|
|
 |
ISTEP+ Holistic Assessment
The Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress-Plus (ISTEP+) measures student achievement in grades 3 through 10. The portion of the test that assesses students' writing is based on a rubric, which is a description of student performance that clearly articulates the requirements for each of the score points. Scoring rubrics are essential because they ensure that all papers are scored objectively. Moreover, because the writing rubrics were developed by Indiana teachers, they represent those characteristics of writing that Indiana educators identify as important.
There are two types of rubrics used to score student writing on ISTEP+:
- Writing Applications Rubric: This six point rubric assesses the students’ ability to communicate their ideas effectively. The Grades 3–5 Writing Applications Rubric has three major categories: (1) Ideas and Content, (2) Organization, and (3) Style. The Grades 6–12 Writing Applications Rubric has four major categories: (1) Ideas and Content, (2) Organization, (3) Style, and (4) Voice. Under each major category there are specific criteria that describe the category more fully.
- Language Conventions Rubric: This four point rubric assesses students’ abilities to use grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling.
Based on the rubrics, each student paper receives two scores, one for Writing Applications and one for Language Conventions. Both of these scores are derived holistically. In holistic scoring, each paper is assigned the score points that provide the best overall description of the performance. In this scoring process, evaluators examine each response as a whole for the body of evidence of writing ability, rather than concentrating on any single factor, such as length of the essay or the number of errors contained in the writing.
Available for Indiana teachers is an interactive tutorial that is a free web based resource for holistic assessment of student writing using the Indiana ISTEP+ rubrics. The user can practice scoring any of over 120 students’ writing samples in a variety of writing genres from grades 3 through 8. Immediately after the practice scores are submitted, a comparison with an “expert’s” score is provided complete with a written rationale for the official scores using the ISTEP+ writing applications and language conventions rubrics. The Writing Site also features downloadable exemplar papers for classroom use, tips for writing instruction, discussion papers concerning issues associated with writing assessment and links to myriad writing resources.
.
For more information on ISTEP+ Holistic Assessment visit:
|
   |
