The TCAP Writing Assessment
Preparing Students for Common Core
Writing and PARCC
Session objectives
The past:
1. Analyze results from the 2013 TCAP Writing Assessment
The present:
2. Know the format of the 2014 TCAP Writing Assessment
The future:
3. Learn from one district’s approach to the transition to Common Core
writing
4. Understand the landscape of resources available to help educators and
students prepare for the TCAP WA and PARCC
THE PAST
Data from previous TCAP WA
Statewide: total percentage of students
proficient or advanced (all grade levels)
100.0%
90.0%
84.9%
86.0%
88.7%
80.0%
70.0%
60.0%
2009-10
50.0%
40.0%
2010-11
30.0%
2011-12
20.0%
10.0%
0.0%
2009-10
2010-11
2011-12
Nationwide results from NAEP writing 2011
Source: The Nation’s Report Card: http://nationsreportcard.gov/writing_2011/summary.asp
Assessment evolution: 2012 TCAP WA 8th
grade prompt
There are many reasons for people to celebrate. People
celebrate some events every year, while other celebrations
take place for special occasions.
Before you begin writing, think about your favorite celebration
and why you enjoy it most.
Now write an essay that tells about your favorite celebration.
Explain why this is your favorite celebration. Support your
reasons with specific examples and details.
Assessment evolution: 2013 TCAP WA 8th
grade prompt
Settling New Lands
Write an expository essay comparing and contrasting how
reasons for colonization have changed from settling
America to attempting to settle space. Analyze how the
texts provide conflicting information about why settling
new lands is important. Draw evidence from the
passages to support your analysis. Develop your topic
with relevant, well-chosen facts, concrete details, or
other information and examples. Demonstrate command
of the conventions of standard English, capitalization,
punctuation, and spelling in your response.
Introduction to Tennessee’s trait-based
rubric
2012-13
2013-14
Support/Elaboration
Development
Focus/Organization
Focus/Organization
Language/Style
Language
Conventions
Conventions
2013 TCAP WA statewide results
With a partner, scan the “Statewide Results and Instructional
Implications for Common Core Writing” memo (data appendix
on last page). Note there are teacher-facing grade-level
versions behind the overall memo.
Then discuss the following questions with your table:
1) How would you explain the reasons for students struggling in
certain traits?
2) In what ways do the results reinforce what you’ve seen with
your students? In what ways do your students differ?
THE PRESENT
Assessment transition to PARCC
2011-2012
2012-2013
2013-2014
2014-2015
TCAP Achievement and EOC Assessments
Low Stakes Common Core-aligned Assessments
PARCC
Continue to remove SPIs that are not reflected in
Common Core State Standards from the TCAP mathematics and ELA
assessments in 2013-14.
Expand the Constructed Response Assessment (CRA) in math for all grades
1-8 and HS. Expand the Writing Assessment to all grades 3-11 to test
online.
NAEP
NAEP
2013-14 assessment transition: ELA
Streamline •TCAP Achievement tests will be narrowed 20-35 percent in RLA (3-8)
official
•TCAP EOCs will be narrowed 20-30 percent in English I, II, and III
assessments
Expand low- •The Writing Assessment will still be required in grades 5, 8, and 11 in
stakes
February. The offerings will be expanded to all grades 3-11.
assessments •The February Writing Assessment will be scored by Measurement
Incorporated for all grades that districts choose to assess.
Provide
additional
resources
•September: optional practice writing tasks released for each grade
band for ELA, science, and social studies. These tasks are
recommended for teacher, school, and district use.
•November: Scoring rubrics and anchor papers for scoring writing tasks
will be posted (scoring of student work will be done locally by teachers)
•November: Updated MIST portal launches; students can take practice
tasks online
•Early spring: second round of practice writing tasks released (followed
by scoring resources)
2013-14 TCAP WA: Administration
• Districts will still be required to administer the writing
assessment in grades 5, 8, and 11.
• There will be a four-week testing window from
February 3 – February 28, 2014.
• The administration time for the Writing Assessment will
be expanded to more closely mimic PARCC’s testing
guidelines and allow students to read two texts and
write two essays
2013-14 TCAP WA: Format
• Will be modified to more closely mimic the PARCC Research Simulation
Task (RST)
– mimics a research project that assesses a student’s ability to read multiple
texts about the same topic and synthesize the information into a coherent
idea/argument.
• Students will read two complex informational stimulus texts
• Texts will cover social studies or science topics in order to demonstrate
the range of informational reading possible in a Common Core curriculum
(background knowledge not required)
• Students will write two essays:
– One prose constructed response (PCR) about the first text. The essay will be
an analytical summary (informational/explanatory)
– One PCR analysis of both texts. The essay will be informational/explanatory
or opinion/argument.
