COE Reading Basics Lesley Klenk October 5,

2011 Graduate 2

Building the Binder 3

Requirements for a Reading COE 8-12 work samples At least four literary and four informational work samples At least two examples of each strand 2 on-demand work samples The task (set of questions) for each work sample 4

Other Reading COE Text used in COE work samples must be at a high school level of rigor—this is defined as “used at a high school level.” Work samples can be in pen or pencil but word processed is preferred—no need to submit drafts in the Reading COE. Ask three questions (one per strand) for each work sample Vary the targets asked in each strand in each work sample 5

The language of working with a Reading COE task Task (a set of extended questions aligned to the standards) Passage (text you are using in your class) Literary (novels, stories, poems, essays, biographies) Informational (social studies and science essays) Functional (instruction-oriented texts, text features) Strand (big reading skill area) Target (small specific reading skill within a strand) 6

Strands and Targets A strand is a big area of reading skill – Comprehension – Analysis – Thinking Critically – All questions on the state high school assessment (HSPE) are from the strands and targets – All questions on the Reading COE are from the strands and targets 7

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Lessons learned about COE construction and submission Follow the instructions on the Guidelines and the Work Sample Documentation (WSDF) form Clearly mark all targets on both the WSDF and the tasks/prompts Write clear, concise and COE-specific prompts for the student Do not include unnecessary documents such as the passages or drafts of the work 9

Organize work samples by genre Place all literary (or informational) passages first on the WSDF and it will make it easier to put the appropriate targets in the right rows and columns. It helps scorers because they can focus on the literary (or informational) rubric for 4-6 work samples in a row. 10

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establish a process for developing COE work samples Teacher review task page with student Student reads passage independently Student writes answers to task questions Teacher provides students with scoring guide so they can self-assess 14

What is the advantage to matching the targets and the tasks? To align with the scoring guide so students have the best chance to “show what they know and able to do” To “cue” scorers where to look on the scoring guide To teach students the target language To teach students how to evaluate their own work using the rubric To show students where they need to improve 15

Reading COEs that have strong alignment between task and targets look like this:  They have 12 tasks that each have three excellent questions that explicitly focus on one target in each strand  The questions use exact target language that also includes “key words” that helps students frame their answers  They feature texts that are interesting and timely  The students cite text evidence to show their understanding of specific reading skills  The tasks ask wide open questions with plenty of evidence in the text that students can use in their responses. 16

Reading COEs that have weak alignment between task and targets look like this:  They have hard to understand questions that are not “COE tasks”. They do not match up with the strands and targets. They are classroom assignments that were assigned targets after the fact. There is often no connection between the questions and the targets.  They feature texts and complicated questions that have many layers that are far above the students’ abilities and ask them to create a multi-layered response  The students use little to no textual evidence for support of claims about text; usually they just retell the text due to their lack of understanding or instruction  They include research papers where it is difficult to find the text much less the comprehension, analysis, or evaluation  They sometime include papers generated from a writing prompt  They may even name both literary and informational targets within a single work sample forcing the scorer to choose one genre over another to assign scores 17

Overview: Why do we need to improve reading task and target understanding?  Solid student reading performance on the COE is dependent upon not only reader understanding, but good task choices.  Not all of the state tasks are good—in fact some of the early ones should not be used any longer. They have been removed from the task bank  A limited passage, a too-difficult passage, a boring passage, etc. elicit poor student responses  Scaffolded questions answer for the student and they don’t have a chance to earn points higher on the rubric  Bad questions (we’ll just say it like it is) force students to answer in ways that can’t be scored or make it very difficult to score.  Small questions looking for one or two details, or a fact, or a yes or no steal opportunities for students to earn points 18

Reading COE Scoring Rules Only sufficient collections are scored. Each strand in each work sample is scored. Each collection (all work samples) are scored twice. The top two scores for each strand counts towards the total score. 96 points possible and 72 points judged sufficient. 19

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Scoring Notes While scoring student work, it was easier to identify 3 or 4 from the scoring guide than 1 or 2 from the scoring guide. Often, the Work Sample Documentation form was incorrectly filled out; the student lost points because the scorer had to score what target was indicated even if it was incorrect. Students did better when they turned in the maximum number of work samples; only the top two scores for a strand were reported. Using OSPI generated tasks were easier to score—just because the tasks used the language of the targets. 22

Augmentation 23

Augmentation Band 24

Augmentation Submission Criteria Reading: 4 work samples 2 literary and 2 informational All 6 reading strands at least once Writing: 4 new work samples 2 persuasive 2 expository No on-demand work samples required for augmentation 25

Helpful Hints Do Don’t Separate written responses in paragraphs Label responses with strand and target numbers (LA-05) Assign a variety of targets within each strand. Submit the maximum number of work samples Word process and use spell checker Include passages in binder Submit research papers Write in essay format Ask students for personal responses to text 26

Realizations from district experiences Schools and districts that were most successful dedicated a class to working on COEs. Schools and districts that met regularly as a staff about the COE had more students meet standard. Schools and districts that created a calendar, a list of deliverables, and a set of goals had more students who met standard. Teachers who used OSPI tasks as samples created excellent tasks of their own. Educators who believed that students could meet standard saw it happen. 27

Be a Reading Scorer 28

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Contacts Lesley Klenk, CAA Options Administrator and Reading COE Scoring Director Carol Boyer, Literacy Specialist, ESD 113, Reading COE Co- Scoring Director Amanda Mount, CAA Options Operations Specialist