Recently, some FSA Writing sample papers were released by the Florida Department of Education. Although these
papers may serve as examples of different scoring possibilities, there is clear language from the FLDOE in the
introduction of these documents that indicate that these are NOT in any way “exemplars” or “anchor sets.”
Several misconceptions about the interpretation and use of these papers have come to our attention, therefore we have
created some information to help you address these issues should they come up at your school.
We are recommending that educators consider the following information:
WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THESE WRITING SAMPLES:
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What is deemed allowable in scoring does not represent a model for instruction. With any scoring process,
there are allowable interpretations. An allowable interpretation of the writing task means that the scorers
permitted the student performance to meet the criteria for the rubric in certain areas. This does not mean,
however, that this is the best or highest standard of response that instruction should be based upon. Always
teach towards the standard requirements and expectations to ensure a student meets the expectations.
These sample papers do not represent exemplars, therefore they should NOT be treated as “model papers”
for any score point. The FLDOE clearly states in the introduction of these sample sets the following:
“These responses are not intended to provide a full spectrum of examples for each score point in each
domain. Moreover, they do not necessarily represent the highest or lowest example of each score point in
each domain.” (FLDOE)
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These papers represent only some of the ways students may earn scores. There are a multiplicity of
possibilities for students to earn scores with an analytic rubric. Therefore, examine these papers by “how” they
meet the overall criteria of the rubric and the standard expectations, not an isolated characteristic found in
these samples.
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These papers only represent a small sample, not an entire State of Florida sample, and were created for the
sole purpose of providing districts with some examples of FSA-like writing. This means that the types of
samples are limited and therefore do not represent a full spectrum of the types of papers represented
throughout the State of Florida. What may appear as top scores within the range of samples presented may
not necessarily indicate top scores when formally scored by AIR.
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No single feature of the paper meets the overall expectation for the student performance, nor meets the
entire criteria within a domain to score high on an analytic rubric, therefore it would be helpful not to focus on
individual characteristics of these papers, but examine how the student met more than one critical component of
the analytic rubric.
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The annotation merely reflects the rubric criteria and how the students met this criteria. There is no
instructional advice or recommendations found in the annotations for each paper.
WHAT WE DO NOT KNOW ABOUT THESE SAMPLES AT THIS TIME:
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Who scored these samples?
Where the sample papers came from?
What conditions these samples were created under?
What they did to calibrate this set with or without any anchor papers available?
How was inter-rater reliability of scoring determined?
FSA Text-Based Writing and Scoring Implications
(Released by the FLDOE and Range Finder Team)
The Rubrics:
 The rubrics are analytic consisting of three domains.
o An analytic rubric examines specific criteria separately. There is specificity within each domain rendering
the rubric analytic, but there are closely related components that are scored as a whole within the
domain reflecting some characteristics of a holistic rubric.
o The three domains in the rubric are Purpose, Focus and Organization; Evidence and Elaboration; and
Conventions of Standard English.
 Score points 1 and 2 are written in the terms of the weaknesses in the response for the domains Purpose, Focus
and Organization and for Evidence and Elaboration; score points 3 and 4 are written in the terms of the
strengths in the response for these domains.
 Score points 0 and 1 are written in terms of weaknesses in the response for the domain Conventions of Standard
English, while a score point of 2 is written in terms of strengths.
 Every score point refers to the audience, purpose and task. This is the context of the writing task. Students must
pay attention to the task detailed in the prompt in order to respond appropriately. For example, on the FSA
portal, the grades 6-8 Writing Training test includes the following language related to the task: “Write an essay
in which you take a position on whether or not mistakes are a key part of discovery. Use the information
presented in the passages to support your points. Make sure to include information from all the passages in
your essay.” In this example, the writing task indicates that the student should write an argumentative essay,
including a position (claim) that states whether mistakes are a key part of discovery. Information in the passages
should be used as evidence in the argument. See entire prompt wording on the portal here:
http://www.fsassessments.org/educators.
 The student must address the task!
 A score point 3 in the Purpose, Focus and Organization and the Evidence and Elaboration domains meets the
requirements of the task. It indicates that the student has met the standard.
 Each domain is scored separately, with a holistic mindset within each domain.
 When scoring, pay close attention to the over-arching statement for each domain before looking at the bulleted
points.
