Quill Reading for Evidence

Teacher Handbook

Two students engage in a “Think-Pair-Share” around their responses from a Quill activity.
Table of Contents
Introducing Our Newest Tool: Quill Reading for Evidence 3

7 Best Practices for Integrating Quill Reading for Evidence 8

Alignment to the WordGen Weekly Curriculum 8

The Student Experience in Quill Reading for Evidence 9

“Like Multiplying Myself by Thirty:" A Quill Reading for Evidence Teacher Story 15

Using Quill Reading for Evidence with ELLs and Students Who Need More Support 16

The Evidence-Base for the Quill Reading for Evidence Tool 19

Best Practices Deep Dive: Using Gradual Release 22

FAQ: Quill Reading for Evidence Frequently Asked Questions 24

How to Access and Assign Quill Reading for Evidence Activities 24
Why don't I see a score for Reading for Evidence activities? 24
How should I introduce the tool to students? 24
Where do Reading for Evidence activities fit with students’ other work on Quill? What kind of
pacing do you recommend? 25
How is Quill's artificial intelligence (AI) Feedback Bot able to provide students with the right
feedback on their original writing? 25
How is Reading for Evidence's feedback scaffolded and differentiated? 26
Why can't I create Quill Evidence activities with a text and/or stem of my choosing? 26
With which standards do Reading for Evidence activities align? 26
Where can I share my feedback about Reading for Evidence? 26
Where can I get support and/or find resources related to Reading for Evidence? 26

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Introducing Our Newest Tool: Quill Reading for Evidence

What is Quill Reading for Evidence?

Quill Reading for Evidence is our newest learning tool—and our first tool that supports
students in building both language and reading skills. Each Reading for Evidence activity
provides a high-interest, nonfiction text for students to read, and then engages them in
expressing their understanding of that text through open-ended writing prompts.

Designed for students in grades 8-12, these activities take about 15-20 minutes for
students to complete. Click here to watch a 10-minute video demo of the student
experience in an Evidence activity or click here for the full 25-minute webinar.

One of the best ways to get to know the tool is to experience it yourself! Click here to try
our Evidence activity about how eating meat impacts global warming (note: this link will
bypass the beginning of the activity and take you straight to the completion of the sentence
stems).

Beyond Multiple-Choice

Over the last few years, we’ve watched as more and more digital tools enter classrooms
that intend to improve students’ reading and writing. We’ve been struck by the fact that
virtually all of them assess student learning the same way: through multiple-choice
questions.

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 Many members of the Quill
team are former teachers; we’ve
seen firsthand what many
students do with multiple-choice
questions: they scan the text for
the “right answer,” and move on
as soon as they find it, or worse,
they copy the answers from a
friend or a quick Google search.
We wanted to create a digital
reading tool that would go
beyond multiple-choice—to provide a rich learning experience, and not only an assessment
of learning.

But it wasn't enough to have students write about text. In fact, some digital reading tools
did provide open-ended prompts—but the feedback for the responses to those prompts
still fell to individual teachers. Meanwhile, studies have consistently found feedback to be
one of the biggest influences on student achievement (Graham, 2019). And not just any
feedback will do; it needs to be timely, actionable, personal, specific—and frequent
(Wiggins, 2012). But with 100 plus students assigned to most, teachers cannot possibly
provide this to every student. We wanted our tool to provide the kind of high-impact
feedback students need, along with immediate opportunities to apply it.

We began with a writing strategy in which students are asked to use the connectives
because, but, and so to expand a provided sentence stem about relevant course content. In
the paper-based version of this activity, a social studies teacher, for example, might give
students the stem: “The British government wanted to vaccinate the public against
smallpox…” A strong set of sentences in response might be:

● The British government wanted to vaccinate the public against smallpox because
smallpox was responsible for the deaths of thousands of people in England every year.

● The British government wanted to vaccinate the public against smallpox, but some
citizens believed that it was a violation of their medical freedom.

● The British government wanted to vaccinate the public against smallpox, so the
British government made these laws mandatory.

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This activity accomplishes so much
simultaneously.

