Text-Based Writing Prompts:

Administration and Scoring Guidelines

Teacher Directions:

Students will read a stimulus about a single topic. A stimulus consists of several texts written on a

single topic. The stimulus may include informational or literary fiction or nonfiction texts and can

cover a wide array of topics. After reading the stimulus, the students will respond to a writing

prompt in which they will provide information on a topic, develop a narrative, or take a stance to

support an opinion or argument. Students will be required to synthesize information from the text

sets and must cite specific evidence from the texts to support their ideas. Students’

informative/explanatory responses should demonstrate a developed and supported controlling

idea. Students’ opinion/argumentative responses should support an opinion/argument using ideas

presented in the stimulus. Students will have 120 minutes to read the passages, and plan, write,

revise and edit their essay. Students should read the prompt first. They should be encouraged

to highlight, underline, and take notes to support the planning process.

Scoring:

The attached text-based rubric should be used to score student responses. While the total possible

points on the rubric is ten, it is recommended that three individual scores be given—one score for

each of the three domains on the rubric. This will allow the teacher to determine specific areas of

need within individual student responses, thus allowing for differentiation in the writing instruction

that follows these formative writing tasks. The three domains are: Purpose, Focus, Organization

(PFO), Evidence and Elaboration (EE), and Conventions of Standard English (CSE). Teachers

should score holistically within each domain—PFO (4-points), EE (4-points), and CSE (2-points).

Each level of scoring within a domain is based on the overarching statement for the score found in

the rubric. For example, on the grades 6-11 rubric for argumentation, the overarching statement

for a score of 4 in the Purpose, Focus, Organization domain is, “The response is fully sustained

and consistently focused within the purpose, audience, and task; and it has a clear and effective

organizational structure creating coherence and completeness.” The bulleted points that follow the

statement must be considered as factors in the scoring, but should not be utilized as a checklist.

Most, but not all, of the bulleted points will be evident in the student writing for a score at a specific

level.

Teachers should keep in mind that a score of 3 on the rubric for a domain signals student

proficiency in the addressed writing standard with a score of 4 representing mastery. In the CSE

domain, a score of two represents student proficiency in the standard.

Eighth Grade: Argumentative Prompt Set 3

Write an argumentative essay justifying whether or not class size has an impact on education. Support your claim using evidence from the texts.

Manage your time carefully so that you can:

Read the passages

Plan your essay

Write your essay

Revise and edit your essay

Be sure to:

Include a claim

Address counterclaims

Use evidence from multiple sources

Avoid overly relying on one source

Your written response should be in the form of a multi-paragraph essay. Remember to spend time

reading, planning, writing, revising, and editing.

Does class size matter? By Rose Arce, CNN New York’s Forest Hills High School comes alive at 7:30 in the morning when students swarm in to start their day. But there are so many students, that the school has created a second shift at 8:30 and a third at 10:30 a.m. By the time the last students arrive, the first are already having a very early lunch. That’s just one solution schools around the country have found to the vexing problem of overcrowding. In schools across the country, trailers line parking lots and athletic fields, extracurricular programs and arts classes are vanishing and gym classes, which have higher size limits, are packed. The schools have lost nearly a quarter million teachers since 2008 because of budget cuts, and the long-lingering aftermath of the recession continues to bite. “Overcrowding means students don’t get the attention they need from their teachers, they just don’t. They don’t learn as much, they withdraw, they become disruptive, some drop out,” said Leonie Haimson, a parent who runs Class Size Matters, a group advocating for better student-teacher ratios. “Parents and teachers know they can’t do their best in classes of 30 or more.” At Forest Hills, a school built for 1,400, is housing nearly 4,000. The building is a showcase for the New York public schools, nestled in a very diverse middle class community in Queens that has big houses. Its vast football field and towering ceilings mask an overcrowding situation that has some of the biggest class sizes in the city. Principal Saul Gootnick shrugs off concerns that academics could suffer. “The city of New York says there is a maximum of 34 students in every class, so there are 34 students in this class,” the fast-talking social studies teacher says as he walks through one history classroom. “There are no oversized classes in this building. We work with the United Federation of Teachers, and we see to it that every class is in compliance, 34 is a very manageable number, depending on you know, the needs of each and every student and how you handle every student. “The motto of Forest Hills High School is, it all begins and ends in a classroom, and the job of the teacher is to know who the students are, what their needs are, what the focus is and we did this.” Across the country, students are packed in Nationwide, there are many schools bursting at the seams. Leonie Haimson points to a National Center for Education Statistics study that says about 14% of all schools are exceeding capacity, and 8% are overcrowding their building size by more than 25%. A study done by UCLA concluded that one out of three California students were being educated in overcrowded schools.

