Ninth Grade District Assessments

Writing Assessments – Persuasive Writing – Fall & Spring

 Format & Tasks

Student writes for 30 minutes in response to a written prompt also read by the teacher. The teacher scores this writing using the Newark’s Diagnostic Writing Rubric. A rubric score of 4 out of a possible 6 is expected in the 9^th grade. Review class data sheet for all students to see if selected student scores above/below benchmark and how they perform compared to classmates.

Instructional Implications

In addition to the overall rubric score we should note the criteria skills that were and were not exhibited from Newark’s Diagnostic Writing rubric, which focuses in on the composition’s “introduction”, “body”, and “closing”. This analysis can guide instruction, including setting goals and addressing weaknesses. In this endeavor, we can also note the following skills from NJDOE’s rubric:

1.   Content / Organization - communicates intended message to intended audience; relates to topic; opening and closing; focused; logical progression of ideas; transitions; & appropriate details and information

2.   Usage - tense formation; subject-verb agreement; pronouns usage/ agreement; word choice/meaning; & proper modifiers)

3.   Sentence Construction - variety of type, structures, and length; & correct construction

4.   Mechanics – spelling, punctuation, & capitalization

In addition, NJDOE’s Editing & Revising Rubric, Author’s Self Reporting Form, as well as Cumulative Progress Indicators can be utilized to identify strengths and weaknesses to be addressed with lesson plans, school-based intervention teams, & IEP programs & services, and integrated into special education evaluations and reports, as well as IEPs (e.g., PLAAFP Statements, Goals & Objectives, & Supplementary Aids and Services). 

The following research-based instructional strategies can address identified weaknesses in lesson plans, school-based interventions, & IEP programs/services, and may be noted as supplemental aids and services to address IEP goals and objectives, based on a student’s needs:

1.     Model the writing we want student to produce independently.

2.     Provide coaching and scaffolding where necessary.

3.     Have student articulate and reflect on compositional strengths and needs.

4.     Provide student with frequent writing experiences in all content areas to build confidence and competence.

5.     Student should generate topics, plan, write, revise, and edit writing.

Mathematics Assessments

Math Midterm and Final Assessments:

These assessments are designed by the district and are similar in format to the New Jersey Standardized assessments. On the mid-term and finals, there are both multiple-choice and open-ended questions. Most of the questions are multiple-choice, where the student chooses the best answer from among 4 choices and darkens in the circle of the correct choice. For the open-ended questions, the student writes and/or draws their answers to these questions in the spaces provided in the test booklet.

The open-ended questions are scored with generic New Jersey Registered Holistic Scoring Rubric for math that gives 0 to 3 points for each answer. The generic rubric helps ensure that students are scored in the same way for the same demonstration of knowledge and skills regardless of the test question. The open-ended questions require students to construct and explain their own written or graphic responses. Since partial credit can be earned, it’s critical that students show their work and explain their answers.

SPA Assessments:

The SPA assessments are similar in content and design to NJ-ASK, GEPA, and HSPA. It is a standards-based assessment given to all Newark’s 9^th -grade students in March; however, it assesses CPI expectations for the end of the 9^th grade. In addition, although it utilizes multiple-choice and open-ended questions, evaluated with scoring rubrics, the reporting out doesn’t provide this type of differentiated feedback, nor an item analysis on how each student performs on each assessed skill. Consequently, the ability to identify each student’s strengths and weaknesses is very limited.  

The various subjects are reported as scale scores that range from 100 to 300, and help identify various proficiency levels of our students in each assessed subject. If the student is in the "Advanced Proficient" or "Proficient" level, he/she has met the state standards for that content area. A student needs to achieve a minimum score of 200 to achieve proficiency in that subject. On the other hand, scores below 200 are in the "Partially Proficient" level, which means that the student has not met the state's minimum level of proficiency in that subject. Clearly, on a global level, the proficiency level in LAL and Math can identify strengths and weaknesses. 

In addition, each student’s Individual Student’s Report (ISR) allows for a cluster analysis for each subject. Each subject (Language Arts Literacy & Math) has subtotals for all the clusters of skills that make up that subject.

This section of the ISR compares the student’s performance in each particular cluster skill to other students who just achieved proficiency (score of 200) on the overall assessment. Therefore, relative strengths and/or weaknesses may be cautiously identified for students performing above &/or below this “Just Proficient Mean” respectively. These relative strengths and weaknesses should be integrated into classroom instruction, school-based interventions, special education evaluations and reports, & IEP PLAAFP statements and goals/objectives. (For a more comprehensive analysis of a student’s assessment results see the Example of an analysis of Individual Student Report (ISR)

However, to get a true picture of each student’s strengths and weaknesses in the general education curriculum his/her scores on the SPA must be supplemented with class work, homework, teacher-made tests, district wide assessments discussed above, and the Cumulative Progress Indicators, which specify the expectations by the end of the 9^th grade on learning New Jersey’s Core Curriculum Content Standards (CCCS), referenced on the bottom of this page.

  New Jersey's Core Curriculum Content Standards (CCCS) -

The above district wide and statewide assessments are aligned with New Jersey's Core Curriculum Content Standards. Therefore, teachers, parents, administrators, school-based intervention teams and/or IEP teams can utilize the hyperlinked CPI (cumulative progress indicator) checklists developed by the Newark Teachers Union (NTU) for reading, writing, math, and science to identify strengths and weaknesses, in the corresponding grade's knowledge/skills. These strengths and weaknesses can be integrated into teachers' lessons, school-based interventions, special education evaluations/corresponding reports, and IEPs (e.g., PLAAFP statements, goals/objectives, and supplementary aids and services.