Post-Assessment of Student Writing

Assignment and Criteria

This assessment was given to students halfway into the Informational
Literacy unit. I gave students a text that related to their research topic and they
were given the full duration of the class period of one hour to read their text and
answer the prompt. They were required to write a well-developed, text-based
response about the writers purpose in order to receive credit for the exam. Even
though this exam was similar to the pre-assessment, the purpose of this
assessment is to measure what skills or knowledge they have acquired so far in
the unit, and what areas of difficulty I need to address for students with
scaffolding and support. Students were assessed based on this rubric where
achievement of each category is worth two points, with twelve points being the
most a student can obtain for this assignment.

Reading Analysis Exam Rubric:

Introduce a precise, accurate claim about the texts purpose and audience.
Identify the most important writing strategy (or technique) the author is using.
Cite evidence (quotes) demonstrating the texts purpose. Identify quote by
line number.
Analyze how the authors use of writing strategy develops central idea.
Explain how the authors use of that writing strategy achieves or enhances
the purpose.
Organize your analysis of the text in two-three coherent paragraphs, with a
clear conclusion.
2 Proficient and well-developed, 1 Present but is making progress, 0 Needs
immediate improvement

Assessment of Reading Analysis Exam

Analysis: The class as a whole achieved higher scores than the pre-assessment
due to the acquisition and practice of skills taught between the pres-assessment
and this assessment. Students who received average score between five and
nine received higher scores between nine and twelve for this assessment.
Overall, every student who participated in the assessment showed improvement

of his or her skills and knowledge within their writing.

Assessment Data
twelve
eleven

Score

ten

Number of Students

nine
four
0

Number of Students
*This graph displays the scores of assessments that were submitted. Data for other nine students
in the class is not present due to lack of submission.

Pre-Assessment and Post-Assessment Data Comparison

3
2.5
2
1.5
Number of Students

Post-Assessment

Pre-Assessment

0.5
0

Scores
*This graph displays the scores of assessments that were submitted. Data for other nine students
in the class is not present due to lack of submission.

Specific Skills Assessed

Claims: Students were asked to introduce a precise, accurate claim about the
texts purpose and audience.
Strong Student: In the song I Dont Like Mondays by Boomtown Rats, the
authors suggests that you cant really understand the mind of a psychopath and
you dont really know what will trigger them or make them snap.
Average Student: The central idea of the text was be careful who you meet and
think is the one for you because anyone can say the things you want to hear and
take advantage of your vulnerability.
Struggling Student: Zero to Hero goes through Hercules journy of becoming
a hero from being a common person.
Analysis: The strong students constructed claims that stated what they were
going to analyze in their writing. Strong students also included information such
as the title and author of their text in order to assist their readers comprehension
of their analysis. Strong students also constructed claims that were clear and
specific about their topic. Average students created claims that were offered
insight into what their analysis of the text but lacked specificity or details about
the text they were analyzing. Average students have adequate claims but they
can be improved. Upon revision of the exam, average students were encouraged
to include background information about the text and to be more specific to
support the effect of their claims. Struggling students needed to significantly
improve their claims by including details about their text as well as offering clear
statement about what they would analyze in their writing. Struggling students
needed to consider their audience and what information they would need in order
to understand the students claim and the content of their writing. Students who
had difficulty being specific in their claim encountered issues with specificity
when providing evidence and analysis later in their writing. Overall, students who
had precise, accurate claims were able to effectively support their claim in the
body paragraphs. Students who needed to strengthen their claim also needed
continued improvement in providing evidence and analysis.
Providing Sufficient Evidence: Students were asked to identify the most
important writing strategy (or technique) the author is using and cite evidence
(quotes) demonstrating the texts purpose. They needed to identify the quote by
line number to receive credit.
Strong Student: Lines 10-15, lines 29-34, and lines 48-63 are sequences
where repetition occurs. The author uses repetition to show the motives or the
reason why the girl commits the act. The question what reason you need to be
shown? Tell me why? and the response I dont like Mondays goes on to repeat
over and over.
Average Student: Jennifer also used first person to show you the way she felt,
and the emotions that went through her head when she said, I was left with
broken dreams showing her emotion of sadness.
Struggling Student: The struggling student did provided summary rather than
evidence.
Analysis: The students who did well in providing evidence effectively introduced
evidence by including the line numbers, and context of the quote within the text.

For this particular assessment, students were required to state the rhetorical
strategy they were choosing the evidence to prove. Those who excelled in this
category introduced the evidence, cited them evidence, and defined the
rhetorical strategy or literary device the evidence supports. Students that had
evidence but needed to improve its function needed to introduce the evidence
more effectively. They needed to provide context of the evidence or effectively
introduce the quote. These students also needed to cite their evidence to cite
heir evidence as well. Those who had difficulty providing evidence chose to
summarize the text rather than implement evidence. Evidence that was
implemented in their writing did not relate to the rhetorical strategy or literary
device they chose and it needed to support their claim. Overall, the majority of
students employed evidence that supported their claim and their purpose.
Providing Analysis of Evidence: Students were required to analyze how the
authors use of writing strategy develops central idea. They also had to explain
how the authors use of that writing strategy achieves or enhances the purpose.
Strong Student: The author uses repetition of Tell me why? I dont like
Mondays to make the reader see that this would be something only a
psychopath would say. The repetition draws our attention to the main reason why
the girl did the act of shooting up her school.
Average Student: The author used the writing strategy of first person to
develop the central idea of the text because she showed emotions of how he
took advantage of her.
Struggling Student: The importance of acronims of SRO all make the song
come together to make the point of who Hercules has become and his booming
popularity from doing/fighting monsters.
Analysis: Those who effectively provided analysis of evidence showed how the
authors use of the literary devices or rhetorical strategies develops the central
idea of the text. They also provided explanation for how the writers choices
achieved or enhance the purpose of their text. Their analysis of their evidence
made connections between the authors writing strategies and the purpose of the
text. Students who provided adequate analysis needed to be more about these
connections. They may have also needed to be more specific in their analysis in
order for it to be affective. Students who had difficulty with providing analysis
were having issues explaining the connection between their claim, the writing
strategies of the writer and the evidence that they provided or should have
provided.
General Analysis:
Overall, what I noticed from this collection of student writing is that
students had stronger, more developed introductions that established a solid
foundation for the rest of their writing piece. Students were identifying and
analyzing a variety of rhetorical strategies the writers of their texts were
employing. In the pre-assessment, most of the students chose common

rhetorical strategies and literary devices but they diversified their choices in this
writing assignment. Most of the students implemented credible evidence
effectively and provided analysis of each piece of evidence. Even though some
students continued to show difficulty properly citing evidence, they still attempted
to introduce their quotes through the context of the text. The structure of their
writing was more cohesive and fluid and their explanations were supportive of
their claims. Students were considering their audience and providing details to
support their readers comprehension of their topic.