May 2013 English Assessment Committee Meeting
English Assessment Meeting
Meeting came to order at 3:00.
Members present were Jeremy Nicholson, Joanna Fulbright, and Chris Lorch.
Members each brought two or three capstone essays. Members discussed scoring with a rating scale instead of a rubric, and the scale was set to a 4.0 scale, similar to grade point average.
Scoring: One hour—only able to score three essays in that time, but each essay was scored three times to test consistency of the scoring rubric.
Conclusions:
Using a rating scale seemed to give greater consistency in scoring. Students received the same letter grade from instructors, and the only essay that showed great inconsistency in scoring was one in which members realized that the last couple of pages must have been missing.
For email vote before August 2013: Before the January meeting, it may be more efficient to have all instructors bring graded essays using the scale set today at this meeting. We will still norm first, but we expect that scores will be close enough. As always, if two essays are scored with more than a letter grade of difference, a third scoring will be necessary.
Possible changes discussed:
APA explanation is weak in the Writer’s Reference. Consider changing textbooks for Comp. II? After discussion, the group decided to keep the Writer’s Reference and to keep both MLA and APA as an option in Comp. II
Definitely need to consider a different book for Comp. One, but more information must be gathered by the Redesign team to assess the Supplemental Instruction portion of Comp. I before additional Comp. I curricular decisions will be made.
For this semester, the data tells us very little. We only rated three essays, but we rated all three similarly. Not enough data to say whether we are meeting outcomes—only enough to tell us that we may have addressed the interscorer reliability issue.
Do we need to revise outcomes for Comp. II? Decision was no—they were easy to score with the new scale.
CompositionTWO / High Passing
Demonstrates outstanding understanding and achievement of outcomes / Passing
Demonstrates solid understanding and achievement of outcomes / Low passing
Demonstrates partial but passable understanding of outcomes
Likely to struggle with future research assignments / Struggling
Demonstrates vague and imperfect understanding of outcomes
Likely to fail future research assignments / Significantly struggling
Demonstrates vague, unsure, incomplete understanding and application of outcomes
Very likely to fail research assignments
1. Write well-organized, logical, and ethical persuasion/ argument essays. / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1 / 0
2. Correctly use an appropriate documentation style to cite credible sources to support the student's own ideas. / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1 / 0
3. Demonstrate the application of the conventions of standard written English. / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1 / 0
4. Address diverse audiences. / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1 / 0
How does the scale look?
16-14=A
13-11=B
10-8=C
7-5=D
4-0=F
Comp. I
Comp. I Outcomes—Should we keep the analysis assignment and revise the outcomes or keep the outcomes and go back to the portfolio, which is the only method that can effectively assess the first couple of outcomes?
Faculty revisited the outcomes and tweaked wording.
· Use writing to influence diverse audiences in various rhetorical situations for various purposes
· Develop flexible writing strategies for various stages of the writing process (including collaborative writing) for generating, revising, editing, and proof-reading
· Write effective essays that exhibit appropriate organization, unity, coherence, support, vocabulary, and the conventions of standard written English.
· Demonstrate the correlation between critical reading skills and effective writing
· Correctly cite a reliable source to support a point
Conclusion: Go back to portfolio—we may have been hasty to get rid of it. However, we may need to make some kind of adjustment to keep ourselves from letting the assignment become stale. One option is to consider a multimedia presentation as a portfolio requirement. (This would require a serious redefinition of the historical definition of “composition” here at Ozarka College. Comp. I may not be the place to teach online presentation skills.) However, we should be cautious of changing the assessment tool to keep it interesting for us. This is a point we can consider at the January meeting.
*Note: In January of 2014 we will consider changing the outcomes to require an electronic presentation component.
*Note: Jeremy Nicholson volunteered to revise the portfolio directions. He will send those out August 1, 2013.
Next item: Select a Comp. I rubric for the portfolio assessment in January. The decision was to use simplified rubric with grading scale. Two scores per block—one for portfolio and one for the evidence. The total will be averaged.
Point for consideration: Why is Composition I is required for so many degree programs other than AA? We are making several assumptions about the types, levels, frequency, and length of writing that are required in other classes. We need to ensure that we are meeting the writing needs of the other departments across the College. Perhaps we can have a meeting (short, no more than one hour needed, to assess needs. This will be similar to Advisory Committee meetings for Technical programs). We should request Faculty Council delegates to arrange the meeting in order to ensure that someone from each degree program is represented.
May 2013: Request Faculty Council discuss the idea and propose an August 2013 English Advisory Committee meeting.
Demonstrates outstanding understanding and achievement of outcomes / Passing
Demonstrates solid understanding and achievement of outcomes / Low passing
Demonstrates partial but passable understanding of outcomes
Likely to struggle in Comp. II / Struggling
Demonstrates vague and imperfect understanding of outcomes
Likely to fail Comp. II / Significantly struggling
Demonstrates vague, unsure, incomplete understanding and application of outcomes
1. Use writing to influence diverse audiences in various rhetorical situations for various purposes / essay / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1 / 0
portfolio / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1 / 0
2. Develop flexible writing strategies for various stages of the writing process / essay / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1 / 0
portfolio / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1 / 0
3. Write effective essays that exhibit appropriate organization, support, vocabulary, and the conventions of standard written English. / essay / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1 / 0
portfolio / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1 / 0
4. Demonstrate the correlation between critical reading skills and effective writing. / essay / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1 / 0
portfolio / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1 / 0
5. Correctly cite a reliable source to support a point / essay / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1 / 0
portfolio / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1 / 0
We still need to set these numbers!
40-39=A
37-29=B
28-19=C
18-10=D
9-0=F