About two weeks ago, the state of Florida released its standardized test scores for the 4th grade writing exam this year. It took me back a few years to when I was working with a student who became one of my “favorite” success stories. She was not the best writer when we began working together—we practiced, she wrote, I gave lots of feedback, and she would write again. We eventually got to the point that she was writing decently well according to the scoring guidelines from the state of Florida, but I sometimes wonder what the true benefit of this was.
Students are expected to write a traditional 5 paragraph essay in response to a given prompt. Essays are scored according to rubrics that look for elements such as spelling, grammar, word choice, subject/verb agreement, etc. With a 1 being the worst score possible and a 6 the best, a 3.5 is considered to be “on grade level” and the necessary qualification for promotion to 5th grade. Because the rubrics are quite subjective, scoring is done by at least two examiners and their scores are averaged together. This is the standard method of scoring writing exams and appears in state exams for elementary kids all the way through GRE exams.
When I first met this student, she was bubbly and excited about school… until we got to writing. Usually very enthusiastic about any subject, when it came time to write essays she would grow quiet and withdrawn and I could see some disappointment and frustration in her. She was consistently scoring a 1.5-2 on the practice exams that we worked on and that was likely the source of the problem, though her anxiety over the task may have been her own undoing and the cause of many of her problems. After many examples, practice exercises and lots of encouragement her writing began to improve. I remember clearly the day I was able to hand back a paper to her with a 5 on it… she had come a long way in a few weeks and was very proud of herself, though not as proud as I was… at first.
After a while, I began to think about whether or not our goal was worthwhile. I believe this student scored a 4 or 4.5 on the state exam meaning she not only met, but exceeded the state standard, and showed a vast improvement over when we first began working together. The accomplishment may have been more in her learning how to give the response that was needed for the exam, and not necessarily become a better writer. In viewing the rubric, it is highly subjective, and focuses mostly on the mechanics of the writing, and does not allow for much creativity.
I am sure a case could be made for this style of examination in order to produce “proficient” writers, but the plain truth is I would see these kids years later and they had not truly improved anything about their writing, but their scores; it was still dry, formulaic, and uninspired. The two prompts for the 2009 4th grade exam were:
- “…explain why it is important to follow rules”
- write a story about a day you had off from school
I recall some of my students having trouble coming up with a story. These were kids with active imaginations, but unfortunately they felt constrained by the format they were expected to follow, and knew that if they deviated they could not achieve a sufficient score. Every other activity they had come across in school praised the repeated execution of task, and stifled any sort of creative expression.
This made the writing ingenuine and disconnected. They were not able to write about things they knew, had imagined, or wanted to write about. They were not free to express themselves in a format of writing that suited them. Instead they were restricted to the format dictated by the exam and told that was writing was. (Meanwhile, we were also testing them in reading and showing them books that do not follow the same rules and patterns.) The exam became a test of whether or not the student could write a few loosely connected statements using proper grammar and spelling about a new topic rather than an assessment of progression to using the written word to communicate her or his thoughts effectively.
Despite my feeling about the exam and the task assigned to us, this student became one of my “favorites” because of her great success story. Her confidence soared and I hope that she learned that with some hard work she could improve her skills in any area, but I still have to wonder how much those skills, so disconnected from everything else in her life, will serve her in years to come.
Further Reading
FCAT Writing Rubric – Grade 4 (PDF)
Flickr photo courtesy of ralphunden
I teach an after school science club to 4th and 5th graders. Space is unfortunately limited, so I have the kids fill out an application. The application asked the kids to answer three of the open-ended questions (examples: if you were a scientist, what kind of scientist would you be; what is your idea of the perfect robot).
One of the applications read like the student was writing for a rubric. All of her responses were perfectly worded, but didn't read with any emotion or conviction like some of the messier application. A few of the other applications were scattered thoughts, jokes, and doodles that helped get their points across.
I accepted the latter and help off on the former. I did eventually let her in because she persistently asked me every week for 3 months and I wanted to honor that, not her writing.
I am not a fan of saying that recent innovations such as IM'ing, text messaging, etc. are responsible for the deterioration of writing skills, but I think they must play a part at some level. A much stronger effect is likely from the push to have everything our students easily graded and fit into an objective rubric. Being able to manipulate language effectively, creatively and with emotion is not so easily objectified. Even more disappointing is that the state of Florida seems to think it is because in order to get a 6 a student must demonstrate some of those qualities that are unteachable, and yet they punish the teacher for not doing so effectively.