Assessment and Evaluation

Assessment (Continued)

Assessing What Students Know and Can Do as Writers

Writing is a means of expressing oneself and communicating to others. Some useful techniques for assessing writing are listed below.

Writing Checklists and Anecdotal Records

Writing is a skill that develops over a long period of time and through extensive practice. Students progress through a series of stages that reflect what they know about writing (their knowledge) and what they can do as writers (their skills and strategies). Sample forms that focus on the writing objectives are provided in this section:

• Sample Writing Continuum
• Sample Emerging/Early Developing Phase Writing Checklist and Rating Scale
• Sample Developing Phase Writing Checklist and Rating Scale.

Writing Conferences, Interviews, and Self-assessments

Conferences provide opportunities for students and teachers to discuss strengths and needs, and to set goals for learning. Writing conferences are usually short informal meetings with individual students or small groups of students, and involve exploring writing strategies and compositions at different stages. Conferences give students opportunities to talk about their work, their successes, and their concerns, and give teachers opportunities to collect assessment information and make decisions about instruction.

Writing conferences should be held at a time that does not interrupt students' composing, and should begin and end on a positive note. Students can select a piece of writing that has been completed or is in progress. Sample assessment forms provided in this section include:

• Sample Interview for Emerging Writers
• Sample Conference Questions for Developing Writers
• Sample Writing Assessments
• Sample Self-assessment for Developing Writers
• Sample Self-assessment for Inquiry and Research Writing.

Scoring Rubrics for Writing

Students' writing can also be assessed using rubrics and scoring criteria. Rubrics assign a numerical score or letter grade to compositions or processes according to the general, overall impression of the reader. Sample rubrics provided in this section include:

• Sample Rubric for Writing
• Sample Rubric for Narrative Writing
• Sample Rubric for Explanatory Writing
• Sample Rubric for Inquiry and Research Skills and Strategies.

Rating scales can also be used. A composition is examined for specific traits or criteria. These criteria are usually measured on a scale (1=little evidence of meeting a particular criterion; 5=mastery of the criterion). Sample rating scales (adapted for use with grade four and five students from Diederich's Scale, 1974) provided in this section include:

• Sample Rating Scale for Narrative Writing
• Sample Rating Scale for Explanatory Writing
• Sample Rating Scale for Poetry
• Sample Rubric for Inquiry and Research Skills and Strategies.

Writing Folders and Reviews

Writing folders (sometimes called writing portfolios) are maintained by students. They include completed writing, unfinished drafts, pre-writing plans, ideas for future writing, and a writing record that lists the topic, form, and date of completion of the finished compositions. Teachers have students date their samples as they write or revise them and to identify if they are "first draft", "revision", or "final copy". Writing folders provide tangible records of the students' work, an assessment source for the teacher, and a means of showing students and parents the students' writing progress. Sample assessment forms provided in this section include:

• Sample Writing Folder Review
• Sample Writing Record.

Written Language Assessments

Informal inventories of a student's written language skills can also be useful. Sample assessment forms provided in this section include:

• Sample Sentence Development Inventory
• Sample Spelling Inventory
• Sample Assessment of Students' Spelling of Common Sight Words
• Sample Misspelling Assessment and Analysis
• Sample Capitalization and Punctuation Inventory.

Assessing What Students Know and Can Do as Viewers

Sample assessment forms provided in this section include:

• Sample Viewing Continuum
• Sample Emerging/Early Developing Phase Viewing Checklist and Rating Scale
• Sample Developing Phase Viewing Checklist and Rating Scale
• Sample Viewing Self-assessment
• Sample Assessment for Viewing a Visual Text
• Sample Assessment for Viewing a Multimedia Presentation.

Assessing What Students Know and Can Do as Representers

Sample assessment forms provided in this section include:

• Sample Representing Continuum
• Sample Emerging/Early Developing Phase Representing Cumulative Record
• Sample Developing Phase Representing Cumulative Record
• Sample Representing Self-assessment
• Sample Representing Rating Scales.