NIFL-ASSESSMENT 2005: [NIFL-ASSESSMENT:914] RE: Voice in writing

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From: Marie Cora (marie.cora@hotspurpartners.com)
Date: Thu Feb 17 2005 - 09:53:59 EST

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Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2005 09:53:59 -0500 (EST)
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From: "Marie Cora" <marie.cora@hotspurpartners.com>
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Subject: [NIFL-ASSESSMENT:914] RE: Voice in writing
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Hi Bonnie, thanks for this.

Yes, I think that it would have been real tricky for me to have a rubric
that didn't distinguish between ESOL/ABE students.  Unless they are
transitioning from ESOL to ABE perhaps.  It's tricky enough, as you
note, to adhere to rubric anchors and so forth, so adding that you are
working with different populations with the assessment would add a layer
that I would also find difficult.

CASAS folks:  can you tell us why the writing rubric is not separate?
What's the rationale there?  It seems like the needs, esp. at the lower
levels, would be very different.

REEP folks:  what do you think about that?  Perhaps that was never a
consideration for you though, since REEP serves the ESOL population (is
that right?).

Thanks,
marie

-----Original Message-----
From: nifl-assessment@nifl.gov [mailto:nifl-assessment@nifl.gov] On
Behalf Of bonniesophia@adelphia.net
Sent: Tuesday, February 15, 2005 1:21 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: [NIFL-ASSESSMENT:908] RE: Voice in writing

I, too, have been intrigued by the idea of "voice" in the rubric, and
while
I intuitively "know" what it means, I'm interested as an emerging
writing
specialist as to what elements would constitute voice, beyond more
traditional "academic" ways of "measuring" it. I think of the clarity or
persuasiveness of a point of view supported with meaningful examples,
the
personal voice in a narrator struggling with complex questions,
forthright
emotion strikingly articulated with imagery or other means, an attempt
at
critical thinking, or "learning to learn," self-reflectiveness... I'd be
interested in hearing from others.
Another point I encountered when I was involved with CT's working with
the
CASAS writing assessments: the rubric was not meant to distinguish
between
ABE and ESL students. As an evaluator, I as an ESL specialist was at a
disadvantage: having attained a certain level of skill in "translating"
English learners' language into meaningful utterances, I'd automatically
bring that to my evaluation: it was extremely difficult to adhere to the
rubric controls and anchors, and not want to commend the ESL learner for
attempting with limited language ability to voice something difficult to
articulate in another language, as having communicated more than in fact
they did. 
Best,
Bonnie Odiorne, Ph.D.
Writing Center, English Language Institute
Post University, Waterbury, CT

Original Message:
-----------------
From: Marie Cora marie.cora@hotspurpartners.com
Date: Tue, 15 Feb 2005 12:02:28 -0500 (EST)
To: nifl-assessment@literacy.nifl.gov
Subject: [NIFL-ASSESSMENT:906] RE: Voice in writing

Hi everyone,

A couple of observations:  

First, please do note that this assessment is a fine example of a
performance-based assessment that has been standardized.  So if anyone
still thinks that standardized assessments all look like TABE, consider
your myth debunked.

I think that capturing voice in writing is quite important, and I'm glad
that the REEP rubric includes this area.  If not for voice, the rest of
the examination of the writing is based on the 'academics' of the
writing - and I feel like that leaves out the writer's (emerging)
personality.  I note in looking around a little bit, not a whole bunch
of other writing assessments take voice into account (the GED does not
for example). I also think that because voice is a dimension of the
rubric, students will pay more attention to that area and view it as
equally important as the other dimensions.  (A bit of "what counts gets
counted" there.)

What do others think about voice and the other dimensions?

marie

-----Original Message-----
From: nifl-assessment@nifl.gov [mailto:nifl-assessment@nifl.gov] On
Behalf Of Suzanne Grant
Sent: Monday, February 14, 2005 1:38 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: [NIFL-ASSESSMENT:905] RE: REEP Discussion Begins Today!

Greetings from Suzanne and Pat at REEP!

We would like to thank Susan O'Connor for her message, congratulations,
and for getting this writing assessment discussion started. 

The development of our writing assessment, too, was also supported by
the Lila Wallace Foundation. From 1997-2002, the REEP Program was one of
12 adult education programs nationwide funded to study what works in
assessment. The project was called the What Works Literacy Partnership
(WWLP) and was funded by the Lila Wallace Foundation. The lead agency
was Literacy Partners of New York. We had developed the rubric earlier,
but through WWLP, we developed pre and post prompts and carried out
studies to determine the effectiveness of using the rubric to measure
progress.

Susan and all on this list, we would be interested in hearing what
writing traits you feel are important to include in writing assessment
rubrics. In our case, the engagement of the writer with the topic was a
factor in how we were assessing the writing, and we, therefore, felt we
needed to include voice as a trait in the REEP Writing Rubric.   

Other writing assessment questions and topics are welcome.

Suzanne Grant and Pat Thurston
REEP Writing Assessment Master Trainers
Arlington Education and Employment Program (REEP)
Arlington Public Schools
Arlington, Virginia

>>> S.Oconnor@BrooklynPublicLibrary.org 02/14/05 8:54 AM >>>
 Good Morning:  I wish to congratulate the REEP creators!  Brooklyn
Public
Library Literacy Program moved to writing in the early 90's.  In an
effort
to codify students' gains and with a grant from the then Lila Wallace
foundation we created a writing rubric for non-reading Adults - up to
about
a fifth grade reading level.  We have been using this successfully for
years.  But because it was not normed we couldn't use it to show gain in
an
NRS environment.  

I have downloaded your article and handed it off to the folks at the New
York State Education Dept.  I found this all very exciting.

Susan K. O'Connor
Brooklyn Public Library
Literacy Program Manager

-----Original Message-----
From: Marie Cora
To: Multiple recipients of list
Sent: 2/14/05 8:41 AM
Subject: [NIFL-ASSESSMENT:900] REEP Discussion Begins Today!

Good morning, afternoon, evening, and Happy Valentine's Day to you all!

Please join us this week for our discussion of the REEP Writing Process
and Rubric with Suzanne Grant and Pat Thurston, of the Arlington
Education and Employment Program (REEP) in VA.  The full information and
the suggested preview resources for the discussion are listed for you
below.  Also, I wanted you to recall that Suzanne and Pat will be
accompanied by several trainers-in-training of the REEP process.

Welcome colleagues from REEP!!

February 14 - 18
Topic: Assessing Writing, Developing Rubrics, and Developing Effective
Writing Tasks
Guests:  Suzanne Grant and Pat Thurston, REEP Master Trainers

Recommended preparations for this discussion:

"The REEP Writing Story" at http://vawin.jmu.edu/vertex/article.php?v=1
<http://vawin.jmu.edu/vertex/article.php?v=1&i=1&a=2> &i=1&a=2
which discusses the development of their writing process and the
accompanying rubric.

"Making Sense of the REEP" at
http://www.sabes.org/resources/adventures/vol15/15teller.htm 
which discusses one program's experience with and reflections on using
the REEP process.

marie cora
Moderator, NIFL Assessment Discussion List, and 
Coordinator/Developer LINCS Assessment Special Collection at 
http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/

marie.cora@hotspurpartners.com

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