[Ohiogift] The Three Percent

Mon Sep 17 17:18:28 EDT 2012

150 years ago today. . .
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/09/17/antietam-150th-prompts-reflection-on-lo
ss-freedom428853/ 

Edward A. Hawks, III, M.Ed.

  _____  

Gifted Intervention Specialist | Exceptional Student Education

Kent City School District

  _____  

What he seemed, he was-a wholly human gentleman, the 

essential elements of whose positive character were two and 

only two, simplicity and spirituality." 

(Douglas Southall Freeman on Robert E. Lee)

From: ohiogift-bounces at lists.service.ohio-state.edu
[mailto:ohiogift-bounces at lists.service.ohio-state.edu] On Behalf Of Will
Fitzhugh
Sent: Monday, September 17, 2012 7:59 AM
To: ohiogift at lists.service.ohio-state.edu
Subject: [Ohiogift] The Three Percent

The Boston Globe

Saturday, September 15, 2012

The Nation

Most students not proficient in writing, test finds

2011 results are first for students using computers

by Christine Armario, Associated Press

           Just a quarter of eighth and 12th grade students in the United
States have solid writing skills, even when allowed to use spell-check and
other computer word-processing tools, according to results of a national
exam [NAEP} released Friday.

           Twenty-seven percent of students at each grade level were able to
write essays that were well-developed, organized, and had proper language
and grammar-3 percent were advanced and 24 percent were proficient. The
remainder showed just partial mastery of these skills.

           "It is important to remember this is first draft writing," said
Cornelia Orr, executive director of the National Assessment Governing Board,
which administers the Nation's Report Card tests. "They did have some time
to edit, but it wasn't extensive editing."

           Students who took the writing test in 2011 had an advantage that
previous test takers did not: a computer with spell-check and thesaurus.
Previously, students taking the National Assessment of Educational Progress
writing test had to use pencil and paper, but with changes in technology,
and the need to write across electronic formats, the decision was made to
switch to computers.

           Orr said students use technology and tools like spell-check on a
daily basis. "It's as if we had given them a pencil to write the essay and
took away the eraser," she said. 

           She said word processing tools alone wouldn't result in
significantly better writing scores if students didn't have the core skills
of being able to organize ideas and present them in a clear and grammatical
fashion.

           Still, students in both grades who used the thesaurus and the
backspace more frequently had higher scores than those who used them less
often. Students in the 12th grade who had to write four or five pages a week
for English homework also had higher scores.

           Because this was the first version of the computerized test, the
board cautioned against comparing the results to previous exams. In 2007, 33
percent of eighth grade students scored at the proficient level, which
represents solid writing skills, as did 24 percent at grade 12.

           The results at both grade levels showed a continued achievement
gap between white, black, Hispanic, and Asian students.

           There was also a gender gap, with girls scoring 20 points higher
on average than boys in the eighth grade and 14 points higher in 12th grade.
Those who qualified for free and reduced price lunch, a key indicator of
poverty, also had lower scores than those who did not; there was a 27 point
difference between the two at the eighth grade.

           For the 2011 exam, laptops were brought into public and private
schools across the country and more than 50,000 students were tested to get
a nationally representative sample. Students were given prompts that
required them to write essays that explained, persuaded, or conveyed an
experience.

           Kathleen Blake Yancey, a professor at Florida State University
who served on the advisory panel for the test, said one factor is that
research show most students in the United States don't compose at the
keyboard.

           "What they do is sort of type already written documents into the
machine, much as we used to do with typewriters four decades ago," she said.

           Yancey said for this reason there was some concern about having
students write on the computer as opposed to by hand.

           Likewise, having the advantage of spell-check assumes student
know how to use it. And in some schools and neighborhoods, computers are
still not easily accessible.

           "There are not so many students that actually learn to write
composing at the keyboard," she said.

           Yancey added that many students who do have access to computers
are not necessarily using them to write at school, but to take standardized
tests and filling in bubbles.

           "Digital technology is a technology," she said. "Paper and pencil
is a technology. If technology were the answer, that would be pretty
simple."

------------------------

"Teach by Example"

Will Fitzhugh [founder]

The Concord Review [1987]

Ralph Waldo Emerson Prizes [1995]

National Writing Board [1998]

TCR Institute [2002]

730 Boston Post Road, Suite 24

Sudbury, Massachusetts 01776-3371 USA

978-443-0022; 800-331-5007

www.tcr.org <http://www.tcr.org/> ; fitzhugh at tcr.org

Varsity AcademicsR

www.tcr.org/blog

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