Students have to read—and

understand what they read—to
complete the stems. Instead of
clicking A, B, C, or D, they have to
think through logical relationships:
using because and so requires them
to think through cause-and-effect
relationships, and but requires them to think through a claim/counterclaim relationship.
We saw how valuable this activity was, and we set out to make it even more
valuable—without asking any more of teachers. That's where AI came in.

Custom Feedback for Each Activity

The magic of Reading for Evidence is all in this button:

When students click "Get feedback," even with the wide variety of sentences they might
write, they will get precise, targeted feedback. Quill's AI Feedback Bot can show students
where to reread, suggest information to include in their response, or show them an
exemplar to follow. The feedback isn’t generic like “Be more specific"—each activity’s
feedback is highly specific to the activity's text. The feedback is also carefully scaffolded and
sequenced. This means students get guidance about where to look for particular evidence
in the text only after they have tried on their own, and it means students won't be asked to
correct an error in subject-verb agreement until they're on the right track in terms of their
ideas.

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In the end, each student completing a Reading for Evidence activity gets their own private
coach—a coach who responds to their particular strengths and areas of growth.

How is this possible? Quill's curriculum developers write custom feedback for each
Reading for Evidence text and writing prompt, so when a student submits a response,
Quill’s AI Feedback Bot compares the student's response to categories the team has
created (from reviewing hundreds of authentic responses). The Feedback Bot is able to
determine which category the response falls into, and serve it the appropriate feedback.

A Growing Library of Relevant & Engaging Content

Written at an 8th-9th grade reading level, each activity's text explores a complex question
of interest to students, such as: Should schools have strict dress codes? Topics are relevant to
English, social studies, and/or science, with a focus on 21st century, real-world issues. Many
Evidence activities align to WordGen Weekly, a free, interdisciplinary curriculum. Evidence
activities were designed to be used on their own, but can also be used in conjunction with
the WordGen units (linked here).

A Tool on a Mission

As a mission-driven non-profit, it is especially important to us that all of Quill's

activities—and especially those in this new tool—are available to teachers in underserved

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schools, whose students have the most to gain from support with literacy development and
knowledge-building.

Reading for Evidence coaches students to convey their understanding of evidence with
accuracy, precision, and logic—skills that are foundational to argument, to advocating for
oneself and one's community.

We know how hard teachers work to teach and empower students. It is our hope that this
tool can play a small but valuable part in helping students develop not only confidence in
their voices, but the skills and knowledge that ensure their voices will be heard.

Get Started!

We can't wait for you and your students to experience this new tool! You can preview
and/or assign a curated pack of Reading for Evidence activities from our Featured Pack
page, or start by browsing the full list of Reading for Evidence activities in Quill's activity
library.
● Check out the Reading for Evidence packs.
● Explore Reading for Evidence activities in the library.

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7 Best Practices for Integrating Quill Reading for Evidence
The following are our top 7 recommendations for getting started integrating Reading for
Evidence into your instruction and curriculum. Click a recommendation to read more about
it below.

1. Introduce students to Reading for Evidence and the connectives they will be using.
Frame the practice they are about to do.
2. Walk students through the student onboarding section of a Reading for Evidence
activity.
3. Use gradual release, beginning with modeling, for your students’ first Reading for
Evidence activity or activities.
4. Have students complete Reading for Evidence activities during class, especially when
students are new to the practice.
5. Align Reading for Evidence activities to your curriculum when/where possible and
invite students to make connections.
6. Extend the practice students are getting with the connectives because, but, and so.
7. Invite students to reflect on their thinking, writing, and learning in the tool.

Alignment to the WordGen Weekly Curriculum

Quill's new Reading for Evidence activities are aligned to WordGen Weekly, an
interdisciplinary curriculum developed by the The Strategic Education Research Partnership
(SERP) Institute and faculty at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. WordGen Weekly
units focus on a social or civic dilemma relevant to multiple content areas. Each unit has
five academic "focus words" and a week's worth of connected 15–20 minute activities for
ELA, math, science, and social studies.

Below you'll find a hyperlinked list of all the currently available Reading for Evidence packs
that are paired with WordGen Weekly one-week units.