South Gate Middle School in Los Angeles had 4,200 children in a building meant for 800. To complicate matters, more than half of the children in California’s overcrowded schools were non-English speaking kids trying to master a new language. The only schools with more severe overcrowding were in Utah, the nation’s fastest-growing state with a high birth rate. It also has some of the least money per pupil. That’s one consequence, in part, of having so many children per tax-paying adult. At Truman Elementary, outside Salt Lake City, there are several families with multiple kids just a year apart. They have plenty of space in the classroom but not enough teachers to go around. In nearby Taylorsville, the elementary school has kids in three trailers because a school built for 500 children has 740. “We have special education and reading sharing space,” said administrator John Randell. “We have a gym that’s a multipurpose room with a stage. The stage is a parent’s center and music class for band and orchestra. We have to schedule around physical education. Lunch starts at 11:30 and goes until 1:15.” The school is also half Hispanic, with many immigrants needing language instruction, something teachers find challenging with so many children. Howard Driggs Elementary, also outside Salt Lake City, has a cart in place of an art room and uses a multipurpose room for gym. The heart of the matter: Student-teacher ratios As the discussion over quality schools has shifted focus to charter schools, testing and better teaching, advocates such as Haimson say they have become a smokescreen covering up the biggest issue for parents: rising teacher-student ratios. “I don’t know that there has ever been a study that didn’t show that class size doesn’t matter,” she said. “In every survey of parents and teachers, this is what they care the most about.” But the discussion is shifting. When New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg was campaigning for his job, he promised smaller class sizes because he believed they would improve learning. As recently as early December, he was singing a different tune, telling students at MIT that “double the class size with a better teacher is a good deal for students” and accusing unions of driving down their own salaries by pushing for smaller classes. Dennis Walcott, chancellor of New York City schools, has said class size is important but that effective teaching is more important. New York, with its 1 million students, has the largest school system in the country. This year, the United Federation of Teachers, New York’s teachers union, did an annual survey of how many children were in each classroom. They found that 7,000 classrooms exceeded the limits of what they deemed acceptable for proper learning. “Budget cuts have a human cost,” said UFT President Michael Mulgrew.

Mulgrew estimates that 91% of New York schools have lost resources because of budget cuts, everything from teachers to textbooks. Nearly two-thirds of the schools have cut back on instructional supplies directly related to learning, 60% of schools have reduced after-school programs and half have fewer tutoring and extracurricular activities. The UFT’s contract specifies that class size limits be 25 for kindergarten, 32 for grades 1 to 6 and 33 for middle school and 34 for high school. AT PS1, a school in downtown Manhattan with many Chinatown students, there is one kindergarten class with 32 kids, according to the PTA. “Because the great majority of our students do not speak English at home, our school prided itself on keeping class sizes as low as possible,” said union leader Christine Wong, a playground filled to capacity behind her. An experiment that pays off One experiment in recent years underscores how relevant class size can be to performance. San Diego used stimulus dollars to reduce class sizes in its 30 poorest districts to 16 students in kindergarten through second grade. The result was a rise in test scores from 45% to 56% proficient in English. California’s schools now face steep budget cuts that would reduce the number of teachers and therefore increase class sizes. Reducing class size is “one of four educational reforms that the Institute of Education Science says have been proven to work,” said Haimson. “That’s the research arm of the Department of Education.” The students at Forest Hills High School have the benefit of smart boards, paid for by dollars their principal solicited from local leaders. Gootnick has also found space for art, music, drama and extracurricular activities by taking over the attic, basement and even a steeple that houses the clock. He has broken the school up into academies and makes attending the prom contingent on coming to class. Despite being one of the most overcrowded schools in the city,Forest Hills was rated an A by the Department of Education. “We have an 87% graduation rate; we have 97% of those kids going to college. We make it so, that we make it as pleasant as possible,” he said. He has earned high praise from students and unionized teachers for his efforts. Santiago Gomez, a senior, says, “during periods 6 and 7 you definitely feel it, I mean walking down the halls, and it’s very claustrophobic. I think the way we do it's great because kids still learn from each other.” Even while praising Gootnick’s progress, Eddy Mesidor, UFT representative for Forest Hills, laments that the overcrowding at the school is the worst he’s seen in 20 years. “If we have different students at different levels in the same classroom and there are so many of them during the span of time ... It is quite difficult to reach out to each one of them.”

