e- asTTle W riting Paekakariki School 29 th May2012

1. e-asTTleWriting Paekakariki School 29th May2012

2. LI/SC

3. The scope of NEW easTTle Years 1 to 10 (up to L6) suitable for students who can independently communicate at least one or two simple ideas in writing Valid and reliable Compatible with the existing e-asTTle technology

4. What does the tool assess? A part of the whole • General writing competence - skills not specific to particular learning areas—does not assess content knowledge - aspects of writing-to-communicate across the curriculum • skills core to writing in general • Independent writing of continuous text across five communicative purposes and seven elements • prompts specify a purpose but the rubric accommodates multiple purposes • describe, explain, recount, narrate, persuade • writing scored element by element but appears as an overall score on the measurement scale • ideas, structure and language, organisation, vocabulary, sentence structure, punctuation, spelling (formerly known as curriculum functions/features/dimensions)

5. What does the tool assess? A part of the whole • Why only a part of the whole? • The e-asTTle model for assessment and reporting involves standardised tasks that lead to reliable results that can be reported on measurement scales • One assessment can’t assess everything • Not sufficient for making an OTJ (see 4.2 in manual)

6. The components of e-asTTle writing 20 prompts (formerly known as tasks) Marking rubric (includes structure and language notes) Annotated exemplars Glossary and definitions Scoring and reporting tools

7. Using an e-asTTle writing assessment An e-asTTle writing assessment involves: Selecting a prompt Introducing the prompt to the students- 5 mins and no written record of discussion. Students writing to the prompt for up to 40 minutes Scoring the responses against a rubric with the help of annotated exemplars Entering results into the online application and generating reports.

8. Create a new “test”

9. Create a customised test

10. Choose a purpose

11. Select a prompt

12. A writing prompt

13. Choosing a prompt • Teachers need to use professional judgement to ensure a prompt is appropriate. For example, consider: • the level of abstraction • the complexity of the text structure • the context Some prompts use slightly simplified language: • the three recounting prompts • three of the describing prompts

14. The marking rubric elements

15. Marking rubric: Ideas

16. Marking process • Markers need: • student script • prompt • marking rubric (ideas, structure and language, organisation, vocabulary, sentence structure, punctuation, and spelling) • structure and language notes • annotated exemplars • glossary and definitions • A step by step approach: • read through whole script • work through rubric element by element • check writing against category descriptors and notes to identify best fit category (R1, R2 , R3 etc) • use exemplars to clarify and confirm decisions • moderate decisions • record each score on front page of student writing booklet

17. Characteristics of a fair marker • During marking: • self disciplined—need to recognise the authority of the rubric and put aside their knowledge of the student as a whole • a team player—need to accumulate a shared understanding of the rubric • After marking (planning next steps): • creative

18. Annotated exemplar

19. Characteristics of the annotated exemplars • The 76 annotated exemplars: • developed from student responses to the 20 prompts • marked using the rubric • cover all prompts (each prompt has at least 3, covering a range of scores—low, medium, and high) • The student scripts exemplify: • typical, not ideal, writing • tricky features to score (e.g., possibly off-topic; multiple purposes) • The annotations: • justify scores • The generic exemplars: • from the same group of 76 • used to check interpretation of individual categories

20. National reference information for e-asTTle writing National reference information is available for: Year level Year level by gender Year level by ethnicity Year level by region Year level by “English at home” Year level by “schools like us”