Ruberic 2

Exhibit B-2B

Draft Letter to Teachers

(post-institute materials)

Dear <<Teacher’s Name>>:

During summer of 2008, you participated in an important data collection conducted by the U.S. Department of Education (ED) regarding the National Writing Project (NWP). At that time you provided examples of writing assignments that you gave to your students during the fall of 2007. We indicated then that we would be contacting you in late 2008 to obtain examples of assignments that required writing given in fall of 2008.

This information is being requested in compliance with the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA), which stipulates that the U.S. Department of Education (ED) is required to collect and report on the performance of all programs funded with federal dollars. You may recall that NWP at <<summer institute site name>> was partially funded in 2008 with federal funds through a grant to the National Writing Project, located at the University of California at Berkeley.

At this time, I am requesting that you provide 4 examples of assignments you gave your students that required writing. These can be parts of lesson plans or unit plans that identify the assignments using writing. These should be assignments given between October 1, 2008, and November 30, 2008. The enclosed instructions provide details on how to select assignments and supporting materials if you have more than four assignments that meet the criteria. These materials will be reviewed by a panel of writing experts and used to respond to the GPRA measure by reporting on the “percentage of NWP summer institute training session participants who improve the quality of the writing assignments given, as demonstrated through an independent review of lesson plans by a panel of qualified experts.”

Although your participation is voluntary, without your help ED will not have the information it needs to monitor the program and report that information to Congress. All information you provide will be kept strictly confidential. Individual teachers and schools will not be identified to expert panel members or in any reports about the program.

Thank you for your continued cooperation and participation in providing this important information to Congress for the NWP program. If you have any questions, please contact <<contact name>> at Synergy, our contractor. He/She can be reached at xxx-xxx-xxxx or <<email address>>.

Sincerely,

Margarita L Meléndez

NWP Program Manager

U.S. Department of Education

Enclosures

OMB #: xxxxxxxxx

Exp.:

Exhibit B-2B (continued)

Instructions for Selecting Assignments

1. Look at your lesson plans and/or unit plans for the period October 1, 2008, through November 30, 2008.

2. Identify the assignments you gave to your students that involved writing. These can be parts of lesson plans or unit plans that identify the assignments using writing. Do not include writing samples from students even if they were used as part of the assignment.

3. Count and number the assignments involving writing across all classes that you teach.

4. Selecting assignments:

1. If four or fewer assignments were given, then select all.

2. If more than four assignments were given during the period, order the assignments by date given, and use the table below to determine which assignments to select.

Number of assignments	Select assignment number:
5	1, 2, 4, 5
6	1, 2, 5, 6
7	1, 3, 5, 6
8	1, 3, 6, 8
9	1, 4, 6, 9
10	1,4, 7, 10
11	1, 5, 7, 11
12	1, 5, 8, 12
13 or more	Call Synergy contact

5. On the cover sheet provided for each assignment selected, fill in the grade level, subject area, and class or course level (e.g., special education, gifted, honors, AP, IB, ESL, remedial). Provide portions of lesson or unit plans that describe the assignments’ timeframe and assessment method only if this information is not apparent in the assignments themselves.

6. Return the materials in the postage-paid envelope.

OMB #: xxxxxxxxxxx

Exp.

Exhibit B-2B (continued)

Assignment Cover Sheet

Instructions: Please attach this sheet to the front of each selected assignment and provide the following information.

Grade Level(s):

Subject area:

Class/Course level:

Timeframe for assignment:

Assessment method:

OMB #: xxxxxxxxxxx

Exp.

Appendix D

Rubric #2: NWP Teacher Packets

Considering the following dimensions, assess the quality of the writing assignments in the Teacher Packet.

Grade Level(s):

Subject area:

Class/Course level:

Timeframe:

Assessment method:

	Points
Given the grade level and subject area assess the extent to which:
The writing activities are cognitively appropriate	/ 20
The assignments reflect the use of effective instructional approaches for teaching writing	/ 30
The assignment parameters are stated such that students will have a clear understanding of the expectations for successfully completing the assignment	/ 20
The time frames are adequate to accomplish the assignments	/ 10
The assessment methods align with current best practices in K-16 writing assessment	/ 20
Deduct up to 5 points for poor presentation, including typographical and grammatical errors.
Total	/100

D-6