Press Release

Cobb Eighth Graders Show Big Gains on Writing Test

Cobb County middle schools are proving that proactive efforts to help students develop writing skills are paying off. Cobb eighth graders made significant gains on the 2008 state writing assessment with 84 percent of students meeting or exceeding standards – an increase of seven percentage points from 2007, the first year the assessment was administered. The district-wide average scale score also increased four points to 219. Both Cobb’s scale score and percentage of students meeting or exceeding standards were higher than those of other metro Atlanta school districts and students throughout Georgia (See Table I).

Two key student subgroups, Students with Disabilities and English Language Learners, showed marked improvement on the writing test. Students with Disabilities (SWD) showed an increase of 15 percentage points, from 40 percent to 55 percent, in the percentage of students meeting or exceeding standards. English Language Learners (ELL) saw a similar upward trend in student proficiency with a 12-point improvement from 30 percent to 42 percent. Scale scores increased for both groups of students by 7 and 5 points, respectively (See Chart I, II).

Superintendent Fred Sanderson said, “It is very good news to see this level of academic progress. It is a credit to our administrators and teachers that their efforts to help students improve their writing are working.”

Nearly every Cobb middle school increased the percentage of students proficient or better on writing standards and many also increased their scale scores. Barber Middle School in Acworth showed remarkable progress, with a 16-point increase in the school’s scale score and a 29 point gain in the percentage of students meeting or exceeding standards. A majority of Cobb schools topped the state scale scores, with scores ranging from 201 to 240. Highest scores were for Dickerson (240), Mabry (238), and Hightower Trail (236). Several schools had more than 90 percent of students who met or exceeded standards (Dickerson, Dodgen, Durham, Hightower Trail, Lost Mountain, Lovinggood, Mabry, Simpson).

The progress made on Cobb’s eighth grade writing assessment can be attributed to the proactive approach taken by each school in addressing the needs of its students. When Lovinggood Middle School principal Zinta Perkins and her staff discovered a gap between the scores of males and females in 2007, the school established a writing goal as part of its improvement plan. All teachers use a school-wide rubric to evaluate a writing assignment each nine-week period, providing a regular assessment tool to help students.

David Nelson, principal at Daniell Middle School, credits the flexibility of his teaching staff for the difference in his students’ performance. Teachers at Daniell flexed their schedules to provide maximum availability to students for tutoring and after-school assistance. The staff collaborated early in the school year to improve its approach to writing instruction and developed a writing test simulation to help students learn how to efficiently manage their way through the timed assessment.

While Cobb’s overall scores were strong, one remaining concern is the gap that continues to exist between the performance of regular education students and students in special populations (Special Education or English Language Learners). This same gap is apparent on other assessments at both the state and district levels. Although both groups made gains this year, the percentage of students meeting and exceeding standards in both groups was significantly smaller than that of students in the regular education program (Table II).

“This is still a new test, but it has provided us with good information,” said Robert Benson, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction. “I am proud of our students’ performance, but it is also clear that we need to address the gap between the regular education students and certain subgroups. Addressing that issue will be critical for meeting No Child Left Behind standards on other assessments, as well. Writing is a cumulative skill and the more students write the better their writing becomes. Language Arts supervisors will work with the schools to evaluate the results from the new assessment and develop plans for improvement.”

As a part of the statewide testing program, the Eighth Grade Writing Assessment was administered in January and requires students to write a composition on an assigned topic. The assessment provides eighth graders with a measurement of their writing performance. This information can help students, parents, and teachers understand areas where students may need to focus their efforts to improve writing skills before taking the writing portion of the Georgia High School Graduation Test in their junior year.

Each student paper is scored by professionals who have been trained to evaluate writing. Evaluators score student compositions on four domains, or qualities of effective writing, including ideas, organization, style, and convention. Domains are rated on a scale of 1 to 5. Performance of Cobb students was similar across all domains, ranging from 3.1 in organization to 3.2 in conventions. The scale score range for the new Grade 8 Writing Assessment is 100 to 350. Writing scores are reported in the following performance levels: Does Not Meet (100-199), Meets (200-249), and Exceeds (250-350).

View the release in Adobe PDF format with all data tables.

# # #