Writing Math Speaking

This application provides teachers, students, and parent/community members in Oregon an opportunity to score student state assessment papers, in writing or math, and receive feedback on their scoring accuracy. Speaking has recently been added. The source for the content is the Oregon Speaks: Classroom Speaking Assessment video series produced by the Oregon Department of Education (1999) and sent to every school in the state.

Practice Scoring for Writing
Overview

1. The Scoring Results page will display Your Score (the score you entered) next to the Anchor Score (score assigned by experienced scorers at scoring centers). To navigate through the rationale for the anchor score, click the trait names or use the vertical scroll bar on the right.
   
   
   
   In the basic (no frames) version, navigate the page as you would any other HTML page on the OPENC Web site, e.g., click the "Top of page" link or use your vertical scroll bar to return to the summary at the top of the page.
   
   
   
   If you want to see other papers that match your score or the anchor score for a trait, click the appropriate score next to the word "Compare." This will bring up a different paper that received the same score for that trait and show the rationale for it. There can be from 0-4 comparisons for each score for each trait.
   
   
   Continue to navigate through the comparison scores.
   The Close button indicates you have reached the last comparison paper for a trait. Click the button to return to the Scoring Results page.
   
   
2. Additional options are located in the upper right corner of the Scoring Results page.
   
   

   	Choose Next Paper to score the next student paper in the benchmark you are working.
   	The framed version was built to enhance the use of the application, but framed pages are often confusing because they don't print the way you see them on the screen. Choose Print Version to format the information on one page for printing. To print the formatted page, choose Print from your browser's File menu.
   	After printing, choose Framed Version to return to frames.
   	To leave Practice Scoring, choose Exit. Please note that your scores are not saved between sessions.

Common Problems

I clicked "Get Scoring Guide" and nothing happens.

You probably clicked this button earlier and then returned to the main window, so now the Scoring Guide window is hidden. Clicking the button again should bring the window to the top, but will not if Javascript has been disabled in your browser.

In Netscape, choose Window (or Communicator) from the menu bar and locate the name of the window on the numbered list at the bottom. In Internet Explorer, choose Go from the menu bar, and do the same. This will return the scoring guide to the foreground.




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Practice Scoring for Math
Overview

1. Select a content area and benchmark (grade level), and then choose Score! to continue. At each benchmark (except benchmark 1) you will be asked to solve a task in one of three strands (Algebraic Relationships, Geometry, or Statistics & Probability). We recommend solving the task before proceeding to scoring student samples. Click Score! to begin practice scoring student samples.
   
   
   
   The first paper may take a little while to load because the student-paper graphics are large and most of the navigation graphics are loading at the same time. Subsequent papers should load faster.
   
   The top frame displays the content area, benchmark (grade level), math strand, and the title of the task. Below that is a numbered list of the samples you can practice scoring and the five math dimensions.
   
   
   
   After reviewing the scoring guide, decide what score to assign for a dimension. Click in the box to the left of the dimension and enter the number (1-6); 1, 4, or 5 for Accuracy. You must score at least one dimension, but you needn't score them all. After you've entered your scores, click the Submit button.
   
   
   
   Choosing will bring up the task for that strand in a new window.
   
   There are five-to-seven student papers for each task at each benchmark that you can use to practice scoring. Clicking a dimension name, e.g., , will open another window highlighting the Conceptual Understanding section of the scoring guide. Choosing will also bring up the scoring guide.
   
   
   
   In the enhanced version, summary information for the selected paper will remain in the top frame and the scoring results will be displayed in the bottom frame. In the basic version, all information will be displayed on one page.
   
   
2. Choose to select one of two remaining tasks available in the benchmark you are working. After working one of the two remaining tasks, five-to-seven student samples will be available to score for that strand.
   
   

Common Problems

I clicked "Get Scoring Guide" and nothing happens.

You probably clicked this button earlier and then returned to the main window, so now the scoring guide window is hidden. Clicking the button again should bring the window to the top, but will not if Javascript has been disabled in your browser.

In Netscape, choose Window (or Communicator) from the menu bar and locate the name of the window on the numbered list at the bottom. In Internet Explorer, choose Go from the menu bar, and do the same. This will return the scoring guide to the foreground.




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Practice Scoring for Speaking
Overview

Practice Scoring for Speaking was recently added to the application. We have attempted to adapt the same design conventions as were used for writing and math. Read on to learn some of the highlights for speaking.
Note: In order to view and(or) hear these samples, the free Apple QuickTime player needs to be installed on your system.

1. For speaking, we have given you access to the content in three ways (screen shot below): (1) QuickTime video clip of the entire speech in its original format, adapted for the Internet; (2) by providing only the audio of the speech; and (3) by providing the transcript of the speech. These speeches were made available throughout the state in video format.
   
   
   
   As you can see from the image above, the look and feel is the same as for scoring writing and math samples.
   
   Many of you are familiar with the term "streaming" when referring to media delivered over the Internet.
   
   With streaming media, a Web user does not have to wait to download a large file before seeing the video or hearing the sound. Instead, the media is sent in a continuous stream and is played as it arrives.
   
   We have chosen to create these as quick-start audio and video files. Our main rationale is that once the file is downloaded, the user can play it multiple times in order to improve scoring accuracy. In addition, the delivery will not be hindered by bandwidth availability as it can be when it is continuously delivered from the source.
   
   A Progressive Download (FastStart) is a quasi-streaming strategy, which allows the viewer to watch the video during the downloading process. After a portion of the video downloads, (as indicated by the growing gray bar on the bottom middle), the user can begin to play it from the beginning. The viewer can pause the playback along the way, as the download continues until the whole file has been saved to the viewer's hard disk. The viewer must have adequate hard disk space to receive the video file and must have already installed QuickTime.
   
   Due to the bandwidth requirements of transporting video clips over the Internet, we recommend using the Play Audio option if you plan to use the application at home on a dial-up connection using a modem. In most cases, if you are connecting to the Internet through cable modem or DSL, the video clips should download OK and you can use the Play Video option. Refer to the image to the right to better understand how the control bar and its functions work for playing the audio.
   
   
2. The Play Video option is by far the best way to effectively score each speech and is recommended for use. It will work fine for cable modem and DSL connections at home and should play fine through any school-district network that operates and manages a higher speed Local Area Network. Playback of QuickTime video works the same way as audio playback, only with the addition of a screen above the playback bar, as indicated in the image to the right (shown here half-size).
   
   

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