Parents:
ERB testing is coming up in April and we are sending out information in advance as we feel it is important for parents to be informed about our student assessment methods and our program assessment methods. ERB tests do both for us in that we use the results to inform our instruction with individual students and we use the results to evaluate our writing programs at SAS.
What is the ERB Test?
-
It is a tool that evaluates your child’s writing
skills.
-Evaluates skills in six different areas:
1. Overall
Development: how well the writer
communicates with the reader, shows awareness of the audience and purpose for
writing, and writes in the appropriate mode of discourse.
2. Organization: the writer’s ability to choose a focus,
develop a logical plan of organization, and maintain coherence throughout the
paper.
3. Support: the use of appropriate reasons, details, and
examples to enhance the effect and/or support the generalizations and
conclusion of the piece.
4. Sentence Fluency:
Completeness, correctness, and variety or sophistication of sentences.
5. Word Choice: correct usage, specific vocabulary, freshness
and vividness of language.
6. Mechanics: the correct and effective use of spelling,
punctuation, capitalization, and paragraphing.
Schedule
-
Students take the assessment over two consecutive
days for about an hour each day.
-
Students: Think about the prompt, Write, Revise, And
produce a final response to the prompt
-
Final drafts are sent to
-
We hope to have the results back by mid-May.
Mode of Discourse
-
Descriptive Writing:
Descriptive writing portrays people, places, things, moments and theories with
enough vivid detail to help the reader create a mental picture of what is being
written about.
Writing Prompts (these are samples from previous years)
- Describe a person who is or has been important to you. How has this
person been important?
- Write a story about what it would be like to be your favorite
animal. It could be an animal you have had as a pet, or it could be an
animal you have only seen in a zoo or read about.
- Think about something you own that is important to you and that was
not bought in a store. In your composition, describe what the item is and
why it is important to you.
- Your school is starting some new after-school clubs and has asked
you and your classmates for suggestions. Write a composition about one
club you would like the school to offer and why you think it would be good
for the school.
- Scientists discover potential new cures for disease every day. When
they are developing medicines, they need to have some way to test whether
or not the medicine will work for humans. For years, scientists have
tested drugs by using them in various ways on animals. Unfortunately, as a
result of making sure a substance is safe and effective for humans, many
animals are injured or die. How do you think these situations should be
handled? On the one hand, it is bad to make animals suffer, but on the
other hand, scientists need to conduct these experiments to show that the
medicines people use are safe and effective. Take a position on this topic
and write an essay explaining why you feel the way you do about it.
How are the papers
scored?
The papers will be scored on:
Ideas/Content, Organization, Support, Voice, Sentence Structure, Word Choice,
Conventions/Mechanics.
Ideas/Content
As you begin your
paper you generate ideas. Your ideas and content are the reasons for
writing a paper. Every paper should convey a message and be easy to
follow. Some thoughts to get you going:
What is my message and is it focused and
clear?
Did I include important details relevant to
my topic?
Did the reader learn something new?
Is my paper interesting and easy to
understand?
Organization
Organizing your
ideas helps a reader move through your paper in a meaningful way. Here are some
things to keep in mind as you write your paper:
Does my beginning hook my reader?
Is my paper easy to follow? Did I choose the
best way to organize my story?
Do my ideas link to a main message?
Do I have a strong conclusion that wraps up
the story?
Voice
Your voice is what
gives your writing personality, flavor and style.
Questions to think
about as you write your paper:
Can you tell I am enthusiastic about my
topic?
Does this writing sound like me?
How do I want my readers to feel?
Will my story hold readers' attention? Will
they want to hear more?
Sentence Fluency
Fluent writing has
rhythm. Sentences vary in length and structure. It is easy and
pleasurable to read aloud. It is important to think about:
Is my story easy to read?
Do my sentences begin in different ways?
Did I use some long and some short sentences?
Does my paper sound smooth as I read it
aloud?
Word Choice
The specific words
that you choose create images, capture a reader's attention and make your story
memorable.
Look at your paper
and decide:
Have I used some strong verbs or colorful
phrases that grab my reader?
Have I chosen the most precise word?
Have I used any unique words?
Did I repeat common words too many times?
Conventions/Mechanics
You've finished
your first draft. Now it is time to start editing for conventions.
These include spelling, punctuation, grammar, capitalization and
paragraphing. Proper use of conventions make your story easy for others
to read.
To begin editing
ask yourself:
Did I leave spaces between words and sentences?
Did I use a title?
Did I use correct punctuation?
Did I use capital letters in the right
places?
Have I proofread for correct spelling and
grammar?
Have I indented any new paragraphs?
Getting Started
The Writing
Process
Writing is a process that
involves at least four distinct steps: prewriting, drafting, revising, and
editing. It is known as a recursive process. While you are revising, you might
have to return to the prewriting step to develop and expand your ideas.
Prewriting
- Prewriting is anything you do before you write a draft of
your document. It includes thinking, taking notes, talking to others,
brainstorming, outlining, and gathering information (e.g., interviewing
people, researching in the library, assessing data). Students taking the
ERB should first do some prewriting before starting their story.
- Although prewriting is the first activity you engage in,
generating ideas is an activity that occurs throughout the writing
process.
- Drafting occurs when you put your ideas into sentences and
paragraphs. Here you concentrate upon explaining and supporting your ideas
fully. Here you also begin to connect your ideas. Regardless of how much
thinking and planning you do, the process of putting your ideas in words
changes them; often the very words you select evoke additional ideas or
implications.
- Don't pay attention to such things as spelling at this
stage.
- This draft tends to be writer-centered: it is you
telling yourself what you know and think about the topic.
- Revision is the key to effective documents. Here you think
more deeply about your readers' needs and expectations. The document
becomes reader-centered. How much support will each idea need to
convince your readers? Which terms should be defined for these particular
readers? Is your organization effective? Do readers need to know X before
they can understand Y?
- At this stage you also refine your prose, making each
sentence as concise and accurate as possible. Make connections between
ideas explicit and clear.
- Check for such things as grammar, mechanics, and spelling.
The last thing you should do before printing your document is to spell
check it.
- Don't edit your writing until the other steps in the
writing process are complete.
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