● Activity Pack: Alternative Energy & Sustainability

● Activity Pack: Ethics in Science
● Activity Pack: Environmental Protection
● Activity Pack: Evidence Based Writing - Sports & Recreation
● Activity Pack: School Policies & Student Life

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The Student Experience in Quill Reading for Evidence

Student Onboarding Section

When students begin a Quill Reading for Evidence activity, they will click through four
onboarding pages that will walk them through important things to know about the tool.
Once a student has completed three Reading for Evidence activities, they will no longer see
these onboarding pages at the beginning of activities.

Here’s a rundown of the four onboarding pages.

● Page 1: Tells students what they will be doing in a Quill Reading for Evidence activity:
Read and highlight a text, write sentences using what they read, and then revise
their sentences based on feedback.
● Page 2: tells students that the activity is not graded. We want students to focus on
understanding the text and revising their sentences based on feedback, not on the
grade they will get on the activity.
● Page 3: tells students that they will receive their feedback from a feedback bot. This
is our way of explaining to students that the feedback they get in Reading for
Evidence activities is powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning, which
means it’s not a human teacher and it won’t always give perfect feedback. Please let
students know we very much want to know if they receive feedback they think is off

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 or unhelpful—they can do this right under the feedback when they receive it by
clicking the “Report a Problem” button. They can also share feedback at the end of
every Reading for Evidence activity.
● Page 4: The final onboarding page tells students that they will have up to 4 attempts
to revise their sentences. Just like our other activities, students will get specific,
targeted feedback on their responses.

Students will click the “Start” button at the bottom of the page to begin the activity.

Reading the Passage

Before students begin reading the passage, they will see a list of the steps they will take in
the activity.

Students will click the “Start” button at the bottom of the page. Then, students will see
directions to read the passage and highlight two sentences related to a specific key idea--it
may be helpful to know that this key idea will usually be relevant to the first stem students
are asked to complete (the because stem).

Students will click the “Got it” button to begin reading the passage. Students will read the
passage by scrolling on the left side of the screen. Once students get to the bottom of the

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passage, the “Read the whole passage” step will be checked off. If a student tells you they
can’t click the “Done” button, they most likely haven’t scrolled through (read) the whole text.

To highlight the sentences in the text, students will click on the sentence they would like to
highlight. The sentences they click on will appear highlighted in the text, as well as on the
right side of the screen underneath the “Highlights” section. Then, students will click the
“Next” button.

Completing the Sentence Stems and Revising

After students read and highlight the text, they will see the checklist with the first step
checked off. Students will click the “Next” button to begin completing the first sentence
stem (”because...”).

Students will now be in the heart of a Reading for Evidence activity. Note the layout of the
page: the text will be on the left side, and students can scroll up and down to view the
whole text; the prompts and sentence stems will be on the right—this is where students
will write and receive feedback.

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Students will click in the text box to begin drafting a sentence. When they are ready to
submit, they'll click the “Get feedback” button.

Just like other Quill activities, students will receive targeted feedback on each submission.
The tool will provide feedback on the accuracy and relevance of evidence, use of the
connective, the quality of paraphrasing, and use of opinion. Only when students have
corrected issues in these areas will they get feedback on grammatical or mechanical errors.

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However, scaffolds are also designed into the feedback for when students are struggling.
For example, if students are having trouble identifying a relevant piece of evidence, a
section of the passage will be highlighted for the student to re-read.

“Hints” provide annotated exemplars. For example, students may see an annotated
exemplar of an effective use of “because” if they are struggling to provide evidence of a
reason for the stem.

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If students do not submit a strong, evidence-based sentence by the fifth attempt, they will
see examples of strong sentences submitted by other students. If students do submit a
strong, evidence-based sentence, they will see a green box with a check mark.

Final Reflection
After students complete the last sentence stem, they will be brought to a reflection page
that celebrates their efforts. Note that, as indicated in the onboarding section of the activity
and reiterated on this page, students won’t see any grade or score for their responses, but
they will get to see their three final revisions alongside exemplar responses for each stem
(2 exemplars per stem). This is a great page to leverage for class discussion!

Following the reflection page, students can also complete an optional emoji survey about
the activity. Our team reviews these regularly, so please encourage students to provide
their feedback!

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“Like Multiplying Myself by Thirty:" A Quill Reading for
Evidence Teacher Story
Sean Martin teaches eleventh grade English and AP®
English Language at City Neighbors High School, a small,
public charter school in Baltimore, Maryland. Building
students’ reading and writing skills is a top priority, but
this is no small task.

