Charting the Course: Effective Instruction Using STAAR as a Guide

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Charting the Course Effective Instruction
Using STAAR as a Guide

• RRISD ELA/R Job-Alike
• 2011-2012
• with slides and excerpts from TEA

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Now That We Know Where Were Going. . .

• New Directions 2010-2011

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. . . How Do We Get There?
Charting the Course 2011-2012
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Takeoff-Touchdown

1. Presenter makes a statement
2. Participants to whom the statement applies stand
   up (Takeoff)
3. Those to whom statement does NOT apply remain
   seated
4. Presenter makes the next statement. If statement
   does not apply, standing participants sit
   (Touchdown) if statement applies, Takeoff!

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Takeoff-Touchdown

• Years of Service First Year Teachers New to
  Round Rock ISD Twenty years of teaching or more
• Summer plans Vacation in US Vacation out of the
  US Staycation Taught summer school Took
  summer classes of some sort
• Reading Teachers Middle School Teachers, High
  School English Teachers English I Teachers
  Members of the Writing Leadership Cohort

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Objectives Today

• To become familiar with the new English STAAR
  Assessments for Grades 6-11
• Overview and assessment logistics
• Content of assessments
• Examine changes in the ARRC and implications for
  instruction (brief)

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STATE OF TEXAS ASSESSMENTS OF ACADEMIC READINESS
(STAAR)Grades 3-8 ReadingGrades 4 and 7
WritingEnglish I, II, and III
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Assessment DesignSTAAR 3-8 and High School

• Linked to college and career readiness
• TEKS eligible for assessment split into two
  categories
• readiness standards, defined as those TEKS
  considered necessary for success in the current
  grade/course and important for preparedness in
  the grade/course that follows
• supporting standards, defined as those TEKS which
  are important to teach but which will receive
  less emphasis by being assessed across
  years/administrations

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English I, II, and III

• Advanced high school course readiness measure for
  English I and II
• College and career readiness measure for English
  III
• Scores are reported separately for reading and
  writing
• Students retest only in the section they fail

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Reading Test DesignGrades 3-8 and High School

• Genre-based
• Literary strand fiction, literary nonfiction,
  poetry, and drama (drama beginning at grade 4)
• Informational strand expository and persuasive
  (persuasive beginning at grade 5)
• Fiction and expository reading are considered
  readiness genres from grade 3 though high school
• Literary nonfiction, poetry, drama, and
  persuasive reading are considered supporting
  genres
• Procedural elements embedded in informational
  pieces and media literacy embedded in either
  literary or informational pieces

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Reading Test DesignGrades 3-8 and High School

• Test Length
• Word count attached to overall test rather than
  to individual pieces (as in TAKS)
• Maximum word count increases from grade to grade
  but is consistent at high school
• Number of pieces included on a test can vary from
  year to year, dependent on length
• Different numbers of questions attached to
  different-length pieces

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Reading Test DesignGrades 3-8 and High School

• Paired selections mix strands and genres
• Literary-Literary (e.g. fiction-poetry, literary
  nonfiction-drama, fiction-literary nonfiction
• Informational-Informational (e.g. expository
  -expository, expository-persuasive)
• Literary -Informational (e.g. fiction-expository,
  poetry-expository, literary nonfiction-persuasive)

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Reading Test Design

• STAAR reading assessments will emphasize
  students ability
• to understand how to use text evidence to confirm
  the validity of their ideas
• to make connections within and across texts
  (across texts begins at grade 4)
• to think critically/inferentially
• to go beyond a literal understanding of what
  they read

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Student Success in Readingand on STAAR

• Students must be provided in-depth instruction in
  all genres represented by the ELA/R TEKS
• Equal weight must be given to fiction and
  expository genres at elementary, middle, and high
  school

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Turn and Talk

• Do you currently place a balanced emphasis on
  literary (including literary nonfiction) and
  informational genres? What are some of the
  advantages of such a balanced approach?

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Student Success in Readingand on STAAR

• Instruction must emphasize critical/ inferential
  thinking rather than isolated skills
• Students must be able to make connections between
  different genres (and be able to see the
  thematic links)

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Reading SuccessAssessing Details

• Details in literary texts in grades 3-5 only
  they must be significant and support the
  development of the plot, characters, or main
  idea/theme
• Details in expository texts in grades 3-8 they
  must be significant and support the development
  of the main idea
• No details assessed at any grade for persuasive
  texts, and no details assessed for any type of
  text at high school

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Think-Ink-Pair-Share (TIPS)

• STAAR treats knowledge of details quite
  differently than some traditional assessments.
  How will this affect your assessment? How will it
  affect you instruction?

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Reading SuccessAssessing Details

• Details in literary texts in grades 3-5 only
  they must be significant and support the
  development of the plot, characters, or main
  idea/theme
• Details in expository texts in grades 3-8 they
  must be significant and support the development
  of the main idea
• No details assessed at any grade for persuasive
  texts, and no details assessed for any type of
  text at high school

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Reading SuccessAssessing Poetry

• Varying types of poems being developed for STAAR,
  but the emphasis not on identification (what
  type)
• Focus is on how poet creates meaning
• At middle and high school, how speakers point of
  view or perspective affects meaning

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Reading SuccessAssessing Drama

• Limited number of characters
• Mostly excerpts being used in text - one or two
  scenes
• Focus is on how the playwright creates meaning
  through the dialogue - interaction between and
  among characters
• Questions about stage directions are focused on
  their purpose why they are there and how they
  influence the way the reader reads the scene

