Notes from TEA Director Victoria Young speaking at CREST Meeting

Victoria Young spoke at the Coalition of Reading and English Supervisors of Texas Meeting this past April. She focused on the reading test during this presentation and shared some tips on where Texas students appear to need the most help. As I was typing my notes, I thought many of the things she mentioned would make great question stems for assessments. Share your thoughts in the comments.

C.R.E.S.T. Meeting Notes

April 8, 2013

TEA Updates-

Kelly Calloway, TEA Director of K-12 Foundation Education

• Shared that English III sample lessons are up on Project Share
• They have also added some videos of Victoria Young sharing some of the concerns that they are seeing in the writing and how they might address it. These videos are intended for all of the teachers who cannot be at meetings like this.
• To get to the lessons- you must log in and be enrolled in the courses.
• ONTRACK lessons will not replace authentic, interactive, high-quality writing instruction provided by the teacher.
• They are meant to support students in overcoming an identified area of weakness or to provide pre-learning opportunities
• These lessons were no designed as "test prep" lessons and are not limited to STAAR writing assessment conditions- meaning that lessons will suggest some strategies that would not be conducive to a testing environment.
• ONTRACK courses are set up as such because that is the organizational structure of Project Share but that doesn't mean they cover all of the TEKS and students CANNOT earn credit by completing them.
• However, credit is available in Algebra I, Algebra II, Geometry and districts can actually use to complete the credit in these courses. This will probably never happen in English because of the needed writing instruction, Calloway said.
• Grade 8 English ONTRACK should be available sometime after the start of school next year.

Victoria Young, ELA & SS TEA Director-

In reference to the legislature this session and testing: "We have no idea what is going to happen... It looks to us that they will not touch elementary or middle in anyway." This includes writing.

EOCs are up in the air. HB Combines reading and writing and only tests English II. She doesn't think all three courses will survive. She doesn't know what she'll do yet if she combines the reading and writing test. She would like to offer a similar test and make it Part A and Part B to be scored together.

She recommended to get rid of English II if you have to toss one. She feels English I is a driver of getting writing in 8th grade and English II will be driven by English III test.

(NOTE: The above comments were while the legislature was still in regular session and prior to passing the bills that we are currently waiting for the governor to sign.)

All papers for reading and writing in ALL GRADES will be posted to Pearson in addition to releasing all tests. This means we will be able to read every students essays and short answer responses. They are shooting for an August 1st release.

Today is about READING-

Big Picture- What students have to know how to do:

• Think critically/inferentially about different types of text (in essence, know more than how to literally read the lines: know how to read "between" the lines and "beyond" the lines)
• Make connections- at differing levels of depth and complexity- both within and across texts. She called connections "odd" and discussed the wide variety of connections students can make -big, mid, and small. Connections get bigger and harder to make as students progress.
• Understand what makes a connection between texts thematic or meaningful (and what doesn't)- this directly related to short answer questions - Young (VY) can tell when the child has no idea what a meaningful connection is on the short answer.
• Understand and be able to apply the specific academic vocabulary associated with literary and informational reading - this is much more difficult than having students memorize academic vocabulary - this is more Marzano than vocab list. 
• She shared the difficulty spread is wider in STAAR with few easy questions and more mid-level rigor

NOTE: They will be doing an item analysis for every student since they are releasing the test (she said she is "almost positive")

• Understand that the way the author crafts a piece drives the way the reader reads it. Know that authors use different tools to craft different types of pieces (e.g. genres). Be able to identify these tools and articulate/pinpoint how they affect meaning. The toolbox for expository essay crafting is different than that of persuasion. Interesting: Students are better persuasive writers than expository but better expository readers than persuasive.
• The have open-ended question, "Did the author make his case?" Students have to know what is necessary to make a case in order to judge if the author actually did so or not.
• Understand the difference between effective text evidence and flawed text evidence. Know how to stay "inside" the text to find evidence that truly confirms the validity of an idea. Know how to find and use text evidence for different types of genres. VY said this doesn't necessarily apply to short answer only. VY feels we forget to "teach students the purpose of text evidence." "They will never be good readers if they do not understand the relationship between their thinking and text evidence." Meaning it confirms the validity of your thinking... even if it's weird and out there. VY said kids are NOT good at text evidence for poetry, drama, or persuasion.

She uses slides to make a strong argument that short answer questions are essential to reading development at all levels.

