wv writes: improving student writing

WV Writes:Improving Student Writing

Stacey MurrellRLA Acuity and WV Writes Coordinator

Career and Technical EducationBridgeport, WV

October 27, 2011

What is WV Writes?

• WV Writes is a customized, web-based online writing program that provides feedback, scoring and reporting and is designed to assess students’ writing progress over the course of the school year.

WV Writes features:• Ability to create writing prompts:

narrative, descriptive, informative, and persuasive

• 34 passages and prompts from the 2008 WESTEST 2 Online Writing Field Test

• 162 grade-level shelf prompts• Unlimited practice sessions• Instant scoring and student feedback

based on the WV writing rubric

Using WV Writes Data to Facilitate Writing

Sample School 2010-2011 WV Writes Proficiency Summary

262 Essays Submitted

1%

8%

26%

28%

37%

1% Distinguished (2 essays)8% Above Mastery (21 essays)26% Mastery (68 essays)28% Partial Mastery (73 essays)37% Novice (98 essays)

Five analytic traits proficiency range for Sample School WESTEST 2 Practice Prompts

Organiza

tion

Development

Sentence

Stru

cture

Word

Choice/G

rammar

Usage

Mech

anics

Holistic

0123456

3.1 3.1 3.2 3.1 3.4 3.2

WESTEST 2 Practice Prompts

WESTEST 2 Practice Prompts

WV Students wrote-

•491,916 essays in WV Writes in 2010-2011 school year!!

School A: 9th GradeAnalytic Trait Averages

Organiza

tion

Development

Sentence

Stru

cture

Word

Choice/G

rammar

Usage

Mech

anics

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

3.1 3 3.2 3.2 3.33.7 3.6 3.6 3.6 3.6

WV WritesWESTEST 2 Online Writing

School B: 9th GradeAnalytic Trait Averages

Organiza

tion

Development

Sentence

Stru

cture

Word

Choice/G

rammar

Usage

Mech

anics

00.5

11.5

22.5

33.5

44.5

55.5

6

0 0 0 0 0

3.4 3.43.7

3.4 3.4

WV Writes-not usedWESTEST 2 Online Writ-ing

School A and B: 9th GradeWESTEST 2 Online Writing

Organiza

tion

Development

Sentence

Stru

cture

Word

Choice/G

rammar

Usage

Mech

anics

00.5

11.5

22.5

33.5

44.5

55.5

6

3.7 3.6 3.6 3.6 3.63.4 3.43.7

3.4 3.4

School A: WESTEST 2 Online WritingSchool B: WESTEST 2 Online Writing

School A: 10th GradeAnalytic Trait Averages

Organiza

tion

Development

Sentence

Stru

cture

Word

Choice/G

rammar

Usage

Mech

anics

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

3.5 3.5 3.6 3.53.83.8 3.9 3.8 3.8 3.7

WV WritesWESTEST 2 Online Writ-ing

School B: 10th GradeAnalytic Trait Averages

Organiza

tion

Development

Sentence

Stru

cture

Word

Choice/G

rammar

Usage

Mech

anics

00.5

11.5

22.5

33.5

44.5

55.5

6

0 0 0 0 0

3.1 3.1 3.1 3.2 3.1

WV Writes-not usedWESTEST 2 Online Writ-ing

School A and B: 10th GradeWESTEST 2 Online Writing

Organiza

tion

Development

Sentence

Stru

cture

Word

Choice/G

rammar

Usage

Mech

anics

00.5

11.5

22.5

33.5

44.5

55.5

6

3.8 3.9 3.8 3.8 3.73.1 3.1 3.1 3.2 3.1

School A: WESTEST 2 Online WritingSchool B: WESTEST 2 Online Writing2

School A: 11th GradeAnalytic Trait Averages

Organiza

tion

Development

Sentence

Stru

cture

Word

Choice/G

rammar

Usage

Mech

anics

00.5

11.5

22.5

33.5

44.5

55.5

6

3.5 3.4 3.4 3.43.7

4 4 4 4 4.1

WV WritesWESTEST 2 Online Writ-ing

School B: 11th GradeAnalytic Trait averages

Organiza

tion

Development

Sentence

Stru

cture

Word

Choice/G

rammar

Usage

Mech

anics

00.5

11.5

22.5

33.5

44.5

55.5

6

0 0 0 0 0

3.4 3.4 3.4 3.4 3.5

WV Writes-not usedWESTEST 2 Online Writ-ing

School A and B: 11th GradeWESTEST 2 Online Writing

Organiza

tion

Development

Sentence

Stru

cture

Word

Choice/G

rammar

Usage A

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

4 4 4 4 4.13.4 3.4 3.4 3.4 3.5

School A: WESTEST 2 Online WritingSchool B: WESTEST 2 Online Writing2

WESTEST 2 Writing: At or Above Mastery Level

School A School B State0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

60%

49% 50%

59%

40%

53%

69%

47%50% 9th grade

10th grade 11th grade

What does a teacher see?

Teacher can:• Access and print writing rubrics• Create classes and add

students to classes• Create writing prompts• Assign writing prompts• Monitor/adjust student

writing scores• Document student progress

daily, weekly, monthly, yearly• View/print reports

Writing prompt-the text, images, and/or charts that students read and process prior to writing a document or essay

WV Writing Rubrics

Create/Manage Classes

Create a New Assessment

Create a New Assignment

Monitor/Adjust Essay Scores

Reports

Group Status Report

Group Writing List Report

What does a student see?

