2. School
systems seek to increase students’
writing achievement on standardized
assessments, so they are able to successfully
move forward to the college classroom or the
21st century workplace. The researcher
suspects that increased achievement can be
reached by the implementation of the new
English language arts Common Core Georgia
Performance Standards (CCGPS). Other
curriculum areas will join forces with language
arts and incorporate writing activities as part
of the curriculum. Questions related to the
impact of this initiative need to be answered
3. Is
there a differential impact on writing scores
on standardized tests when the new CCGPS
English language arts standards are
implemented?
4. GA
measures students in 8th grade on ability
to write an expository or persuasive essay in
January of each school year
Students are scored in 4 domains: ideas,
organization, style, & conventions
5. 8th grade teacher @ E. T. Booth Middle in CCSD
Administrator approval
CCSD approval
PC approval
IRB approval
Collected data (non-identifying information)
Compared 2 similar populations of students in
2012 and 2013
T-test to compare scores of 2 years
Mean scores to compare overall scores and
gender scores
6. Comparing
2012 and 2013
T-test score was 0.229070526, which
indicates no significant difference between
the 2 years
Overall mean decreased by 3 points from
2012 (229) to 2013 (226)
Decrease in females 2012 (232) to 2013 (230)
Decrease in males 2012 (226) to 221
DNM 2012 (2%) 2013 (1.7%)
M 2012 (86%) 2013 (92%)
E 2012 (11%) 2013 (6%)
7. 1st
year of CCGPS implementation
GA required a minimum number of
compositions. Teachers using more instant
grading programs
Students are more frequently scored
holistically versus by domains. Less
formative assessments and quality feedback
Quantity does not always equal quality.
If a teacher has 120 students he/she is
grading 2,880 essays per year (does not
include research connections or routine
writings)