STAF_RFP_Attachment_9k_Technical Exhibit USAICoE Writing Standards - Scoring Instruction.pdf

Instructions for Using the USAICoE Assessment Materials

Pre-Assessment

1. Read and Study:

The USAICoE Writing Standards – Analytic Rubric o Learn the categories and descriptions o And use the USAICoE Resource Guide for help defining key terms and concepts

2. Attend and Participate in:

A norming session with your course manager and peer instructors o Norming sessions “normalize” assessments through group practice o Keep several sample essays from the norming session on hand for comparison

3. Review:

The assignment sheet or assignment description for the specific requirements and expectations

Assessment and Feedback

1. Read the student’s work product in its entirety. Resist the urge to make editing marks.

2. When complete, briefly consider the student’s point of view and your own style preferences. Before continuing, remember to separate personal style preferences or pet peeves (“better/worse” features) from actual errors from breaking rules for spelling, punctuation, grammar, mechanics, or citation

(“right/wrong” features).

3. Read the paper a second time, this time adding targeted marks and comments.

As appropriate, indicate 2-3 areas of positive feedback in the margin (reader response).

As appropriate, indicate 2-3 areas of constructive criticism in the margin (instructor feedback).

4. For papers with frequent errors in spelling, punctuation, grammar, mechanics, or citation, identify patterns rather than individual instances. For these problems, a single error (e.g. not using commas properly) may repeat in multiple instances throughout the paper. See also: Step 4 under Scoring.

Scoring

1. Divide the scoring scale into two sections, Go and No Go, as appropriate for your course’s criticality assessment.

For example, most BOLC assignments split the scale between levels 3 and 4. Levels 4-6 are Go, while levels 1-3 are No Go.

Based on the course criticality assessment, this dividing line may be higher or lower to adjust the difficulty of the standard.

2. Once you’ve got the general impression (Go or No Go), read the behavioral anchors in the mid-range

(usually 5 and 2).

3. Use the other behavioral anchors to determine if the paper is higher, lower, or equal to the middle of the range.

For example, is the paper higher or lower than a 5 on this feature?

4. Turn the scoring sheet over and underline any grammatical, mechanical, or punctuation mistakes that you found on the Grammar Reference and CMS Formatting Sheet on the back.

5. For each criteria, check the appropriate box (column) on the scoring sheet.

6. Add the total for each column in the “Total” row, then add all columns for a row total.

7. If required, calculate the average by dividing the total points by the number of row entries.

Some courses may use this option if the assignment has many requirements to use in the optional rows.