 In an instructional setting, students should be provided specific feedback based on each of the three domains
rather than being given a total score encompassing the three domains.
Instructive Rubric Words:
4 – consistent, fully, clearly, skillfully, strongly maintained, logical, sustained, satisfactory, strongly, no forced evidences,
relevant evidence and elaboration, interwoven ideas, interconnectedness.
3 – adequate, sufficient, maintained, synthesized information from more than one source, integrated ideas
2 – partial, repetitive, inconsistent, uneven, imprecise, inappropriate for the audience or task, erratic, grouped ideas
without interconnectedness, plopped information, lapses of logic, faulty logic, just not enough, circular fillers, treadmill
paragraphs, irrelevant
1 – minimal, ambiguous, absent, irrelevant, missing, confusing, vague, brief
Best Practice Implications for Text-Based Writing Instruction:
How should students approach the task?
1. Students should begin by reading the prompt before reading the passage set to determine the purpose for reading
and responding.
2. Students should pay attention to the passage set title as well as each individual passage title. (Each passage in the
set has its own title as well.) To cite evidence, the student should refer to the specific passage title or author rather
than referencing the passage set title.
3. Students must take the time to read the passages closely. Analysis and synthesis of the textual evidence is critical
to writing proficiency. It may be helpful to use marking strategies when reading the text for quick references to
critical pieces of evidence to support the point being made.
4. Students should reread and dissect the prompt, assuring that they fully understand the task. The task could have
more than one part, and both should be addressed in the essay. Paying attention to the purpose in the prompt
will also help the student respond in the correct mode.
5. Before responding to the prompt, the student should plan the response according to the purpose, audience and
task.
What is important when students are writing?
6. It is helpful for the student to consider the audience and write as if the audience has not studied the passages.
Students should assume the audience is intelligent but may be unfamiliar with the specific information in the
passages.
7. The students should focus on quality over quantity when writing, but writing that is too brief will not contain
adequate evidence from the text.
8. The response should illustrate a balance between the use of textual evidence and the student’s own view/original
ideas. Otherwise, the response may become a summary of the text or mere regurgitation/copying of the
passage(s).
9. Repetitive vocabulary or sentences weakens the writing. This includes repetitive transitional or stylistic devices.
10. Extensive copying word for word from the text is not acceptable. Direct quotes should be relevant and connected
by original writing. Students must acknowledge the source of their information. This can be informal. It becomes a
more critical part of the standards as students move up in the grades.
11. Beware of overused transitions without internal paragraph organization.
12. Organization is important, but one organizational structure will NOT work with all prompts. The organizational
structure must fit the task.
13. The student’s response must reflect analysis, but direct reference to every passage is not required unless evidence
from every passage is used in the response or is required in the task.
14. There is more than one right way to address the prompt. The key is relevant evidence fully integrated with the
student’s elaboration.
15. The evidence required is dependent on the passage and the task in the prompt. The student must dissect the
prompt.
16. Student ideas should be closely connected to the textual support and logically used to support.
17. Precise academic vocabulary is important to the quality of the paper.
What does the teacher need to know and do to support the students?
18. TEACH THE STANDARDS!!!!! What does the standard specify for your grade level? It is helpful to lay your standards
alongside the score points 3 and 4 for the domains on the rubric in order to fully understand the expectation.
19. Work on a simple way for students to cite their source(s) without interrupting the flow of the paper.
20. Text evidence is what is important; elaboration is why it is important.
21. Reliance on elaborative techniques, such as rhetorical questions that are not relevant or do not make a strong
point (talking to the reader), should not be encouraged.
22. The use of Role, Audience, Format, Topic (RAFT), Document Based Questions (DBQs) and Literacy Designed
Collaborative (LDC) are excellent teaching strategies for standards-based instruction and thus, preparation for the
assessment.
23. We are teaching academic writing.
24. If there is NO original work, the response is unscorable.
25. Teach paraphrasing. There is a difference between paraphrasing and summarizing.
26. Use the portal.
What keyboarding techniques/reminders are important?
27. NO emoticons, text talk.
28. Teach students to do a hard return between paragraphs instead of indenting when typing. Indenting will be harder
to accomplish in the computer-based test program.
The instructional implications apply to all grade levels, but specific expectations are found in grade-level standards.