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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]There was a pilot last year for some schools last year but for all intents and purposes it’s another pilot (although everybody will take it)  this year. VDOE didn’t give ANY sort of specifics to districts until this week regarding rubrics, exemplars, etc, so we had zero idea of what they are going to look for.

We haven’t been prepping them for a one-session on-demand multi-paragraph piece all year. They’ve written memoir, persuasive pieces, etc., but we work through stages of the writing process over days/weeks. Getting kids to score high on this type of writing test requires a very different kind of teaching, and to be honest, lots and lots of drill in on-demand essay writing and very little else. (I taught in another state, and we had this type of test. Those kids could whip out a 5-paragraph expository essay in 45 minutes. They couldn’t write in any other format because our writing instruction was all test prep.)

I know there was formerly a 5th grade writing SOL, but it was replaced with a local writing assessment that we could do over 2 days. [/quote]

I wish you would teach them how to write a five paragraph essay instead of just writing stupid stuff on Google slides. The writing instruction is horrendous.[/quote]

+ a million!! Dropping writing from standardized testing was a horrible mistake, and not just in VA. It means students do not get taught to write properly, and this has long term effects. I am a professor and some of my students just cannot organize their thoughts in writing at all. I can only work with them so much when it’s clear they did not get the needed foundation. I credit my own writing ability to the solid foundation I got starting in late elementary. I hate the Google slides assignments my oldest gets. Completely worthless.[/quote]

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