6th grade
On- Level and
Pre-AP/GT PLC
Wednesday,
October 22nd
2014
Goals and Outcomes

Review and discuss Middle School Distinction
Reports focusing on how these results impact our
classrooms, our campus, and our district. What are
some next steps that we can create for ourselves
in order to help us grow in each of these areas?

Discuss 6th grade Pre-AP and On-Level CBA#1

Calibration of 6th grade Pre-AP Personal Narrative
Essays and 6th gr. On-level Expository Essays
Celebrations and
Challenges!!!
Share with a partner one
celebration/ success story
you’ve experienced so far this
year, and one challenge
you’ve been faced with this
year.

Middle School Distinction Reports

4 Indexes were scored:


Attendance
Academic Achievement Distinction in ELA



Greater Than Expected Progress in Reading (based on all
3 grade levels)
Grade 7 Writing Performance on STAAR (Level III)
Grade 8 Reading Performance on STAAR (Level III)
Each campus was rated against their own group of
40 campuses that were most comparable to their
population/ demographics, etc… (Medlin’s 40
schools were different than CTMS’s 40 schools.)
 Each campus was given a Quartile Score within each
of the 4 indexes, with Q1 being the highest and Q4
being at the bottom.
* In order for a school to earn a distinction in ELA, a
school needed to be Q1 for two of the four indicators.

Middle School Distinction Reports






Step 1a. Take a few minutes to look at this
report by yourself. Feel free to make notes on
it about what you notice.
Step 1b. Share your findings with a partner.
Step 1c. Be ready to share these finding out
with the large group.
Step 2a. Discuss in your small groups… In what
ways have we been successful? In what ways
can we work toward helping to make
improvements?
Step 2b. Be ready to share these ideas out
with the big group.
Step 3. When you are finished, feel free to
take a look at the High School Distinction
Reports. What do you notice, here?
Curriculum- Based Assessment #1


Both Pre-AP and On-Level are still in your assessment window.
The window will remain open through this Friday, Oct. 24th. On
Monday morning, October, 27th, all data, for both Pre-AP as well
as On- level will be ran and a data report created. I will send
you all this report as soon as I send it to principals first with our
strengths, areas of needed improvement, and next steps.
The assessments themselves
What have you been noticing as students take it?








Fair assessment?
Aligned with what has been taught?
Is the length appropriate?
Is it written at the appropriate level for On-Level? Pre-AP?
Strengths?
Areas of need?
How will the results of this first CBA help guide your future
instruction?
On- Level – idea of using CBA#2 (“Back to First Grade” “A Run to
Remember” and from John Glenn- A memoir”) as part of the
semester exam with the addition of some grammar, and since
there is only 3 weeks between CBA #2 and #3- moving #3 up to
#2 which covers poetry- “Eraser and School Clock”, expository- “A
Bird’s Eye View of Teamwork”, and a memoir, “from John Glenn”a piece from the textbook. I’m open to ideas! Let’s brainstorm!
Update from TEA




Field Test Prompts will now be removed from 7th gr. Writing
and from the English I and English II EOC Exams for the next 3
years! 
Every 3 years, the students will have field test prompts at
each of these grade levels so that TEA can still keep a
current bank of prompts to use for future state assessments.
In grade 7 only, they are re-chunking the writing test; TEA will
be telling us what day and what prompt! 
 Day 1: ½ Multiple Choice, plus the Expository Essay
 Day 2: ½ Multiple Choice, plus the Narrative Essay
Why did the state decide to stay with Phase 1 for another
year?
 Every time we change to a new phase, scores tend to
drop about 20%. With the amount of struggling readers
and writers the state has had, we just couldn’t afford to
drop another 20% this year. We need to take it slow and
give these struggling readers and writers a little more
time.
Calibration of Essays: A Quick Review
of the Narrative and Expository
Rubrics…
 What
do you notice about the 4
column? Highlight some key words/
phrases.
 Look at the verbiage/ description of
the 2’s and 3’s. With a different
colored highlighter, highlight some key
phrases/ words.
 What changes do you notice? Discuss
at your tables.
State Scored NISD Exemplars

Each person will receive their own individual packet of our state
scored 7th grade NISD student exemplar score point 8’s from 2014.
(We’re going to go through this process with Personal Narratives
first, since we have the most current information on them, and
because Pre-AP utilize this 2014 prompt, where as On- level wrote
Expository to last year’s prompt, but will be able to also utilize this
process for their upcoming unit on Narrative.)

The 1st 34 essays in your packet seem to be the strongest.
 Table 1 will read essays 1-9
 Table 2 will read essays 10-18
 Table 3 will read essays 19-26
 Table 4 will read essays 27-34

Take the next 20-30 minutes, and silently read to yourself each of
the exemplars you were assigned, making brief notes about what
you notice.
State Scored NISD Exemplars

Also, as you read, your group will have 2 charges…
 1. You will be assigned one “look for/ focus”. Your group must
come to a common agreement of which 2 exemplars out of the 8
or 9 exemplars best fit your focus. Be prepared to write a short
commentary on each of these 2 selected best pieces to be
shared out with the group.





Table 1: Hooks/ Leads and Strong Controlling Idea
Table 2: Transitions/ Transitional Phrases- How do they effectively move
the story along?
Table 3: Supporting Details- How do the details within each paragraph
support the controlling idea? Is each detail closely linked to the ones
before and after it?
Table 4: Conclusions- How does the conclusion respond back to the
prompt? How does the conclusion enhance the effectiveness of the
story? How does the conclusion answer the question of “So What?”
2. Out of the 8 or 9 essays your group read, your group must come
to a consensus of 1 overall “BEST” comprehensive exemplar, and
be able to write a quick commentary as to why this one is the BEST
out of the 8 or 9 essays that you read.
Scoring your own Narrative or Expository
Essays
-
The rest of the afternoon will be spent scoring your
6th grade Narrative or Expository Essays
-
If you feel you come across a Score Point 4 (8), let’s
discuss it since we may want to use it as a district
exemplar that we can write a short commentary over
it stating how it meets the standards of a Score
Point 4 (8), and place it on our 6th gr. Curriculum
Netschool page.
Thank you!
Many thanks for your time and participation
today! We already have an amazing start
to the year! It was great seeing you all this
afternoon! Enjoy the rest of your week!