Here is Utah and the bottom right corner is San Juan County. That is where I live (and love it)! Our school district is our entire county which is almost 8,000 square miles. We have only 12 schools (if I am counting right) in our district.
Anyway, we have an annual District Writing Assessment where each grade level is given a topic and they complete an essay. The essays are graded by a selected group of educators. The results of this assessment lets the teachers know the strength and weaknesses of their students writing based upon the six traits.
The parameters pretty much follow any type of testing such as no outside help, can only work on the assessment when directed, etc.
This week is the District Writing Assessment and my students will have five days starting tomorrow to complete an essay from beginning to end. I will find out the topic tomorrow morning when I look at my materials. All I know is my students are required to write an argumentative essay based upon evidence that will be given to each student. There will be one topic in which my students can make a claim either for or against the topic.
I will post more about our District Writing Assessment once it is over.
Do any other districts out there do any type of writing assessments??