Everyone knows students learn more in smaller classes, or do they?

It seems obvious that giving teachers fewer students to teach is a change that makes sense.

Students should get more individual attention and perform better.

The idea is popular with parents and lawmakers alike. In fact, at least 40 states have cut class

sizes in the past 15 years.

But despite more than four 40 years of research, it has been hard to measure the results of

reducing class sizes.

Researchers generally agree that smaller classes are linked to educational benefits, at least for the

earlier grades. Among the positives are better test scores, fewer dropouts and higher graduation

rates, especially for poorer children.

Who Benefits Most? They disagree, however, on whether those benefits outweigh the costs. Lowering class sizes

means hiring more teachers, which many states feel they can't afford right now.

In recent years, researchers have been trying to figure out why smaller class size works and who

benefits most.

The answers would help show what else can be done besides just shrinking classes to get the best

results for the money.

The studies were based on classroom observations and interviews. They have revealed some

surprising information.

The most persuasive class-size research in the United States comes from a large experiment in

Tennessee. Students in small classes there outperformed students in larger groups.

A Tale Of Two States Project STAR was conducted in Tennessee from 1985 to 1989. The study involved more than

1,200 teachers and almost 12,000 students, according to Jeremy Finn, a professor at the

University of Buffalo who helped set up the experiment.

The Tennessee results inspired California and Wisconsin to cut class sizes statewide in lower

grades in 1996. Back then state governments had extra money to hire teachers.

Wisconsin's smaller classes benefited students. California seemed not to as much. Some people

said California hired inexperienced teachers and didn't have enough space for the smaller classes.

The different results showed that simply making classes smaller is not enough.

In 2003, Finn wrote a paper that identified a big hole in the puzzle. It said that many studies

show positive effects. Still, research has yet to show a specific reason that makes small classes

work.

I Saw That! People thought that teachers gave students more individualized instruction in smaller classrooms.

However, observers did not actually see this happen.

Several studies have found that teachers teach the same way they always have, even with smaller

class sizes.

Finn and his coworkers proposed a different explanation: Students behave better and get more

involved when they can’t hide in the back of the classroom.

He saw the change himself visiting classrooms in Buffalo.

“In a big class, everybody in the back of the room is talking and giggling, and the little kids are

throwing things at each other,” Finn said. “But in a small class, the first thing a teacher says is

‘Let’s all bring our chairs around me here in a circle.’”

Smaller, quieter classes (fewer than 20 students) may have their biggest effect on kids who are

inattentive and try to avoid looking the teacher in the eye. The reason is they can’t hide.

Making It Work Finn compared the performance of fourth-graders considered to be disruptive, inattentive or

neither. He used information from Project STAR to do this.

“Most people I talk to predict that the disruptive kids are the worst, but they’re not. The

inattentive, withdrawn kids are by far and away poorer students than all the others,” Finn said.

But wouldn't smaller class sizes work even better if teachers and principals changed what they’re

doing, too?

That’s the question Elizabeth Graue and her coworkers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

have been studying at schools involved in a project called SAGE.

The SAGE program began in 1996 and has studied almost 500 schools around the state.

Graue and her team found big differences among the schools.

Better Training, More Space For example, sometimes schools would put two experienced teachers in the same room, which

lowered the class size on paper.

But in practice, one teacher might be doing paperwork while the other was teaching all the kids.

Then the class size had really gone up for those kids.

Small classes also did not work as well if teachers lacked enough physical space to teach in.

“We saw classes that were in former locker rooms,” Graue said. “I don’t know how many

classrooms I saw where they used a row of bookcases as a wall ... and anytime the other class did

anything noisy, everything ground to a halt in the class next door.”

Smaller classes worked best when teachers were trained in how to better tailor instruction to each

student’s needs and spent more time getting to know their students’ families.

“Class-size reduction alone will only get fewer children in a class,” Graue said. “It doesn’t

translate directly to a change in achievement.”