Sean's students read at about a seventh- or eighth-grade

reading level, more than a third have a learning disability,
and almost two-thirds receive free- or reduced-priced
lunch. Sean finds that his students struggle with writing
even more than they do with reading, and he believes
that feedback is a key ingredient to their progress with
the skill, but with so many students and such limited
time, it’s a real challenge to provide the timely and targeted feedback they need.

Drawn to Quill for its ability to pinpoint students’ areas of strength and growth as writers and
provide differentiated follow-up practice, Sean has been an avid user since 2016 (way back in
the year of Quill Connect’s launch!). Last year, Sean was invited to beta test Quill’s new tool,
Reading for Evidence. As soon as he played through an activity, he knew he wanted to use it
with his students. “I’d never seen or used a reading or writing tool like this,” he says.

Learn how Sean implements Reading for Evidence in his classroom, how he scaffolds the
approach to encourage student success, and what his students think of the tool. Check out the
article.

Sean’s Recommendations for Best Practice

For teachers who are just getting started using Reading for Evidence with students, Sean
recommends:
● Do Reading for Evidence as a whole class activity. It can be fun to collaboratively write
our answers as a class and see if the AI accepts them. Working with the AI seemed to be
more fun for students than hearing more critiques from me.
● Start with discussion to build interest on a topic.
● Have students compare highlights with a partner before moving on.
● Remind students that this practice isn’t strictly about being right or wrong so much as
"good, better, and best."

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Using Quill Reading for Evidence with English Language
Learners and Students Who Need More Support

Reading for Evidence is a new tool. Designing a tool that provides quality feedback on
original student writing was no simple task, and we focused our energies there. The first
version of the tool was also designed for general education students in grades 8-12. This
means that the tool doesn't yet have all the features that it will have eventually. We have a
number of ideas for features (like a feature that will enable students to have a text read
aloud to them and one that will let students hover to see a student-friendly definition for
challenging vocabulary), and we'd love to hear your ideas! You can share them here!

In the meantime, Reading for Evidence integrates with a variety of extensions that can
provide important support (more on that below) and can still provide valuable practice for
students who need more support. Because the texts include complex grammatical
structures and specific content-area language and expressions, it's best suited for English
Language Learners at WIDA Level 4 (expanding) and above. Reading Evidence was built with
accessibility in mind from the start--it complies with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
(WCAG) 2.1, Level A, and AA.

Here are a few strategies to ensure students who need extra support are successful with
Reading for Evidence:

Introduce the main idea of the text and front-load vocabulary

Student engagement is essential for reading comprehension: introducing the topic, tapping
into existing knowledge, and front-loading vocabulary will likely increase student
engagement with the task. You can do this in a few different ways:

Interactive supports
Activate prior knowledge by having students share what they know about the topic with a
partner, in small groups, or with the whole class.

Sensory and graphic supports

To introduce the topic and front-load vocabulary, use images/illustrations, videos,
magazine/newspaper articles, realia, charts, timelines, and tables.

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Review coordinating connectives
In a Reading for Evidence activity, students practice using evidence from the text to
complete three sentence stems using the connectives because, but, and so. Make sure
students have a good understanding of how to use these connectives:
● Check out our student-facing resource on expanding sentences with these
connectives - it has plenty of tips, examples, and a printable PDF resource to use
with your students.
● Practice using those connectives with simple sentences and accessible vocabulary.
● Provide examples and model the thought process behind describing a reason
(because), a contrast (but), and a result/consequence (so.)
● Consider adding home language or visual aids for additional support.

Use browser extensions to provide read aloud and language

support
Several Chrome browser extensions can provide accommodations and language support
during the activity. Keep in mind that these extensions are not managed by Quill, but they
have been used by Quill teachers who have found them beneficial to the student
experience.
● Translation support: check out the ImTranslator extension.
● Dictionary support: check out the InstantDictionary extension.
● Read Aloud Support: check out the ReadAloud extension.

Click here to learn how to install these extensions on the student’s device and see other
extensions we recommend.