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STAAR Reading Rubrics (HS)Text Evidence for the
Short Answer

• Students must know that text evidence is always
  flawed when it is
• only a general reference to the text
• too partial to support the idea
• weakly linked to the idea
• used inappropriately because it wrongly
  manipulates the meaning of the text
• Students must know that to score a 2 or 3 on
  short answer reading (HS), text evidence must be
  considered accurate and relevant (SP 2) or
  specific and well chosen (SP 3)

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Writing Test DesignGrades 4 and 7 and High School

• Assessments at grades 4 and 7 administered over
  two days
• Writing component of English I, II, and III
  administered on Day 1 of test (with reading
  component on Day 2)
• Field tests embedded for grade 7 and English I,
  II, and III

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STAAR Writing DesignRevising and Editing

• Revision and editing assessed separately, with
  increased focus on revision as students become
  more experienced and skilled writers
• For Grade 4, 32 of multiple-choice score from
  revision (9 items) and 68 of score from editing
  (19 items)
• For Grade 7, 40 of multiple-choice score from
  revision (16 items) and 60 of score from editing
  (24 items)
• For English I, II, and III, 50 of
  multiple-choice score from revision (15 items)
  and 50 of score from editing (15 items)

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Revision and EditingGrades 4 and 7

• Example of Grade 4 Revision Stem
• Eddie would like to improve his story by
  adding a strong concluding sentence after
  sentence 27. Which of these would be the BEST
  sentence to add?
• Example of Grade 7 Revision Stem
• The transition between the third paragraph
  (sentences 1319) and the fourth paragraph
  (sentences 2025) is abrupt. Which sentence could
  Gina add before sentence 20 to help with this
  transition?

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Revision and EditingEnglish I, II, and III

• Examples of high school revision questions
• Raul wants to more effectively establish the
  thesis in his paper. Which revision of sentence 5
  can help him accomplish his goal?
• Tina wants to strengthen the transition between
  the second and third paragraphs. What sentence
  should she add before sentence 10? (beginning of
  paragraph 3)

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STAAR Written Composition

• Students will write two one-page essays (26 lines
  maximum) addressing different types of writing. A
  third essay will be included as a field test
  item.
• Grade 4 - personal narrative and expository
• Grade 7 - personal narrative (with extension) and
  expository
• English I - literary and expository
• English II - expository and persuasive
• English III - persuasive and analytic
• Essays will be weighted equally
• No gatekeeper (automatic fail of the writing
  test for a 1)

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Turn and Talk

• Working with a partner, brainstorm how you can
  help students apply their writing skills to the
  challenges of a twenty-six line essay.

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STAAR Writing Prompts

• Expository, persuasive, and analytic prompts
  contain a stimulus and are scaffolded
• Read, Think, Write, Be Sure to
• Personal narrative (Grades 4 and 7) and literary
  prompts (English I) contain a stimulus and are
  scaffolded, though less so than other prompts
• Analytic prompts (English III) contain a literary
  or informational text (approximately 425-500
  words), which students must analyze

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STAAR Analytic Essay (being college ready!)

• A combination of expository writing and
  interpretation of one aspect of a literary or
  expository text
• Score is based on the students ability to
  interpret the text and support it with relevant
  textual evidence (TEKS 15C) AND quality of the
  writing (criteria under expository writing in
  TEKS 15A)

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STAAR Writing Rubrics

• A rubric is being developed for each writing
  type, but three overarching aspects of writing
  are addressed in all rubrics (only English I have
  been released)
• Organization/Progression
• Development of Ideas
• Use of Language/Conventions

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Swap Talk

1. Participants each create a card with information
   to share.
2. Participants StandUp-HandUp-PairUp.
3. Each participant shares her/his information with
   a partner.
4. Participants swap cards, thank their partners,
   and put a hand up to find a new partner.
5. Each partner shares new card info with new
   partner and repeats process.

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Swap Talk

• On your card, please write down what you think is
  the most interesting or salient fact you have
  learned, today or recently, about STAAR.
• While sharing and swapping this fact with others,
  please feel free to express your opinion about
  how this fact might impact teaching and learning
  in the RRISD ELA/R classroom.
• Dont forget to thank your partner!

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Teach students to read, write, and think. . .
. . . teach the TEKS!
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TEA STAAR Resources

• Currently available at
• http//www.tea.state.tx.us/student.assessment/staa
  r/
• General information about STAAR
• Assessed curriculum
• Test blueprints and test design schematics
• Literary and expository rubrics for English I
• Short answer reading rubrics for single selection
  and pair (called connecting selections) for
  English I

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TEA STAAR Resources

• Coming in fall 2011 (August/September)
• Mini scoring guidesEnglish I literary and
  expository writing
• Sample selections and itemsreading and writing

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TEA ELA/Reading Listserv

• Join the ELA/Reading Listserv by visiting
• http//miller.tea.state.tx.us/list/
• (Select ELA-Reading)

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CONTACT INFORMATION

• Caron Sharp, NBCT
• Lead Secondary English Language Arts Specialist
• [phone]
• caron_sharp_at_roundrockisd.org
• Randa Ruiz
• Secondary English Language Arts and Reading
  Instructional Coach, Certified Cognitive Coach
• [phone]
• randa_ruiz_at_roundrockisd.org
• Matt Dearmon
• Secondary English Language Arts and Reading
  Instructional Coach, SIM Professional Developer,
  and MAP Coordinator
• [phone]
• matt_dearmon_at_roundrockisd.org