Assessment evolution: 2013-14 TCAP WA 8th
grade practice prompt
1. Analytic Summary
Please read “The Woman Called Moses” by Walter
Oleksy and Meg Mims.
In this text, the authors develop several central ideas.
After you have read, determine one central idea from
the text and write an essay that both summarizes and
analyzes how that central idea is conveyed through
particular details. Cite evidence from the text to support
your analysis. Follow the conventions of standard
written English. Write your essay in the space provided
on the next pages.
Assessment evolution: 2013-14 TCAP WA 8th
grade practice prompt
2. Analysis
Please read “Leaders of the Civil War Era: Harriet
Tubman” by Ann Malaspina.
You have now read two texts about Harriet Tubman. Write
an essay that compares and contrasts the authors’
purposes and how their purposes are conveyed in the
two texts. Be sure to cite evidence from both texts to
support your analysis. Follow the conventions of
standard written English. Write your essay in the space
provided on the next pages.
TCAP WA: Scoring and Reporting Information
• Reports for Writing are being redesigned and will be
available during the summer of 2014
• Individual Student Reports and labels will be
shipped to districts.
• Summary reports will be available online through the
MI portal.
TCAP WA: Accountability
• 2013-14: District and school accountability and TVAAS
calculations will continue to be based on the TCAP
Achievement and End of Course Tests (and additional growth
measures such as K-2 [SAT10] for those opting in).
• 2013-14: The Writing Assessment will play no role in TVAAS
or district/school AMOs.
• 2014-15: Accountability will move to performance on PARCC.
The approach to setting goals for accountability for the 201415 school year will be subject to our NCLB waiver. More
information will be shared as soon as it is available from the
U.S. Department of Education.
MIST Literacy Portal: Background
Why it’s worth accessing:
• Additional student and teacher practice with online
assessment before PARCC
• Students get practice with tasks modeled on the Writing
Assessment before February 2014
• Teachers can enter and save scores for student work
MIST Literacy Portal: Background
What it contains:
• Will house optional practice writing tasks by grade band in
ELA, science, social studies, and CTE
– tasks have been developed to prepare students for the Writing
Assessment and increase literacy skills across other subjects
• Students will be able to read texts and text-based tasks and
type their responses online.
• Students will have access to some PARCC-like tools such
as the ability to highlight and enlarge text.
MIST Literacy Portal: User interface
MIST Literacy Portal: Availability
Month
Tasks available in Literacy
Portal
Content
Grades/Grade
Bands
Mid-November 2013
– Mid-January 2014
Phase I tasks available on Literacy
Portal on MIST
ELA
3, 4-5, 6-8, 9-10, 11
Science, Social Studies
6-8, 9-12
CTE
9-12
February 2014
March – May 2014
Phase II - Official Writing
Assessment Only
Phase III Tasks available on
Literacy Portal on MIST, as well as
all Phase I tasks
3, 4-5, 6-8, 9-10, 11
ELA
ELA
3, 4-5, 6-8, 9-10, 11
Science, Social Studies
6-8, 9-12
CTE
9-12
2013-14: Assessment release timeline
• Get to know PARCC, including NEW sample items and
rubrics: www.parcconline.org (Also: PARCC test design,
blueprints, and Model Content Frameworks)
• Stay informed about information the TDOE is sharing:
– www.tncore.org (including dropped SPI list, text complexity tools,
summer training materials, and much more!)
– Coming: TCAP WA information page, assessment transition plan
– Sign up for TNCore Updates
• Continue your own professional learning:
– Student Achievement Partners: http://www.achievethecore.org/.
Includes PD modules, including iTunesU courses.
Additional Resources
• Resources to help educators access, analyze, and act on data from last year’s
TCAP WA, including webinars and statewide results memo/grade-level summaries:
http://tncore.org/english_language_arts/assessment/testing_information.aspx
• Resources available to help educators and students prepare for this year’s TCAP
WA:
– Phase I practice prompts:
http://tncore.org/english_language_arts/assessment/sample_assessments/201
3-14sampleassessments.aspx
– MIST literacy portal
– Rubrics and, coming in November, scoring resources:
http://tncore.org/english_language_arts/assessment/scoring_resources/201314scoringresources.aspx
• Assessment transition/timeline release memos:
http://www.tncore.org/english_language_arts/assessment/testing_information.aspx
Navigating practice prompts
Navigating practice prompts
Navigating practice prompts
User name:
tneducation
Password:
fastestimproving
Navigating practice prompts
THE FUTURE
Backwards Planning: What do the new writing
tasks ask our students to know and do?
