District Interim Writing Assessment introduced to Samo

The District Interim Writing Assessment (DIWA) was introduced into the SMMUSD curriculum for the first time, this school year. 

The DIWA is a district-wide tool used to evaluate the progress of students and the productivity of the academic program. It is meant to supply teachers and administration with the necessary knowledge and information, often displayed in visible trends among students, in order to apply the most effective educational improvements into the school environment.

This data can better help the teachers evaluate their students’ strengths and weaknesses, as well as supply the teachers with a more structured plan of what they need to teach their students during the rest of the school year.

Nathan Fulcher, the English department chair at Samo, believes that the DIWA will be a valuable tool for the English department across the district. 

“I support it because I think it’s important for us to be thoughtful about how we are assessing student writing, and this type of activity using the District Interim Writing Assessment allows all of us English teachers to be on the same page,” Fulcher said.

In previous years, the baseline essay was taken at the beginning of each school year and provided teachers with a measure of knowledge and skill level regarding their incoming students. The DIWA is comparable to the baseline essay, but now will be taken twice each school year, compared to once. The DIWA will be taken six weeks into each semester, rather than at the start of the school year. This difference in the timing of the testing will allow teachers to not only assess the knowledge of their students in preparation for the remainder of each semester, but will also allow for teachers to examine what they have taught their students leading up to the assessment. For this examination to be possible, teachers will now be grading the writing of their own students, which differs from the randomized scoring system that had been in place for the baseline essay. In addition, the DIWA will now be assessed across every school in the district with the same format per grade level, unlike the baseline essay which had just been at Samo. This will allow district administration to compare the learning environment and progress across SMMUSD.

The assessment will occur once a semester in order to provide an analysis of the progress made towards a more effective environment, and is displayed in the progress of the students. The assessment is taken during a single class period, or limited amount of time, in order to receive a work of “on-demand writing.” This type of work proves the knowledge that a student has on how to put together a first draft and tests their skills within an on the spot format.

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