Practice Scoring - Introduction (OPEN)

Writing

Math

Speaking

Oregon's Educational Act for the 21st Century, passed by the legislature in 1991, calls for schools to hold students accountable for higher learning standards. Academic content standards, benchmarks, and performance standards have been and are being put into place on a phase-in schedule. These standards are changing the face of education in Oregon. Teachers, students, and parents alike need to understand the standards and how these standards effect them. Performance standards particularly present a challenge. Teachers need to be practiced in scoring student work. Scoring needs to be aligned to that of the state-scoring guide, so that the work of a student in one part of the state is scored as nearly as possible on the same basis as that of a student in another part of the state. The primary objective for the creation of this Practice Scoring application is to educate and instruct teachers, parents, and students on the scoring of student work.

Practice Scoring for Writing

In order to meet the benchmarks for the Certificate of Initial Mastery, the Oregon Statewide Assessment System for writing requires students to complete local work samples and the statewide writing assessment. Both demonstrations of student work are scored on a six-point scoring scale for writing, measuring a series of applicable traits. Together, this evidence of student work can demonstrate the breadth and depth of a student's skills and knowledge across multiple modes of writing.

Work samples are assigned and completed at the local level. These work samples are designed to represent the full scope of a student's writing abilities and allow for fewer limitations than the state assessment. Students have the opportunity to receive feedback from others, as well as have access to various resource materials, word processing, and other technology.

The statewide writing assessment represents an "on-demand" performance that is a snapshot of a student's skills and knowledge with a particular prompt. The statewide assessment has certain limitations on length and time, while being independent of teacher and peer input.

The student work in this application comes from the statewide writing assessment, collected from an "on-demand" task. Student work is limited to two pages in length. Unlike some writing from collected work samples, the trait for "citing sources" is not scored.

Adapted from Oregon Statewide Writing Assessment Test Specifications.

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Practice Scoring for Math

In order to meet the benchmarks for the Certificate of Initial Mastery, the Oregon Statewide Assessment System for mathematics problem solving requires students to complete local work samples and the statewide problem-solving assessment. Both demonstrations of student work are scored on a six-point scoring scale, measuring a series of applicable dimensions. Together, this evidence of student work can demonstrate the breadth and depth of a student's skills and knowledge across multiple strands of mathematics.

Work samples are assigned and completed at the local level. They are intended to represent the full scope of a student's problem-solving abilities and allow for fewer limitations than the state assessment. Students have the opportunity to receive feedback from others, as well as be engaged in larger projects.

The statewide mathematics problem-solving assessment represents an "on-demand" performance that is a snapshot of a student's skills and knowledge with a particular task. The statewide assessment has certain limitations on length and time, while being independent of teacher and peer input.

The student work in this application comes from the statewide mathematics problem-solving assessment, collected from an "on-demand" task. Student work is limited to two pages in length.

Mathematics Problem Solving Student Directions:
(Select Either English or Spanish)

English
Español
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Practice Scoring for Speaking

In order to meet the benchmarks for the Certificate of Initial Mastery, the Oregon Statewide Assessment System for speaking requires students to complete local work samples. These work samples are designed to represent the full scope of a student's speaking abilities. These demonstrations of student work are scored on a six-point scoring scale for speaking, measuring a series of applicable traits.

The student speeches and scoring commentary in this application comes from Oregon Speaks: Speaking Training. Videocassette. Oregon Department of Education, 1999.

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