logo with white borderTips for Quick Assessments
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Greetings!
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With school beginning, it's a great time to do a quick assessment of the writing skills your students are bringing with them at the beginning of the school year. It's helpful to do these quick assessments prior to any formal instruction.
Level 1

illustration from Duck on a BikeFor level 1 students, show them an interesting, student-engaging, full-color picture and ask them to write a few sentences about the picture. Collect their work and analyze it, asking yourself the following questions:

 
  • Are students writing in complete sentences?
  • Do the sentences make sense?
  • Are the sentences short and choppy? Run-ons?
  • Do students start most of their sentences the same way?
  • Are they using picture-painting adjectives?
  • Are they using strong action-packed verbs?

Levels 2 and 3

Level 2 and 3 students should be given a writing prompt such as:

Write a paper explaining what you are looking forward to in school this year. In this paper, remember everything you've learned about being a good writer.

(Note: Do not remind them to plan before writing. Do not tell them how long it should be.)
 
Collect and analyze their work using the following questions.
  • Are students writing a stand-alone paragraph, or using multiple paragraphs?
  • Do students show evidence of planning prior to writing? What methods of planning do they seem to know?
  • Are students sticking to the topic?
  • Are their big ideas supported with interesting, unusual, specific details?
  • Do they have a variety of simple, compound, and complex sentences?
  • Is their word choice appropriate for their age level?
  • Are they attempting to use rich vocabulary that is accurate and natural sounding?
  • Does the piece show evidence of voice?
  • Are the conventions appropriate for their age level?
Although you may want to score these paper as a baseline, it's most important to read through them and make anecdotal notes about individual students and your class as a whole. What are some obvious areas that might suggest a place to begin your instruction?
 
Sincerely,
The Write Tools, LLC