Text-based
Writing
Assessment
• Shift away from free-response prompt
• Read to write
• Use text evidence
Modes of
Writing
• Focused/Organized
• Formal Development
• Academic Specific Language
Reading
Complex
Text
• Read to gain
information
• Understand
author’s purpose
Text-based writing assessment
If students must:
– Shift away from free response prompt
– Read to write vs. reading for enjoyment
– Use text evidence from reading (annotation)
Then, we must shift our teaching to:
– Develop prompt analysis as a pre-reading skill
– Practice close reading to gain deeper text understanding
(Metacognitive processes)
– Model annotation strategies for students to find quality
evidence
Modes of writing
If students must:
– Be focused/organized
– Use formal development (support and elaboration)
– Apply academic specific language to writing
Then, we must shift our teaching to:
– Incorporate all writing structures for all students every year
(not focus on a type of writing per year)
– Help students use evidence and elaboration to support
arguments and analysis
– Develop strategies for understanding content vocabulary in
reading to use accurately in writing
Sample Writing Map
Reading complex text
If students must:
– Read to gain information
– Understand author’s purpose
Then, we must shift our teaching to:
– Focus on close reading skills and annotation strategies
rather than skimming a text to answer questions at the
end of a section
– Read authentic text samples to write about them and
write for an audience
Also transitioning to Common Core requires
specific instructional shifts:
Shift One:
Develop Content
Knowledge
• Support deep content understanding from
reading vs. note-taking
• Develop strategies for reading content
Shift Two: Reading
& Writing with
Evidence
• Use annotations while reading
• Distinguish important vs. interesting
WHILE reading
Shift Three:
Regular practice
with complex text
• Develop strategies for reading fluently and
using metacognitive skills
• Engage in practice reading rigorous texts
Focal Strategies
Close
Reading
• Annotation
• System of
strategies
• Quality
Evidence
Gathering
Authentic
Text
•Scaffolding
text rigor
•Library of
content
texts
Writing
Structures
•Teaching
purpose of
writing types
•Teaching
structured
development
•Teacher PD
on rubrics,
anchor
papers, and
scoring
Close
Reading
At Sumner County Schools
• Trained experts in each building
• Modeled by expert in all content areas
• Developed simple system of strategies school-wide
in each building (tailored to student needs)
• Held three professional learning sessions
• Collect accountability logs monthly
Using Teacher Experts
• Created a core group of teachers across the county
that had summer professional learning (in collaboration
with Lipscomb University) on close reading
• Provided time for teacher experts to give building-wide
professional learning on close reading before school
started
• Created video models to provide additional on-demand
professional development on close reading
• Additional modeling for struggling teachers
Authentic
Text
At Sumner County Schools
• Taught three prong text analysis (quantitative, qualitative,
text to reader match)
• Creating shared database of authentic article sources
• Scaffolding text complexity to meet students at need levels
Authentic
Text
Collaborative Free Database
Writing
Structures
At Sumner County Schools
• Trained all staff in rubric using anchor papers
• Incorporate writing maps, scoring, and anchor
papers during second semester
• Incorporate system of applying annotations
and evidence collection to writing task
• Use Literacy Design Collaborative to create quality
prompt-based tasks
Three Starting Points for Implementing
Common Core Writing
1. Teacher Professional Learning on two writing rubrics,
tasks, and anchor papers
– Focused time around “What will a student need to do” and
“what will I need to teach them to do”
2. One to Two Student Practice Text-Based Prompts
– One argumentative and possibly one informative (samples
available at TNCore website)
3. Teacher Professional Learning around Common
Scoring and Data Analysis
– Use anchors for teachers to apply first PL and discuss
student strengths/challenges
Resources
• www.tncore.org: assessment information, sample assessment
tasks, close reading tasks, units, summer training materials, and
more
• http://www.parcconline.org/: Info on PARCC PBA and sample
items
• http://www.achievethecore.org/: ELA section features sample
close reading lessons, archive of student writing samples, PD
modules, and more
• http://tntel.tnsos.org/curricular.htm: TEL provides teachers
access to free complex informational texts
• http://www.literacydesigncollaborative.org/tasks/: LDC has
templates for creating writing prompts
• http://www.engageny.org/: New York’s Common Core site,
including ready-made curricular materials such as units and
lessons
Questions?
• tncore.questions@tn.gov
Lior Klirs
Giana Solomon
Lisa Coons
Coordinator of English Language
Arts Content and Resources
Deputy Director of Assessment
Design
Middle School Coordinator
Tennessee Department of
Education
Tennessee Department of
Education
Sumner County Schools
lior.klirs@tn.gov
giana.solomon@tn.gov
lisa.coons@sumnerschools.org
Thank you!