The Writing Process as We Know It: Prewriting...drafting... revising... editing...publishing. Teachers have been using the traditional writing process for years. So why are the majority of students producing pieces of writing that fail to meet the current writing standards? What can be done to improve our students' understanding of the writing process–and ultimately the assessment results on standardized tests? Recognizing the problem is the first step in solving it.

Understanding the Scoring for Standardized Writing Assessments: Becoming familiar with complex holistic scoring and the use of anchor papers is a first step in understanding how writing samples are evaluated. Mastering this scoring technique takes training, time, and practice; but the information is available to every determined teacher.

A Strategy for Improvement: In this workshop, a complete nine-week implementation plan will be shared using The Simple Six: A Writing Rubric for Kids. This simple analytic rubric sheds new light on student understanding and mastery of exemplary writing skills. Its simplicity gives teachers confidence and a concrete plan for starting tomorrow.

Standards-Instruction-Assessment: Bringing It All Together: Using the academic standards as a guide, instructional strategies and follow-up lessons are provided. Emphasizing success, the program is designed to empower even primary students.