WPP

Through a password protected website the Writing Practice Program (WPP) provides opportunities for individual students in grades 3-12 to work on their writing with a goal to build better writers. Guided by work in class, online writing practice with instant scoring, review of the online tutorials and the writing rubric, followed by further practice, students get many opportunities to improve their writing.

Benefits to Students and Teachers

• Access an easy-to-use Web-based program, that is available 24/7
• Engage in unlimited writing practice opportunities with immediate feedback
• Link each rubric category to online writing tutorials to address noted weaknesses
• Study anchor papers at each level and prompt type (narrative, informative, expository, persuasive, and critical thinking)
• Review the online writing portfolio of students’ essays
• Examine analytic scores on six writing traits based on a 6-point scale for each.

The WPP provides a direct measure of writing ability by asking for a writing sample from each student. Schools may test their students at five levels: Elementary (grades 3-4); Intermediate (grades 5-6); Middle (grades 7-8); Secondary (grades 9-10), and College Preparatory (grades 11-12). The same scoring criteria are employed for each level. Modes of discourse and scoring standards change over the five levels of the WPP, keeping pace with the progressively more sophisticated writing skills acquired by students as they move through the grades.

No. The WrAP is a diagnostic tool that helps identify the strengths and weaknesses in a school’s writing program. The Writing Practice Program, on the other hand, provides opportunities for individual students to work on areas of weakness identified by the WrAP and other written work graded by their teacher. Guided by work in class, online writing practice, review of the online tutorials and the writing rubric, followed by further practice, students get many opportunities to improve their writing. The two programs are designed to complement one another.

The essays are scored analytically using a computer scoring program that reliably scores essays based on the ERB Scoring Rubric. The computer scoring models have been verified to agree with human readers over 90% of the time.

As with the reader-scored WrAP, the writing prompts are developed by staff working in concert with educators at ERB member schools who are experienced in the teaching and assessment of writing. Prompts are written to appeal to students coming from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences and to elicit the best writing the students can produce. Different prompts are used for each of the five levels, and new prompts are introduced each year.

Different modes of discourse must be employed to develop the essays. Consistent with the National Council of Teachers of English standards, students are asked to respond to writing prompts that call for essentially the same modes of discourse in a developmental sequence:

Students will have password-protected access to a secure website, available 24/7. They submit on essay online after reviewing their grade specific prompt. They have up to 60 minutes to complete their essay. Once they have received their scores, they will be directed to any appropriate online tutorials that may help them improve their writing. After reviewing some practice exercises through the tutorials, they may return to their original essay, revise, and resubmit it for new scores, or select a different prompt altogether. Each essay a student submits will be available to teachers through an online portfolio of each student’s work.

Each student’s essay is scored with respect to six different elements on a scale of one (low) to six (high). The six elements are:

OVERALL DEVELOPMENT: how well the writer communicates with the reader, shows awareness of the audience, task, and purpose for writing, and writes in the appropriate mode of discourse.

ORGANIZATION: the writer’s ability to develop a logical plan of organization, maintain coherence throughout the paper, and create paragraphs.

SUPPORT: the use of appropriate reasons, details, and examples to enhance the effect and/or support the generalizations and conclusions of the piece.

SENTENCE STRUCTURE: completeness, correct usage, and variety or sophistication of sentences.

WORD CHOICE: specific vocabulary, freshness and vividness of language.

MECHANICS: the correct and effective use of spelling, punctuation and capitalization.

Scores will appear directly on the screen moments after an essay has been submitted. The student will be able to view a graph indicating the score he or she received in each of the six writing traits. The scores are maintained in an online portfolio, available to the student and the teacher, so that the students’ progress may be monitored.

Minimum Requirements
* Windows 98 and above / Internet Explorer 6 or higher; Firefox 1.5 or higher * Mac OSX and above / Safari 2.0 or higher

Firewall Configuration
* Firewall and Content Filters must be configured to allow users to access wpponline.com

Internet Connectivity
* High-speed (Broadband) connection is recommended (i.e., Cable, DSL, Wireless)

Cookies
* Browser must be configured to accept cookies.

Add-ons & Plug-ins
* JavaScript: Enabled * Flash Player: Version 9.0 or higher

• Link each rubric category to online writing tutorials to address noted weaknesses
• Access an easy-to-use Web-based program, that is available 24/7
• Engage in unlimited writing practice opportunities with immediate feedback
• Study anchor papers at each level and prompt type (narrative, informative, expository, persuasive, and critical thinking)
• Review the online writing portfolio of students’ essays
• Examine analytic scores on six writing traits based on a 6-point scale for each.