to fully support my explanation.
3	I include some examples and important details to support my explanation, but they may not be specific.
2	I include only limited text examples to support my explanation.
1	I use inaccurate, unimportant or no text examples.
0	I write nothing related to the text or about something other than the assignment.
	Use of text examples (3.B.3a)
4	I effectively weave text examples into my interpretation.
3	I partially weave text examples into my interpretation.
2	I use mostly the author's ideas or mostly my own ideas (unbalanced).
1	I write too little to show understanding of the text.
0	I write nothing related to the text or about something other than the assignment.

Grading Scale: 16 = 100% 15 = 94% 14 = 88% 13 = 81% 12 = 75%

11 = 69% 10 = 63% 9 = 56% 8 = 50%

Illinois State Standards Included in Rubric

STATE GOAL 1: Read with understanding and fluency

C. Comprehend a broad range of reading materials.</