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Useful information on measuring student growth. (Pre/Post, Repeated Measures, Holistic, Post Only)

Thank you for sharing this, Steve. I found it very useful and I'm going to pass it on to the other 6th grade ELA and special education teachers. This guide works well with our focus for the in-service day on Tuesday. We decided that our focus during the morning sessions was going to be on scoring samples of student work to make sure there is consistency among how we are scoring, and then use the second block to determine anchor papers that represent different levels of achievement. As a special education teacher, I was initially apprehensive about this process of DDMs. This was addressed in the guide, as many teachers who teach students with learning differences are concerned about being evaluated on student performance. However, if the DDMs truly look at student progress, based on where they started, and keep it focused on the individual's growth, then I do believe that it will be a more equitable measure for assessing teachers. One question that still remains is what accommodations are allowed when administering DDMs. In sixth grade there were questions about whether it was strictly MCAS accommodations, or whether we were allowed to read the articles to the students since we were measuring writing. It's something that still needs to be worked out in this pilot year. Thanks again for making this available for others to use.

The authors want educators to pay attention to freshman year.

I completely agree with this. For example, I debated my colleagues in the history department at the beginning of the school year when we were nailing down our DDMs. I argued that 9th graders are different than all other high school standards and their DDM should not be measured in the same way as 10th and 11th graders. As a teacher who has taught a variety of teen grade levels over my career, I can really vouch for the fact that 9th graders are unique.

This is so well written and so well explained that I feel like I want to drop everything I'm doing today and share it with my students

Steve, I'm so glad you came across this, and shared it. I especially love the Nonfiction sentence frames that can be used in the classroom. It gives the kids a structured start to looking at the language used in nonfiction writing. I also like how the article writes about empowering the reader through being able to discern the point of view and bias that may be present. It reinforces the message that just because something is in print, doesn't mean that it's true, and also forces students to interact with the text not only to make meaning, but to truly understand the purpose behind what they're reading.

You said it bro. Uncovering bias is a very sophisticated skill, probably the hardest to teach because bias can be so subtle. My 9th graders will love this. Thanks for sharing.

I heard this on the way to soccer this morning. It speaks to the idea of "fake writing days" that create for the sake of data. - Steve. "Want to do well on the essay portion of the SAT? Just make it up! Scott Simon speaks to English professor Anne Ruggles Gere of the University of Michigan who says that the college entrance exam is turning out a generation of bad writers who are fast and loose with the facts."