The Writing COE:
Student Performances & Scoring
WERA/OSPI Assessment Conference
Steve Pearse, Ed.D.
COE Writing Specialist
CAA Options / OSPI
The Writing COE
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What is the Writing COE?
• A Legislature-approved alternative to WASL for
meeting graduation requirements and the Certficate
of Academic Achievement (CAA)
• As per WASL, it represents what students should
know and be able to do—writing concepts & skills—
as per Grade 9/10 GLEs.
• More information is available on the COE Web site:
http://coe.k12.wa.us
The Writing COE
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Who is Eligible?
• February: Seniors, plus all students eligible to
submit augmented Collections
• June: All students who have taken WASL one
or more times and who likely possess the
knowledge and skills assessed by the WASL,
but have not demonstrated proficiency under
large-scale testing conditions
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What are the Writing COE Requirements?
• Work Sample Documentation Form (WSDF)
(See COE Guidelines, revised Red Book…October, ‘08)
• 6-8 Work Samples demonstrating two assessed traits:
Content, Organization, & Style (COS)
Conventions (CONV)
• On-demand and extended-time Work Samples
• Evidence of the specific writing process for each Work
Sample
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What Does the Work Look Like?
• Prompts/Tasks: OSPI-published, district/school,
teacher/student
• 3-5 Work Samples in response to expository (to explain) and 3-5
Work Samples in response to persuasive purpose
prompts/tasks
• Final Drafts (as indicated) to be scored
• Evidence of process* for each Work Sample (not scored)
* documents (pre-writing, drafts, revisions, edits) AND/OR
explanations of process
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What Constitutes an Augmented
Writing Collection?
• Eligibility: 15 or 16 points earned on the
submitted Collection
(meeting standard = 17 of 24 possible points)
• Requirements:
4 Work Samples (2 Expository, 2 Persuasive)
No on-demand Work Samples required*
* Regular Collection scores are “banked”
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The Writing COE…
Prompts/Tasks
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What Constitutes a COE Writing
Prompt/Task?
• Topic, Audience, Purpose (TAP) + Form
• Sample Prompt/Task: Special Song
Write a multiple-paragraph essay to an interested adult that
identifies your favorite song and explains its meaning and
importance to you, including any events in your life that you
associate with this special song.
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What are some additional examples of
Writing COE prompts/tasks?
Purpose
Title
(These and other prompts/tasks are
available on the COE Web site:
coe.k12.wa.us)
to explain
• “Elders’ Stories”
• “Job Shadow”
• Influential Person”
to persuade
• “Culminating Project”
• “Locker Searches”
• “Class Motto”
The Writing COE
on-demand?
OR
extended
time?
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Creating or Selecting Prompts/Tasks
for the Writing COE
• An invitation to write!…Topic
• Addressing the reader…Audience
• Explaining or Persuading…Purpose
• Choosing an appropriate Form…
Letter or Essay
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Writing Work Sample Task Form…
Adult (Teacher +) Assistance
• Purpose: Authenticity and Clarity
• Definition: When allowed, Adult Assistance
must be limited to general, non-directive
advice and/or reminders.
• Requirement:
On-demand responses may NOT benefit from
adult assistance of any kind.
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Writing Prompts/Tasks Guidelines
Prompts/Tasks must support writing content & skills:
EALR 2: The student writes in a variety of forms for different
audiences and purposes.
EALR 3: The student writes clearly and effectively.
3.1—Develops ideas and organizes writing.
3.2—Uses appropriate style.
3.3—Knows and applies writing conventions.
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Writing Prompts/Tasks Recommendations
Effective Prompts/Tasks feature:
• significance & authenticity
• structure or ‘frame’
• guidance, opportunity, interest
• on-demand or extended-time?
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Supporting Student-Writers:
DOs & DON’Ts*
Key Considerations—
• Prompt/task selection, modification
• Purposeful practice
• Effective writing: Process + Product
• Appropriate student support:
—time, opportunity, guidance
* Please note The DOs & DON’Ts of the Writing COE document.
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Supporting Teachers:
OSPI-Developed Resources
coe.k12.wa.us
Writing Modules
Related Writing Resources
• Elaboration (3 parts)
• 4-Week Course
• Persuasion—HS
• Introductions &
Conclusions
• Elaboration—Writing to
Explain (HS)
• Elaboration—Writing to
Persuade (HS)
• High School Persuasive
Techniques
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The Writing COE…
Student Performance
and Scoring
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How the Writing COE is Assessed
• Final Drafts (as indicated) only
• Work Samples scored holistically, as sets:
—Expository set…3-5 Work Samples
—Persuasive set…3-5 Work Samples
• On-demand Work Samples = touchstones for
both sets constituting the Collection
• COS + CONV rubrics informed by Baseline
Anchors (WASL) and scored Collections
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Writing COE Scoring Protocol
• Using the WASL 4-point rubric and purpose-based COS
Baseline Anchor papers, scorers holistically assess either
the expository or the persuasive purpose Work Samples
for Content, Organization, & Style.