Model how to find evidence and how to incorporate feedback

Before using a Reading for Evidence activity with language learners, make sure they have
both a clear understanding of the purpose of the activity (how to use textual evidence and
paraphrase) and a process model to find evidence from the text and incorporate feedback.

ELLs who have not been taught metacognitive strategies are less likely to approach the
activity with a strategic mindset. They will focus on the meaning of the words, and will likely
need reinforcement of these strategies to know what to look for in the text.

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Understandably, students can get frustrated if they don’t know what Reading for Evidence
is looking for in their responses - first, focus on explaining the purpose of the activity
(teaching students how to use textual evidence and paraphrasing), then highlight what
their responses are encouraged and discouraged to use. This best practices article lists
different approaches to modeling strong responses to prompts and showing students how
to incorporate the AI feedback they receive as they submit responses.

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The Evidence-Base for the Quill Reading for Evidence Tool
Surely a tool that asks students to use accurate and precise evidence is itself based in
evidence—and it is! Below are summaries of the evidence-based approaches to building
students’ literacy and knowledge that informed the design of Quill’s Reading for Evidence
tool.

Building Content Knowledge through Writing

The research tells us that the best writing practice is embedded in content and builds
knowledge. In other words, it asks students to “write to learn,” not just “learn to write.”
While students come to school with valuable knowledge, they often need more of the kind
of knowledge that will give them access to academic content. This is especially true for
students from under-served communities and from schools with limited resources.

Numerous studies show that students understand and retain content better when they’ve
written about it (Graham and Hebert, 2010). Students’ writing also benefits when they write
about content that is relevant and meaningful. We can teach knowledge and writing skills at
the same time, and our teaching of both is more effective when we do! This is why Reading
for Evidence activities cover topics that are relevant to teenagers, but also to the world we
all live in.

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Providing meaningful writing practice is often time and labor-intensive; many educational
technology tools that attempt to build knowledge through texts rely on multiple-choice
questions. However, recall tasks like these fail to provide a full picture, since students’
responses may not reflect their reasoning skills. Writing-to-learn strategies strengthen
students’ ability to think critically about what they read (Deschler et. al., 2007).

Explicit & Scaffolded Writing Instruction

Students need explicit and scaffolded instruction to improve as writers. Unfortunately,
students don’t just “pick up” the moves of effective writers the way they do with speech.
Yet, teaching isolated grammar lessons doesn’t work either—it can even hurt (Graham and
Perin, 2007). What developing writers need is explicit instruction in high-impact strategies,
and multiple opportunities to apply grammatical concepts in the context of their own
writing.

However, all practice is not created equal.

Beginners need deliberate practice—practice that is chunked, increases slowly in difficulty,

and provides numerous opportunities for productive (not overwhelming) struggle. This kind
of approach is careful to limit students’ cognitive load (the amount of working memory
used when learning something new) (Wexler, 2019). This is especially key with writing, one
of the most demanding and complex cognitive activities humans do!

Feedback, Revision, & Reflection

We know that feedback is critical if students are to develop as writers. In “Seven Keys to
Effective Feedback,” educator and writer Grant Wiggins writes, “Both common sense and
research make it clear: Formative assessment, consisting of lots of feedback and
opportunities to use that feedback, enhances performance and achievement” (2012).
Studies have consistently found feedback on student work to be among the biggest
influences on achievement (Graham, 2019).

However, just like practice, not just any feedback will do.

Feedback is effective when it "feeds forward"—meaning it’s directly "used by the learner in
improving performance” (Wiliam, 2017). Wiggins defines helpful feedback as
“goal-referenced; tangible and transparent; actionable; user-friendly (specific and
personalized); timely; ongoing; and consistent.” This is a wonderful description, but it is no

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doubt a tall order for the average middle or high school teacher, who typically has one
hundred plus students.

This is where an AI-powered digital tool like Reading for Evidence, with its immediate and
individualized feedback, becomes a game-changer. Students get multiple chances to revise
their own writing, immediately and in real time and teachers don’t have to spend a single
minute responding to students’ writing (and they can see all of their students’ responses,
revisions, and how those responses were assessed).

