Grade FCAT Writing for the 8th Grade
If you teach eighth-grade students in Florida, then you have a lot of preparation to do before the FCAT (Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test) in the spring. One way to ready your students for this test is to have them practice using sample writing prompts. When you score these writing samples, use the FCAT rubric so you can show your students how they would do if it had been the real test.
Instructions
1. Determine if the sample is scorable or not. For the FCAT, a student's response is deemed "unscorable" if it meets a variety of criteria, including being unrelated to the prompt, rewording the prompt or the reading sample, plagiarizing a known work or being blank, illegible or in a foreign language. If your student's writing meets any of these criteria, the student will earn a score of "0" on his assignment.
2. Identify the level of topical focus in the piece. In order to earn the highest score on the FCAT writing test (6), a student must demonstrate her understanding of the prompt and focus her writing on the task at hand. She must also "reflect insight into the writing situation," according to the FCAT rubric. Her writing should not only address the prompt thoroughly but it also should move beyond the basics and reflect an ability to think deeply about the topic and write about those thoughts.
If the writing contains "loosely related material," then according to the rubric it would earn a score of 2 or 3. This means that the student attempted to address the prompt but allowed herself to veer off course in her writing, adding in irrelevant information. If she only addresses the topic on a minimal level, she will earn a 1.
3. Analyze the use of supporting evidence or information. The FCAT scores vary according to the student's ability to organize and support his argument thoroughly. This includes providing an organized structure to his paper and selecting proper sentences and word choices to support his argument. If his paper is incoherent or rambles on without organization or structure, he will lose points and earn a lower score.
4. Identify any errors in grammar, spelling, or mechanics. A level-6 paper has very few errors in these categories--preferably none at all. A level-1 paper may be full of errors that cloud the overall meaning of the paper. For every level in between, the number of mistakes a student makes in terms of her vocabulary, grammar or sentence structure can lessen her score.
5. Give your student a score based on the rubric qualifications and explain why he earned that score. The whole point of a practice exercise such as this is to help your students improve their writing before they have to perform on the actual FCAT. Create a checklist of all the rubric categories, and explain to your student where the writing met or didn't meet the criteria on the checklist. Offer suggestions for specific skills to improve for next time.
Tags: your student, your students, address prompt, earn score, FCAT rubric, support argument