Kristin Avila

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• Kristin Avila
• Keith Hill
• Earnest Brooks

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TEWL-2Test of Early Written Language

• Wayne Hresko,
• Shelley Herron
• Pamela Peak

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TEWL-2

• Revised in 1996
• Ages 4 to 10
• Cost 170
• 2 Forms each have Basic Writing and Contextual
  Writing subtests
• Pro-Ed

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PURPOSE

• Identifies students who are significantly below
  their peers in academic area of writing,
  identifies strengths and weaknesses, and provides
  direction for instruction.

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Norm Referenced Test

• Norm group consisted of more than 1,400 children
• From 33 states
• Urban and rural residence
• Ages 4 to 10 years old

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3 COMPONENTS

• Global Writing Quotient A composite formed by
  combining the standard scores of the basic
  writing and contextual writing quotient.
• Basic Writing Quotient A measure of a childs
  ability in areas of spelling, capitalization,
  punctuation, sentence construction and
  metacognitive knowledge.
• Contextual Writing Quotient A measure of the
  childs ability to construct a story when
  provided with a picture prompt. Measure areas
  such as story format, cohesion, thematic
  maturity, ideation and story structure.
• The Basic Writing and the Contextual Writing can
  each be given independently.

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Scores and Interpretation

• Types of scores Standard score (m100, SD15),
  NCEs, percentile and age equivalents and subtest
  and global composites
• Reliability Internal consistency reliability is
  .90 and the stability reliability is .90.
  Test-retest exceeds .90
• Validity Construct validity is based on
  correlations with age, cognitive ability,
  achievement and individual test items.
• Contextual Writing portion of the test has a
  detailed scoring guide to assist with scoring.
  For example earn certain amount of points for
  objects from the picture named in the story,
  recognizable words, having a theme, including
  words with 5 or more letters spelled correctly
  and incorrectly, recognizable sentences,
  organization, sequence words used and if the
  story has a purpose.
• Basic writing portion of the test is scored as
  either right or wrong and has a basal of 5.
  Ceiling is based on age. Items in this portion
  include identification of punctuation, knowledge
  of difference among words, sentences and
  paragraphs, spelling and proofreading, copying
  and dictation.
• Handwriting is not scored.

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EXAMINERS

• Should have some formal training in administering
  and interpreting assessment instruments.
• Should be familiar with test and procedures prior
  to administering test.

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TOWL-3

• Publisher
• Pro-ed
• 1996
• Authors
• Donald D. Hammill
• Stephen C. Larson

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TOWL-3

• The TOWL-3 is an 8 subtest battery that measures
  student writing competence, using both easy
  analysis (spontaneous) formats and traditional
  test (contrived) formats.
• The subtests are Contextual Conventions,
  Contextual Language, Story Construction,
  Vocabulary, Spelling, Style, Logical Sequence,
  and Sentence Combining.

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Towl-3

• Age Group 7.6 to 17.11
• Cost - 193.00 (Packet of 25 test forms 47.00)
• Average administration time 90 minutes (No set
  time limit)
• Two Student Response Booklets (Form A B)

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TOWL-3 Formats

• Spontaneous Formats
• Contextual Conventions-measures capitalization,
  punctuation, and spelling
• Contextual Language-measures vocabulary, syntax,
  and grammar
• Story Construction-measures plot, character
  development, and general composition
• Contrived Formats
• Vocabulary-measures word usage
• Spelling-measures ability to form letters into
  words
• Style-measures punctuation and capitalization
• Logical Sentences-measures ability to write
  conceptually sound sentences
• Sentence Combining-measures syntax

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Tester Qualifications

• Examiners who give and interpret the TOWL-3
  should have some formal training in assessment.
• For example College courses or School workshops.
• Most college graduates have the writing skills
  that are needed to score the TOWL-3

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TOWL-3 Norms

• Picked by Census
• Norm Referenced Test
• 2,217 persons 25 states
• Tested the first 6 months of 1995
• 4 Regions
• Northeast New York
• North Central Nebraska
• South Texas
• West California

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TOWL-3 Norms

• Male 49
• Female 51
• Race White 80, Black 13 other 7
• Ethnicities Native American, Hispanic, Asian,
  African American

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TOWL-3 Reliability

• Minimal reliability .80 or above
• .90 or above is considered desirable
• All subtests were at .80 or higher except
  oneContextual Conversation - .70

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Towl-3 Validity

• Three demonstrations of Content Validity
• Describes the rational for each subtests content
  and format.
• The validity of the items is empirically
  demonstrated by the results of classical item
  analysis procedures that were used during the
  developmental stages of the tests construction
  to choose items.
• The validity of items is reinforced by the
  results of differential item functioning analysis
  used to show the absence of bias and that tests
  item

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TOWL-3 Test Bias

• Inclusion of Targeted Demographic Groups
• The TOWL-3 normative sample is representative
  relative to gender, race, social class, and
  disabled groups. Experts consider this to be
  evidence of an unbiased test.

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TOWL-3 Test Bias

• Two accepted statistical procedures for detecting
  item bias were applied to the TOWL-3 items
• (a) The three-parameter item response theory
  approach
• (b) The Delta score approach

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General Administration and Scoring Procedures

• No Basel
• Ceiling 3 misses in a row
• No test time limit
• 5 types of scores
• 1.) Raw scores
• 2.) Age and Grade equivalent
• 3.) Percentile
• 4.) Subtest standard score
• 5.) Composite quotients