Preparing for PARCC
Using PARCC Writing Rubrics
to Inform Instruction –
Part 1
Scoring Student Essays
This post is part of our blog
series on PARCC. In this series, we offer tips and strategies you can use to
ensure that your students perform at their very best on the PARCC tests.
Last
year, PARCC posted their writing rubrics for the Prose-Constructed Response
(PCR) and then revised them this past July. However, since each writing task is
unique and the rubrics are generic, to make good use of these rubrics you must
create item-specific guides that qualify the range of student responses.
You can
create item-specific guides to score your students’ on-demand writing samples. These
guides will give you an idea of which writing skills you should focus on to
help students improve their writing.
First,
we need a thorough understanding of PARCC’s generic rubrics, and then we must identify
the item-specific information related to each prompt. There are three
components to PARCC’s generic rubric: Reading Comprehension – Comprehension of
Key Ideas and Details; Writing – Written Expression; and Writing – Knowledge of
Language and Conventions. Below is a list of student expectations for each
category.
Reading Comprehension
• Students
must include evidence of understanding, including direct references and
inferences.
• Students
need to link perspective (“analysis”) to specific evidence.
Written Expression
• Students must respond to all
parts of the prompt.
• Students must develop a claim or
topic with reasons and textual evidence.
• Students must write in the
specified discipline (narrative, essay, etc.).
• Students must write in a style
and organization effective for the conventions of the discipline.
Written Conventions
• Students must demonstrate command
of the conventions of standard English.
• Students need to write enough so
that scorers can properly assess their command of standard English conventions.
The
first step in creating the task-specific rubric is to survey your students’
essays. Task-specific rubrics are constructed using student responses and by
identifying expected conditions for each category of the generic rubric. Use
Standards Solution’s Item-Specific Considerations
to set the expectations for each category.
Now that
you have considered every element of the rubric, return to your students’
essays and use the rubric and your item specific guide to identify strengths
and areas of need.
Scoring LATs and RSTs
For
responses to the Literary Analysis Task and Research Simulation Task, three
dimensions are scored for a total of 19 points (15 for grade 3).
• Reading: worth up to 4 points
• Written Expression: worth up to
12 points*
• Knowledge of Language and
Conventions: worth up to 3 points
*When
determining the score for Written Expression, the scorer first determines the
holistic score (4, 3, 2, 1, 0) based on which score point best describes that
paper. Then that score (4, 3, 2, 1, 0) is multiplied by three. This means that
only certain scores can be represented (12, 9, 6, 3, 0). This is true for both
rubrics.
The Scoring Process
• Use the rubric and your item
specific guide to review each essay.
• Score Reading Comprehension.
• Consider the elements to Written
Expression and score accordingly:
• Did the student write an essay
that addresses all parts of the prompt?
• Did the student provide a claim
with reasons and evidence?
• Was the student’s essay organized
and effective for the given genre?
• Remember to consider the holistic
nature of the essay when selecting point values for Written Expression and remember
to multiply by three.
• For the Writing – Knowledge of
Language and Conventions category, points should only be deducted when the errors
impede meaning.
Remember,
the purpose of evaluating our students is to help them improve their abilities.
In our next post, we’ll describe how to analyze your students’ needs and
provide corrective instruction.
Standards
Solution and Inspired Instruction offers 540 PARCC lesson plans, online
PARCC-like assessments with technology-enhanced items, PARCC workshops, and
PARCC demonstration lessons. Please contact Judy Cataldi for more information.
Judy.cataldi@standardssolution.com or call 908-223-7202