Reflection—on their own writing but also on the writing of others—is another valuable
practice for developing writers. Thus, Reading for Evidence provides students with relevant
exemplar responses to guide them in their revision of and reflection upon their writing.
They see these exemplars during activities as a supplement to feedback, and each Quill
Reading for Evidence activity closes by asking students to compare their final revisions to
exemplar responses.

References
Note: This article includes links to the research and articles referenced above, as well as
other relevant research and articles.

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Best Practices Deep Dive: Using Gradual Release
Sometimes described as ”I do,” “We do,” “You do,” a gradual release of responsibility is
when teachers use a sequence of learning activities that gradually shift the responsibility
from the teacher to the student. This approach is particularly effective when getting started
using Reading for Evidence activities with students as they are mastering both the tool itself
and the reading and writing practice it provides.

Gradual Release & Modeling In Action

Here’s what this might look like in a lesson:

1. “I do” (teacher)

You might model the writing and revision process for the first stem (because). What to
model? For that first step (”I do”), what mistakes and feedback are good to model?

Modeling is a fantastic way to show students what Reading for Evidence activities will
encourage and discourage in their responses. As you project your screen, you might want
to model:

● Being specific.
● Paraphrasing not plagiarizing or using quotations.
● Avoiding giving opinions or commands.
● Taking advantage of the tool's features.

This article provides a detailed walkthrough of the student experience in the tool, which
may also be helpful in thinking about what you want to model for students, and this article
has ideas for modeling and thinking aloud with Quill’s other tools.

2. “We do” (teacher + students)

Next, you might complete the second stem with the class. You might give students time to
Turn & Talk to come up with a response first. Then, if it’s part of your practice, you can
cold-call on students to share their responses. This builds engagement and ensures that
everyone has a chance to think through a response before sharing with the whole
class—and shows students that you expect everyone to engage with the activity.

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3. “We do” (student + student)

At this point students log in to their own Quill accounts and open the same activity that you
just modeled (which has been assigned ahead of time). They work in pairs (but each still
typing on their own laptop) to complete the first stem (because). This will likely be very easy
since they just watched their teacher do it—that’s okay! It’s building their confidence with a
new tool and a new skill.

Before they get to the second stem (but), you can let them know that there’s an added
challenge this time! (Feel free to smile and rub your hands together like a villain in a Disney
movie when announcing this.) Explain that, with their partner, they’ll need to find and
paraphrase evidence for but that is different from the evidence you used in the class model
(it’s safe to ask this because every Reading for Evidence text has at least two pieces of
evidence that are relevant for each stem).

4. "You do” (student)

Finally, students separate from their partner to independently complete the third stem (so).

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FAQ: Reading for Evidence Frequently Asked Questions

How can I access and assign Reading for Evidence activities?

There are multiple ways to access and assign Reading for Evidence activities depending on
your students’ needs and the flow of your curriculum. Here’s a breakdown:

1. From the “Featured Activity Packs” page, you can assign entire packs containing
3-4 Quill Reading for Evidence activities on compelling nonfiction topics with a
related theme, such as land restoration efforts or migration patterns. Click here to
access the "Featured Activity Packs" page (filtered to independent practice) directly.
2. Click here to learn more about general navigation of our "Featured Activity Packs"
page.
3. From the Activity Library, you can assign individual Quill Reading for Evidence
activities (in other words, create your own custom pack).
4. Click here to learn more about general navigation of our activity library.

Why don't I see a score for Reading for Evidence activities?

At Quill, we aim to emphasize growth and development towards mastery in both our
activities and their aligned reports (this is why we were so excited to announce post-tests
for our diagnostics last year!). In launching Reading for Evidence, our first new tool in a few
years, we had the opportunity to be really thoughtful about how progress in these activities
is assessed and represented, and for now, we’ve decided not to provide scores for Reading
for Evidence activities. For the rationale behind this decision, and how to track student
progress without a score, check out this article.

How should I introduce the tool to students?

Introducing students to Quill Reading for Evidence, the connectives because, but, and so,
and the “why” for the practice doesn’t take much time, but is an often-skipped step that can
be so worthwhile! Check out this article for lots of great ideas and resources to introduce
students to the tool!

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Where do Reading for Evidence activities fit with students’ other
work on Quill? What kind of pacing do you recommend?

