Writing

Improve all students’ written communication.

Rationale and Supporting Data 

Barr Middle School acquired a writing goal in 2002. The goal was selected because of lower than anticipated writing scores. We have maintained our writing goal based on our indicators of school-wide writing success. Writing scores indicate continued improvement in writing since the 6th-8th Grade District Writing Assessment in 2004-2005 (percent proficient), as well as since the 8th Grade State Writing Assessment 2004-2205 (percent proficient).

Adolescents entering the adult world in the 21st century will read and write more than at any other time in human history.  They will need advanced levels of literacy to perform their jobs, run their household, act as citizens, and conduct their personal lives.  They will need literacy to cope with the flood of information they will find everywhere they turn.  They will need literacy to feed their imagination so they can create the world of the future.  In a complex and sometimes even dangerous world, their ability to read will be crucial.  Continual instruction beyond the early grades is needed.  (Moore, Bean Birdyshaw, and Rycik, 1999, p.3 as cited in Educational Leadership, November, 2002.)

Improvement Strategies 

• Use Kagan Cooperative learning structures.
• Use Summarization techniques.
• Use the six traits to assess writing across the curriculum.
• Use the writing process across the curriculum.

Schoolwide Indicators of Improved Learning

	05-06 Results	06-07 Results	07-08 Results
6th-8th Grade District Writing Assessment (percent proficient)	78%	75%	85%
8th Grade State Writing Assessment (percent proficient)	83%	91%	94%