with students and as they view and discuss with students
their in-process and completed work. Formative assessment
informs instruction: Teachers make adjustments as they
teach, and they plan subsequent lessons based on what
they learned about their students. Research on formative
assessment in writing indicates that writing skill improves
when teachers and peers provide feedback about the
effectiveness of students’ writing, when teachers teach
students how to evaluate and refine their own writing, and
monitor students’ writing progress on an ongoing basis
(Graham, Harris, and Hebert 2011, 6). Formative assessment
of writing can occur a number of ways, including through the
following (Romero 2008):
- Observations of students’ strategies, skills, behaviors,
and apparent dispositions as they write and revise
(keeping anecdotal records) - Inventories in which information about students’ attitudes, self-perceptions, and interests
related to writing are gathered through individual interviews or written surveys - Checklists, completed by the teacher or the writer, in which targeted objectives are highlighted
(“I included concrete details” or “I used precise vocabulary from the discipline”) - Conferences in which the student and the teacher discuss a single or collection of works,
progress toward specific objectives, and goals - Rubrics constructed by the teacher and/or the students and completed by either or both as a
writing project is under development - Portfolios that include a large collection of artifacts selected by the student in consultation with
the teacher and used to identify goals and inform subsequent instruction
The upper elementary grades are the final years before students transition to middle school.
It is imperative that they develop the writing skills in each of the content areas that enable them
to succeed in the next phase of their education. Students who are experiencing difficulty will need
additional attention. Instruction should be clear and systematic with plenty of excellent models and
ample time to practice. Feedback should be immediate and specific. Importantly, motivation should
be kept high, students should find writing purposeful, and they should come to recognize they have
something to say and that it will be valued by others.
This focus on writing is amplified in the CA ELD Standards.
Much of Part I is focused on students examining how successful
writers use particular language resources to convey their ideas
and also on making strategic choices about using language
purposefully in writing for increasingly academic purposes. All
of Part II focuses on enacting understandings of how written
(and spoken) language works: how different text types are
organized, how to make text more cohesive, how to expand
ideas and enrich them, how to connect ideas in logical ways
that create relationships between them, and how to condense
multiple ideas to create precision. These understandings are
critical for successful writing, particularly as ELs complete their
elementary years and enter into secondary schooling. For more on using the CA ELD Standards for
formative assessment of writing, see chapter 8 of this ELA/ELD Framework.
Research on formative
assessment in writing indicates
that writing skill improves
when teachers and peers
provide feedback about the
effectiveness of students’
writing, when teachers teach
students how to evaluate
and refine their own writing,
and monitor students’ writing
progress on an ongoing basis.Importantly, motivation
should be kept high,
students should find writing
purposeful, and they should
come to recognize they
have something to say and
that it will be valued by
others.Grades 4 and 5 Chapter 5 | 409