1. What do we know about the MSPAP scoring process and what it can reveal about how we can modify instruction to accommodate student learning?

Declarative and Procedural Knowledge:

• There must be instruction in and assessment of all three purposes for reading and writing, and for language usage at every grade level to include Reading for Literary Experience, Reading to be Informed, Reading to Perform a Task, Writing to Express Personal Ideas, Writing to Inform, and Writing to Persuade.

• Students are successful when they are involved in all aspects of the reading and writing processes, including reading assigned and self-selected materials, writing responses to assigned tasks and choosing their own writing forms and topics, and sharing their reading and writing experiences with others.

• Students are engaged when reading and writing for authentic reasons.

Students need to improve upon:

• Writing to Inform tasks which require a synthesis of more than one set of resources to produce a final “research” response. The students have to read more than one piece of information, and perhaps conduct an experiment, and then be able to gather the important information from these sources and write a comprehensive essay which uses evidence from these sources and explains what the evidence means.

• Reading to be Informed tasks which require that the students be able to construct meaning from within one text and across more than one text. The students will need to be able to explain the main, or important, points from articles, explain how illustrations, bold-faced headings, and diagrams help them construct meaning, and use information from one or both texts to answer the questions.

• Writing to Express Personal Ideas tasks require the understanding of how to write stories, poems, plays, and/or personal narratives. Students need to Read for Literary Experience not only to understand and construct meaning, but also to use the authors' works as MODELS for writing. They can see style, tone, language use, and organizational ideas in the works of great authors.

• Reading to Perform a Task requires the students to read more than one selection for a particular task and make decisions regarding the difficulty of the task, their understanding of illustrations and directions, and to evaluate the selections.

Instructional Implications:

• The students must be able to paraphrase ideas from texts, not copy lengthy passages.

• In response to stance questions for reading passages, require students to support answers and conclusions with evidence from the text. The support must be relevant to the questions asked and be specific.

• Teachers and students must use literature models for all purposes for writing. Using informative articles from newspapers, magazines, resource books, and text books for writing models as well as information is a good example. How to start, how to organize, and how to elaborate and extend ideas for essays are provided in these articles.

• Use scoring tools provided by the State for writing and reading to score papers as well as teacher and student developed tools.

2. What are the school-based strategies, interventions, and programs that have proven successful in promoting MSPAP success?

• Extensive use of teacher modeling of essential thinking skills and processes.

• Good first teaching for all students using the four components of a daily plan for Reading/English Language Arts to include: Independent Reading, Shared/Guided/ and Directed Reading Instruction, Embedded Word Study(Phonics, Spelling, and Vocabulary) and Guided and Independent Writing.

• Use the Reading/English Language Arts Scope and Sequence Document (PGIN# 7690-0854) to guide and inform instruction.

• Engage students in independent reading of a variety of texts which have been appropriately leveled for extensive amounts of time both in school and at home.

3. How can school-based staffs and central office personnel collaborate to improve student achievement on MSPAP?

• Continue teacher training at all grade levels on writing and implementing performance-based instruction at all grade levels (not just third and fifth).

• Make planning time available that encourages teaming, communicating, and sharing of resources between and among teachers.

• Provide support (material and administrative) for new instructional materials that complement the Reading/English Language Arts Scope and Sequence at all grade levels.

• Establish informal mentoring programs to pair experienced teachers with new teachers.

• Have departments develop teaching portfolios that contain exemplary lessons and proven instructional strategies.

4. How can we ensure that all disciplines and grade levels are addressing significant communication skills (i.e., writing within and across the disciplines, discussions, presentations, active listening, etc.)?

• Use reader response logs and journals on a regular basis for open-ended questions and reactions to texts as students read and after they finish reading.

• Weave responses for all reading stances (global, developing interpretation, personal response, and critical) into oral and written response requirements for all reading purposes. (Reading Stances Poster- PGIN 7540-8031.)

• Use teacher modeling, peer response groups, and whole group discussion for all parts of the writing process pre-writing, drafting, revising, and proofreading.

• Use limited and extended writing prompts that incorporate real life application of concepts learned using all three forms of writing — Writing to Inform, Writing to Persuade, and Writing to Express Personal Ideas.

• Use cooperative learning to enhance communication skills.

• Encourage student use of scoring rubrics or keys to be used for activities completed in the classroom. (Rubric for Writing to Inform — PGIN 7690-1644, Writing to Persuade — PGIN 7690-1645, Writing to Express Personal Ideas — PGIN 7690-1643, and Language Usage —PGIN 7690-1646.)

5. How can we ensure that our assessment repertoire includes methods and approaches consistent with MSPAP format?

• Teachers should not be encouraged or required to administer isolated “MSPAP practice assessments,” but rather should use performance-based instructional/assessment techniques daily.

• There should be continued teacher training in performance-based instruction and assessment.

• Instruction and assessment must reflect the indicators from Scope and Sequence documents and Maryland Learning Outcomes.

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