We recommend using Reading for Evidence activities once students have at least started
working on their diagnostic recommendations, and they certainly are great to use anytime
after students have worked their way through those. We generally consider a healthy Quill
“diet” to be 2-4 Quill activities per week. Given that Evidence activities are a bit more
intensive and time-consuming than our other independent practice activities, we
recommend expecting students to complete 1-2 Evidence activities a week, or about 10
per semester.

How is Quill's artificial intelligence (AI) Feedback Bot able to

provide students with the right feedback on their original writing?

Programming our AI Feedback Bot to provide the right feedback is a three-part process:

1. Write. Our feedback team writes a text for a Reading for Evidence activity, as well as
the sentence stems students will complete. Then, our team writes at least 100
strong and weak responses for different types of responses a student would give,
and then we write custom feedback for each of those categories.
2. Train. Next, we train our AI bot to determine what category a student’s response
falls under, and therefore what feedback it needs. Then we send these initial
activities to our small cohort of teachers who have opted to be beta testers, where
they assign the activity to their classes. Getting authentic student responses helps
us to retrain the bot another time to correctly identify the feedback a response
needs.
3. Monitor. At this point, the activity is ready for its debut. We make it accessible to
anyone, but we consistently monitor and assess the accuracy and quality of the
bot’s feedback.

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How is Reading for Evidence's feedback scaffolded and
differentiated?

The most unique aspect of Reading for Evidence is that it provides students with targeted
and actionable feedback based on the specific misconceptions and/or areas of growth they
have demonstrated in their submissions. This makes for a customized experience for
each student. As a teacher expressed to us upon seeing Reading Evidence for the first time:
"Individual feedback is the ultimate form of differentiation."

There are also multiple layers of feedback algorithms for the same “category” of
response—why? Just as you would not give a student who made the same mistake a
second time the exact same feedback, Evidence won't either! When students make the
same kind of error again, they will receive a second layer of feedback--feedback that
addresses the same issue, but with a different question and usually with more scaffolding.
For example, a second layer of feedback might highlight the specific paragraph of the text
that they misunderstood or missed and need to reread.

Feedback in Evidence is also prioritized—so if a student has written a response with faulty
logic or lacking evidence, as well as mechanical and spelling errors—feedback about that
faulty logic or lack of evidence is going to be triggered first. We don’t want students wasting
time and energy adding punctuation or correcting misspelled words when they actually
need to start over, go back to the text, and write something quite different.

Why can't I create Quill Evidence activities with a text and/or stem
of my choosing?

While we would love to allow you to customize activities or create your own activities, the
complex artificial intelligence systems we use are unique to each activity and text. Each
activity uses its own set of artificial intelligence models that have been trained and
calibrated by a team of experts to provide feedback on a specific passage and stem. This
means that even making a small change to the text or stem requires dozens of hours of
technical work. If you're looking for a Quill tool that allows you to customize content, check
out Quill Lessons!)

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With which standards do Reading for Evidence activities align?
The skills practiced in Reading for Evidence activities most closely align with the following
English Language Arts Common Core Standards:
● RI.9-10.1: Cite strong text evidence to support analysis of what the text says
explicitly.
● RH.9-10.2: Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary
source; provide an accurate summary of how key events or ideas develop
throughout the text.
● W.9-10.1b: Develop claim(s) and counterclaims fairly, supplying data and evidence
for each while pointing out the strengths and limitations of both claim(s) and
counterclaims in a discipline-appropriate form and in a manner that anticipates the
audience’s knowledge level and concerns.
● L.9-10.1: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar
and usage when writing or speaking.
● L.9-10.2: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English
capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.

Where can I share my feedback about Reading for Evidence?

This is a new tool and we are eager to hear from you! We strive to ensure that our activities
are accurate, appropriate, culturally responsive, and accessible, and we take concerns
about an activity seriously. Please email support@quill.org with any concerns, and your
message will be directed to a member of our curriculum team who can help. You can also
share your feedback or requests about the tool here.

Where can I get support and/or find resources related to Reading

for Evidence?

If you need specific support or want to report an issue, you can live chat with our support
team through the green message bubble on the bottom right corner of any page on Quill,
or email us at support@quill.org.

We also encourage you to explore our library of resources designed to support your
implementation of Reading for Evidence.

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