All Cobb County 8th grade students will take the Writing Assessment on January 18, 2012. Below is information regarding the assessment, and how to interpret the scores once they are received. Feel free to contact the school with any questions.
Purpose of Assessment
The Eighth Grade Writing Assessment is administered to all eighth grade students in January. The purpose of the assessment is to provide information to eighth grade students about their writing performance. This information can help students and their parents understand areas where students may need to focus their efforts to improve writing skills before taking the writing portion of the Georgia High School Graduation Test in their junior year. When reading your child’s eighth grade writing assessment score report, there are 3 different areas of focus.
The Scoring System
Each student paper is scored by professionals who have been trained to evaluate writing. Evaluators score student compositions on four qualities of effective writing. These qualities, or domains, of effective writing should be present in a composition regardless of the topic. The domains include ideas, organization, style, and convention. The Department of Education website provides more information on scoring and domains. http://public.doe.k12.ga.us
Reading the Score Report
I. Top Section of the Score Report
This section contains general information about the student. Review this area for accuracy. Report any incorrect information to your child’s school.
II. Total Test Performance and Performance Level
This section shows the scoring scale, the student’s score, and whether the writing does not meet the standard, meets the standard, or exceeds the standard.
Scoring range is 100-350
- Does Not Meet the Standard = 100-199
Scores falling in this range indicate that writing is lacking in many areas. This type of writing usually has an unclear focus, is poorly organized, or underdeveloped with many errors in grammar and usage.
- Meets the Standard = 200-249
Writing is adequate for the grade level, intent is clear, and any errors do not interfere with meaning.
- Exceeds the Standards = 250-350
Writing is focused and effectively organized; sentences are clear, complete and varied; entire composition is presented with logical connections; and there are minimal errors in usage and grammar.
III. Specific Writing Domain Performance
The last section discusses the student’s performance in each of the four domains. Two independent raters score each student on a scale of 1-5 in each of the four domains, with 1 being the lowest and 5 the highest. The final domain score is the average of the two ratings. Domain definitions are listed below:
- Ideas - The degree to which the writer establishes a controlling idea and elaborates the main points with examples, illustrations, facts, or details that are appropriate to the assigned writing task.
*The Ideas Domain is weighted twice as heavily as the others when computing total scaled score.
- Organization - The degree to which the writer’s ideas are arranged in a clear order and the overall structure of the response is consistent with the assigned writing task.
- Style - The degree to which the writer controls language to engage the reader.
- Conventions - The degree to which the writer demonstrates control of sentence formation, usage, and mechanics.
NOTE: In general, sentence formation and usage are weighted more heavily than mechanics in determining the overall conventions score.
A Final Note to Parents
Use the eighth grade writing assessment as a gauge to determine whether or not your child is making progress in writing. Review both the strengths and weaknesses of your child’s writing as described within the score report and discuss ways to make future improvements. Remember that the eighth grade writing assessment is a single assessment and should be viewed as just one component of the student’s total academic progress. If you have questions concerning your child’s performance on this or any other assessment contact the school. For more information visit the Department of Education website at: http://public.doe.k12.ga.us
