Applying an Analytic Rubric to Examine the Nature of Early Writing Development for Struggling Writers

• In Event: Measuring Reading and Writing Development

Abstract

Well-designed rubrics for writing can add to much-needed descriptions of writing development, particularly for students achieving well below grade expectations. In this study, we first examine the reliability and validity of one such rubric, the Early Writing Observation Rubric, a rubric with evidence of reliability and validity but only with one rater (the developer) and one grade, by training multiple raters to rate writing samples from multiple grades. We used Multifaceted Rasch Analysis (FACETS) to model five facets (students, rubric dimensions, raters, timepoints, writing prompts) to develop a depiction of the growth process on each rubric dimension. Findings are aligned with an overlapping wave view of development with change described as variable with progressions and regressions in students’ writing samples.

Authors

• Emily M. Rodgers, The Ohio State University

• Jerome V. D'Agostino, The Ohio State University

• Noel Blevins, The Ohio State University

• Katherine M. Shilling, The Ohio State University

• Jaee Sonalkar, The Ohio State University

• Krisann Stephany, The Ohio State University

• Amanda Vesner, The Ohio State University