• Text evidence (TE) on a score 3 is specific and well-chosen
• TE on a score 2 is accurate and relevant
• TE on a score 1 is only a general reference, too partial, weakly linking or wrongly manipulates the meaning of the text
• TE in a score 0 is either missing or not attached to an idea
• TE using an ellipsis is not bad but they often leave out the real and important part of the evidence... they call this partial evidence since the student was in the right place but didn't understand how evidence goes together
• Weakly linked refers to a valid idea and valid evidence but they don't actually go together
• Manipulating the text  is when the students lifts evidence out of context

Why we have to include text complexity in the conversation-

• If we want students to do on-grade-level work, we must teach them to "tackle" increasingly complex texts each year. Text complexity is driven by a variety of factors:
• The author's vocabulary/use of language may be more varied and challenging because it is nonliteral/figurative, abstract, academic, or technical
• Sentence structure may be more varied, dense and sophisticated
• The author's use of literary elements and devices, rhetorical strategies, organizational patterns, and text features may be more nuisance or sophisticated
• The topic/content may be less familiar or cognitively demanding
• Relationships among ideas may be less explicit and require more interpretation, reasoning, and inferential thinking to understand the subtlety, nuances and depth of ideas
• There is a paragraph at the bottom of the PLDs that discusses that text complexity increases each year

What students have to know for STAAR Reading- some specifics:

• Why does the author use a particular genre (e.g., nonfiction vs expository, expository vs. persuasive)
• Why does the author include a particular paragraph or paragraphs?
• Why does the author begin or end a piece in a particular way?
• Why does an author include a description of XX?
• How do a character's relationships with other characters or motivations to take certain actions affect the plot/conflict/outcome of a story?
• How does the author use dialogue to develop a particular character or the relationship between characters?
• How does the POV from which the story is told affect the reader's understanding of characters and events? VY notes that students really struggle with POV and only really understand 1st. TEA isn't interested in their ability to identify- they want to know the effect of POV choices... wants students to see the "real craft in pieces" Wants students to understand what 3rd person limited adds to the craft versus 1st person. So far, they've seen little student success in POV questions at the HS level.
• What is the effect of setting on events/characters/outcome of the story? VY said, "We must get way beyond setting is about the time and place." VY "Here's the thing about STAAR. We look at the piece and we determine what questions fit the piece and that's what we ask. We don't force questions into pieces. We ask, 'What kind of questions would lend themselves to this piece?'" They do revising and editing by starting with a perfect piece and then “back into” the revising/editing questions. She says it’s a strong argument against test prep which ask you to teach the same kinds of questions based on TEKS, etc. Argues more authentic, true instruction would better suit STAAR prep needs. Also, says genres should NOT be taught in isolation.
• How does a poet/playwright/ author use imagery, simile, metaphor, hyperbole, personification, time disruptions (Flashback, foreshadowing) to create meaning?
• How is XX ironic? How is XX symbolic?
• Which sentence best indicates, suggests, establishes, illustrates, describes, explains, expresses, supports, reflects, reveals, shows (at lower grades)? THESE ARE THE WORDS USED ON THE ASSESSMENT prior to the questions where the student must choose between one of four sentences from selection.
• What is significant (important) about XX?
• How does the author organize the selection? Why does the author organize the information in a particular way? (Students really struggle with this- mostly an informational reading thing)
• Why does the author include a particular section (under a subheading) of an expository piece?
• What is the authors attitude toward his/her subject (attitude à tone) VY- We are really trying to marry pieces that mirror the author’s attitude and the tone of the piece... those are best for testing environment.
• How does the author's use of particular words or phrases create a particular tone? How does the use of a particular word affect meaning?
• Why does the author include quotations from particular people/entities/publications?
• Why does the author use particular rhetorical strategies- e.g., italics, ellipses, questions, comparisons/analogies, repetition, and exaggeration?
• How does the author support each of his arguments?
• What is the author's most convincing reason?
• Does the author make a convincing case for her position/opinion? (Generally open-ended)
• Noted that TEA uses term "Informational" to cover all non-literary texts. This includes persuasive, expository, procedural, and media literacy.

VY said: You have got to get students to do some of this stuff independently. If they have only ever functioned in a guided or modeled environment then they are unlikely to be successful on STAAR.

NOTE: VY says "this is an extension of the old main idea" It becomes more of a craft question.

NOTE2: VY recommends blocked 90 minutes ELA instruction in junior high... has never done this before.

NOTE3: Students do not understand tone or how tone differs from mood.

NOTE4: VY once again reminded all that they want NO false information in students' persuasive essays... they say it will become evident and ALWAYS weakens the paper.

Her Power Point Slides posted at www.cresteducators.com: