Writing Accountability:
K-5
District and Building Procedures
Writing is an integral part of the
ELA curriculum and as such is worthy of a system of accountability across our
District. To that end this outline addresses district components of writing
accountability but clearly recognizes that individual schools might add
site-based components to the district piece.
Our expectation is that all K-5
students will be taught writing using the stated steps of the Writing Process.
These steps - Pre-Writing, Drafting, Editing, Revising, Publishing -shall
be posted in each classroom. This vocabulary shall not be changed to ensure
continuity across the district. Teachers will follow their grade level scope &
sequence with integrity for writing instruction.
Writers need feedback in order to
understand their writing strengths and the areas in which they can improve.
“Good job” or “You can do better” do not provide enough information to enable
writers to focus on important aspects of good writing. Rubrics allow for
precise feedback, so writers can develop self-monitoring skills and understand
their writing strengths and areas in which they can improve.
Once the Process is in place the
requirements of the district are:
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Students will be responsible for
three (3) writing samples each year. The prompts shall be assigned at the
site by grade level teams and submitted to the building principals.
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The first benchmark writing
sample will be submitted the 1st week of October (Fall).
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The second benchmark writing
sample will be submitted the 2nd week of January (Winter). These
Winter samples will be forwarded to the District office of the Assistant
Superintendent for Accountability for scoring and district data gathering.
These samples will be returned to the schools.
-
The third benchmark writing
sample will be submitted the first week of May (Spring).
It is the recommendation of the
District that these benchmark pieces be collected through the years and
presented to the students as they complete Grade 5. This will create a
memorable writing portfolio for students graduating from elementary school.
Benchmark
Writing Samples - Guidelines K-5
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Students will follow the steps
of the writing process for these benchmark writing samples. The prompt is
assigned by the site but must be the same for all classes at grade level.
It is possible for multiple grades to have the same prompt at each site.
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No teacher editing is to be done
on these writing samples. The students should be self editing only.
However, at the K-1 grade level, teachers are allowed to prompt students to
include more details. Verbal prompting can not be dictated information to
the students. An example of an appropriate prompt might be, “Can you tell
me more about this trip to the zoo?” An example of an unacceptable prompt
might be “Tell me about the monkeys and lions at the zoo.”
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Final writing samples should be
submitted upon completion of the publishing step. We want the best
handwriting, with no computer generated pieces. This is in line with MCAS
samples.
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All benchmark samples must be
submitted according to set timelines. It is the responsibility of teachers
to ensure that if a student is absent or registers after set dates a
benchmark piece is done as soon as possible.
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The winter benchmarking writing
samples will be sent to the District Office to be scored using the
grade-level rubrics developed by the District Writing Committee. They will
be returned to the principal of the building. Data from the student scores
will be tabulated and analyzed for the purpose of tracking student
achievement and determining professional development needs for teaches in
the area of writing.
-
Fall and Spring benchmark
writing samples will be scored by teachers before submitting to the building
principal.