UPDATED OCTOBER 2014

FINAL

English Language Arts

Text-based Writing Rubrics

Grades 6–11: Argumentation

FINAL ELA Text-based Writing Rubrics, Grades 6–11: Argumentation Florida Standards Assessments

1 UPDATED OCTOBER 2014

Grades 6–11 Argumentation Text-based Writing Rubric

(Score points within each domain include most of the characteristics below.)

Score Purpose, Focus, and Organization (4-point Rubric)

Evidence and Elaboration (4-point Rubric)

Conventions of Standard English (2-point Rubric begins at score

point 2)

4 The response is fully sustained and consistently focused within the purpose, audience, and task; and it has a clear claim and effective organizational structure creating coherence and completeness. The response includes most of the following:

Strongly maintained claim with little or no loosely related material

Clearly addressed alternate or opposing claims*

Skillful use of a variety of transitional strategies to clarify the relationships between and among ideas

Logical progression of ideas from beginning to end with a satisfying introduction and conclusion

Appropriate style and tone established and maintained

The response provides thorough, convincing, and credible support, citing evidence for the writer’s claim that includes the effective use of sources, facts, and details. The response includes most of the following:

Smoothly integrated, thorough, and relevant evidence, including precise references to sources

Effective use of a variety of elaborative techniques to support the claim, demonstrating an understanding of the topic and text

Clear and effective expression of ideas, using precise language

Academic and domain-specific vocabulary clearly appropriate for the audience and purpose

Varied sentence structure, demonstrating language facility

3 The response is adequately sustained and generally focused within the purpose, audience, and task; and it has a clear claim and evident organizational structure with a sense of completeness. The response includes most of the following:

Maintained claim, though some loosely related material may be present

Alternate or opposing claims included but may not be completely addressed*

Adequate use of a variety of transitional strategies to clarify the relationships between and among ideas

Adequate progression of ideas from beginning to end with a sufficient introduction and conclusion

Appropriate style and tone established

The response provides adequate support, citing evidence for the writer’s claim that includes the use of sources, facts, and details. The response includes most of the following:

Generally integrated and relevant evidence from sources, though references may be general or imprecise

Adequate use of some elaborative techniques

Adequate expression of ideas, employing a mix of precise and general language

Domain-specific vocabulary generally appropriate for the audience and purpose

Some variation in sentence structure

Continued on the following page

FINAL ELA Text-based Writing Rubrics, Grades 6–11: Argumentation Florida Standards Assessments

2 UPDATED OCTOBER 2014

Score Purpose, Focus, and Organization

(4-point Rubric) Evidence and Elaboration

(4-point Rubric) Conventions of Standard English

(2-point Rubric)

2 The response is somewhat sustained within the purpose, audience, and task but may include loosely related or extraneous material; and it may have a claim with an inconsistent organizational structure. The response may include the following:

Focused claim but insufficiently sustained or unclear

Insufficiently addressed alternate or opposing claims*

Inconsistent use of transitional strategies with little variety

Uneven progression of ideas from beginning to end with an inadequate introduction or conclusion

The response provides uneven, cursory support/evidence for the writer’s claim that includes partial use of sources, facts, and details. The response may include the following:

Weakly integrated evidence from sources; erratic or irrelevant references or citations

Repetitive or ineffective use of elaborative techniques

Imprecise or simplistic expression of ideas

Some use of inappropriate domain-specific vocabulary

Most sentences limited to simple constructions

The response demonstrates an adequate command of basic conventions. The response may include the following:

Some minor errors in usage but no patterns of errors

Adequate use of punctuation, capitalization, sentence formation, and spelling

1 The response is related to the topic but may demonstrate little or no awareness of the purpose, audience, and task; and it may have no discernible claim and little or no discernible organizational structure. The response may include the following:

Absent, confusing, or ambiguous claim

Missing alternate or opposing claims*

Few or no transitional strategies

Frequent extraneous ideas that impede understanding

Too brief to demonstrate knowledge of focus or organization

The response provides minimal support/evidence for the writer’s claim, including little if any use of sources, facts, and details. The response may include the following:

Minimal, absent, erroneous, or irrelevant evidence or citations from the source material

Expression of ideas that is vague, unclear, or confusing

Limited and often inappropriate language or domain-specific vocabulary

Sentences limited to simple constructions

The response demonstrates a partial command of basic conventions. The response may include the following:

Various errors in usage

Inconsistent use of correct punctuation, capitalization, sentence formation, and spelling

0 The response demonstrates a lack of command of conventions, with frequent and severe errors often obscuring meaning.

*Not applicable at grade 6