Students can:

• View their homepage• View any messages/comments• Compose essays• Bookmark• Draft print• Score essay with feedback• Print score, feedback, and essay

https://student.wvwrites.com

View Messages/Comments

Compose Essay

Bookmark

View Writing Rubric

View Essay and Draft Print

View Teacher Comments

Score the Essay

Score with Narrative Feedback

The Five Writing Traits in the WV Writing Rubric

• Organization• Development• Sentence Structure• Word Choice/Grammar Usage• Mechanics

Organization

Score of 6

Exemplary Organization Clearly stated topic Clear and logical order Strong introductory paragraph, supporting paragraphs and

concluding paragraph Sophisticated transition within and between sentences, ideas

and paragraphs

Score of 5

Effective Organization Clearly stated topic Clear and logical order Introductory paragraph, supporting paragraphs and

concluding paragraph Purposeful transition within and between sentences, ideas

and paragraphs

Score of 4

Adequate Organization Clearly stated topic Some evidence of a logical order Introductory paragraph, supporting paragraphs and

concluding paragraph Appropriate transition within and between sentences, ideas

and paragraphs

Development

Score of 6

Exemplary Development Sophisticated development of the topic for narrative and

descriptive writing Sophisticated thesis statement and development of

informative and persuasive writing Well executed progression of ideas Strong use of examples, evidence or relevant details Strong use of analogies, illustrations or anecdotes

Score of 5

Effective Development Appropriate development of the topic for narrative and

descriptive writing Appropriate thesis statement and development of informative

and persuasive writing Clear progression of ideas Clear use of examples, evidence or relevant details Clear use of analogies, illustrations or anecdotes

Score of 4

Adequate Development Sufficient development of the topic for narrative and

descriptive writing Sufficient thesis statement and development of informative

and persuasive writing Progression of ideas Sufficient use of examples, evidence or relevant details Use of analogies, illustrations or anecdotes

Sentence Structure

Score of 6

Exemplary Sentence Structure Sophisticated and well controlled sentences Sentence variation (simple, compound, complex, compound-

complex)Variation of phrases and clauses (gerund, participial, infinitive; subordinate clauses)

Score of 5

Effective Sentence Structure Complete and correct sentences Sentence variation (simple, compound, complex, compound-

complex) Variation of phrases and clauses (gerund, participial,

infinitive; subordinate clauses)

Score of 4

Adequate Sentence Structure Complete and correct sentences Some sentence variation (simple, compound, complex,

compound-complex) (errors in more complex sentences do not detract) Variation of phrases and clauses (gerund, participial,

infinitive; subordinate clauses)

Word Choice/Grammar Usage

Score of 6

Exemplary Word Choice/Grammar Usage Vivid, precise/concise, relevant Consistent grammar usage Subject/verb agreement Singular/plural nouns Verb (tense and usage) Pronoun usage Adjective/Adverb

Score of 5

Effective Word Choice/Grammar Usage Appropriate, precise/concise, clear meaning Mostly consistent grammar usage Subject/verb agreement Singular/plural nouns Verb (tense and usage) Pronoun usage Adjective/Adverb

Score of 4

Adequate Word Choice/Grammar Usage Appropriate, specific Somewhat consistent grammar usage Subject/verb agreement Singular/plural nouns Verb (tense and usage) Pronoun usage Adjective/Adverb

Mechanics

Score of 6

Effective Mechanics Few errors Punctuation Capitalization Spelling Needs some editing

Score of 5

Adequate Mechanics Some errors Punctuation Capitalization Spelling Needs editing but doesn’t impede readability

Score of 4

Limited Mechanics Frequent errors Punctuation Capitalization Spelling Begins to impede readability

Breakdown of WV Writes Score

• Different from WESTEST 2 Online Writing-gives a holistic score, teachers can override the score

• Each analytic trait is scored and then averaged into a holistic score– Organization, Development, Sentence

Structure, Word Choice/Grammar Usage, Mechanics

• Scoring uses grade-level WV writing rubric of each student

Comparing Rates of Agreement

Exact Agreement – occurs when the human score is exactly the same as the corresponding engine score (e.g., human rating for Mechanics is 3 and Engine rating is 3).

Exact + Adjacent Agreement – occurs when the human score is exactly the same as the corresponding engine score or is equal to the engine score +/- one point. Similar to a margin of error estimate (e.g., human rating for Mechanics is 4 and Engine rating is 3, 4 or 5).

(Online Writing Scoring Comparability Study – 2010, WVDE)

Exact Agreement

Human to Human Human to Machine (1) Human to Machine (2)0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

42.639.2 39.9

Summary of Exact Agreement Across All Traits by Scorer Pair

Median Exact Agreement

(Online Writing Scoring Comparability Study – 2010, WVDE)

Exact + Adjacent Agreement

Human to Human Human to Machine (1) Human to Machine (2)0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

88 87.5 88.5

Summary of Exact and Adjacent Agreement Across All Traits by Scorer

Pair

Median Exact and Adjacent Agreement

(Online Writing Scoring Comparability Study – 2010, WVDE)

Your Turn

Stop

Read

Score using rubric

Pair and Share

Find a partner(s)

Share and compare

Group Consensus

Navigating the site as a teacher

• https://admin.wvwrites.com• Quick teacher reference

guide

Navigating the site as a student

• https://student.wvwrites.com

Contact

• Stacey Murrell, Coordinator RLA Acuity and WV Writes

• 304-558-2546• slmurrell@access.k12.wv.us