WrAP: Grades 3 - 12

The WrAP provides a direct measure of writing ability by asking for a writing sample from each student. Schools may test their students at five levels: Elementary (grades 3-4); Intermediate (grades 5-6); Middle (grades 7-8); Secondary (grades 9-10), and College Preparatory (grades 11-12). Within each level, students write on the same prompt regardless of grade. The same scoring criteria are employed for each level. Modes of discourse and scoring standards change over the five levels of the WrAP, keeping pace with the progressively more sophisticated writing skills acquired by students as they move through the grades.

In a direct writing assessment, the student is asked to produce a piece of writing which is then evaluated by two readers. Besides evaluating a student’s knowledge of grammar and writing conventions, a direct assessment can also determine how well a student can think, plan, and use language to convey meaning.

The writing prompts are developed by staff working in partnership with educators at ERB member schools who are experienced in the teaching and assessment of writing. Each prompt is written to appeal to students coming from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences and to elicit the best writing the students can produce. A different prompt is used for each of the five levels. New prompts are introduced each fall and spring.

The National Council of Teachers of English recognizes five common modes of discourse in writing, and ERB includes them in its writing assessment:

• Narrative writing – The student tells a story or relates an incident or experience to entertain or to illustrate a point.
• Informational writing – The student portrays a person, place, or event with specific and well-chosen details to create a clear impression.
• Expository writing – The student clarifies or defines various points of view, positions or possible courses of action as viable solutions to a problematic situation, through supporting facts or arguments for each.
• Persuasive writing – The student makes the case for a specific course of action or point of view, through the marshalling of logical argument and telling facts in support of the recommended action or position.
• Critical Thinking – The student incorporates higher order skills to produce writing intended to demonstrate readiness for college credit courses.

Students take the test in two sessions scheduled over two consecutive days. In the first session, they create a rough draft; in the second session, they revise that draft and produce their final essay. Students in grades 3 and 4 are tested in two 40-60 minute sessions; students in grades 5-12 must complete their work in two 40-50 minute sessions. The package of testing materials includes: A worksheet for the first draft and a writing booklet for the final essay.

The writing booklets are mailed to ERB’s scoring service, where two trained readers score each essay. After scoring has been completed, the following materials are sent to the school:

• the students’ writing booklets
• a report of individual student results showing the raw score on each criterion, a total raw score, a scale score that corresponds to the total raw score, percentile ranks, and stanines for independent and suburban norm groups
• the ERB rubric
• a set of anchor papers exemplifying the criteria used to assess each level
• an administrator’s summary composed of data for participating grades, self-stick labels for each student, providing raw scores, a scale score, percentile ranks, and stanines

Each student’s essay is scored with respect to six different elements on a scale of one (low) to six (high). The six elements are:

• OVERALL DEVELOPMENT: how well the writer communicates with the reader, shows awareness of the audience, task, and purpose for writing, and writes in the appropriate mode of discourse.
• ORGANIZATION: the writer’s ability to develop a logical plan of organization, maintain coherence throughout the paper, and create paragraphs.
• SUPPORT: the use of appropriate reasons, details, and examples to enhance the effect and/or support the generalizations and conclusions of the piece.
• SENTENCE STRUCTURE: completeness, correct usage, and variety or sophistication of sentences.
• WORD CHOICE: specific vocabulary, freshness and vividness of language.
• MECHANICS: the correct and effective use of spelling, punctuation and capitalization.

Within three to four weeks after writing samples have been received from a school for scoring, the WrAP Operations Office will send two types of reports to the school: (1) a report of individual student results, and (2) summary statistics for school administrators. The first report includes, for each student, raw scores in the six areas of writing, a total raw score, a scale score, and percentile ranks and stanines comparing the student’s performance on the test with the performance of students at the same grade level in Suburban and/or Independent schools.

The second type of report presents group data only and includes means and standard deviations at the class level and, if applicable, at the school and district levels.

Four types of data are reported for every student taking the ERB Writing Assessment: raw scores, scale scores, percentile ranks and stanines. The raw score tells how a student performs at the level tested, based on the standard used to evaluate papers at that level. The raw scores provide valid comparisons among individual students and also show growth across grades within a specific level.

WrAP Rubric – Definition of Terms

WrAP Scores: Norm-referenced and criterion-referenced

Several different types of scores are provided to help In the analysis of student writing ability. First, there is a set of analytic scores that results from the application of ERB’s six-trait, six-point rubric, producing six separate raw scores, one for each of the six traits. Since each of these raw scores is closely linked to the standards-based language of the rubric, each can be thought of as a criterion-referenced score indicating student performance. Because they are anchored in the performance-based language of the rubric, these scores are particularly useful for designing instructional units.

WrAP Score Reports

Summary Statistics for School Administrators Normative summaries are provided on the teacher and administrator reports, providing you with a comparative picture of your students’ performance in relation to others at the suburban public schools, the independent schools, or both. Also reported for each of the six writing elements are the raw scores earned by students at five different percentile ranks within the local group: 90th, 75th, 50th, 25th, and 10th. This information provides teachers and administrators with a summary view of student performance across the achievement spectrum to help determine where efforts are working or further intervention may be needed.

Report of Individual Student Results Class reports list each student either alphabetically by name, or rank ordered by their total raw and scale scores. Norm-referenced scores (suburban and/or independent percentile ranks and accompanying stanines) are also provided on the class level report.

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