• Using the WASL 3-point (0, 1, 2) rubric and related CONV Anchor
Papers, scorers holistically assess either the expository or the
persuasive Work Samples for Conventions.
• Each set of Work Samples is scored twice (different scorers).
• When the two scores are non-adjacent, the work sample set is scored
a third time (Director or Assistant Director).
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Determining a Score for the Writing COE
• The two expository purpose scorers’ points for COS
and CONV are added for a total possible of 12 points.
• The two persuasive purpose scorers’ points for COS
and CONV are added for a total possible of 12 points.
• 24 points are possible for the Collection.
• Students need 17 points to meet standard, 15 points
to be eligible to submit an Augmented Collection.
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The At-Standard Writing COE:
Ways of Earning 17 Points
EXPOSITORY
|
PERSUASIVE
COS
CONV
COS
CONV
COS
CONV
COS
CONV
T
3
1
4
2
2
1
3
1
17
3
1
4
1
3
2
2
1
17
2
2
2
2
4
1
3
1
17
2
1
3
1
3
2
3
2
17
4
1
3
2
3
1
2
1
17
3
2
2
2
3
1
4
0
17
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Meeting Standard:
A Composite Collection
• Range: 20 - 24 points
• Expository + Persuasive Work Samples
• ‘Big Picture’ Observations?
_
_
_
_
_
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Composite COE Writing Collection:
Example Annotations
Expository Work Sample Set: Content, Organization, & Style
…strong ability to explain
…reasonably engaging introductions: context, audience, voice
…clearly, purposefully organized; effective transitional devices
…ample supporting details; adequately layered elaboration
…conclusions wrapping up main points: clarity, emphasis
…appropriate word choice, often effective for topic, audience, purpose
…often-fluent sentences; varied in structure, length
…identifiable voice: person behind the words
Expository Work Sample Set: Conventions
…consistently follows rules of Standard English for usage, spelling of
commonly-used words, capitalization, punctuation, sentence formation,
and paragraphing
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The Writing COE…
2008 Scoring Results
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The February, ‘08 Scoring Event:
Writing COE Results
• 36.6% of students met the writing standard.
• 13 10th grade students, 127 11th grade
students, and 496 12th grade students
participated.
• 36% of 12th grade students met standard.
• Writing experienced a low insufficiency rate,
once “appropriate teacher assistance” was
defined.
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June, 2008 Scoring Results
Submissions + Sufficiency
• 288 students—151 seniors, 133 juniors, and 4
sophomores—submitted Collections.
• Of the 288 COEs, 27 (9.4%) represented Special
Education, 101 (35%) represented Bilingual/ELL, and
180 represented (62.5%) Low Income students.
• 281 Writing Collections (97.6% of submissions) were
sufficient and were scored.
• 19 students—13 seniors, 6 juniors—submitted
Augmented Collections; 100% were sufficient.
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June, ‘08 Scoring Results
• 122 students met standard (42.4% of submissions).
• 35% (8) of African-American students, 48% (71) of
Caucasian/White students, 20% (5) of Asian students
and 39% (31) of Hispanic/Latino students met
standard.
• 18.5% of Special Education students met standard;
31% of Bilingual/ELL students met standard.
• 13 Augmented Collections met standard (68.4% of
submitted), including 10 seniors (66.7%).
• 56 Collections were eligible for Augmentation (19.4%
of submitted COEs).
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COE Mean Scores by Purpose & Trait
Purpose/Trait
February, ‘08
June, ‘08
Expository:
COS
4.9
5.2
Expository:
CONV
2.0
2.3
Persuasive:
COS
5.4
5.5
Persuasive:
CONV
2.7
2.5
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The Writing COE: What We’ve Learned
•
•
•
•
•
Prompt/Task selection
Student-writer support
Adult Assistance clarity & appropriateness
Teaching tools, resources
Process-to-Product correlations:
—apparent strengths, apparent gaps
• Opportunities for improvement:
-student readiness & support
-content-area participation
-scorer training & support
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The Writing Collection of Evidence
• Important points, facts?
• Additional questions?
• Professional Reflections & Possibilities?
Please note additional Writing COE support materials posted
on the COE Web site: coe.k12.wa.us. Thank you!
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Contact us…
Call us, write us, visit us. Our job is to serve
you.
 Steve Pearse, Ed.D. COE Writing Specialist.
caaoptions@k12.wa.us. (360) 725-6037
 Lesley Klenk, Ph.D. COE Administrator.
lesley.klenk@k12.wa.us.
 Amanda Mount, COE Operations Specialist.
amanda.mount@k12.wa.us. (360) 725-6507
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