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Geoff Hewitt Six Trait Writing and Assessment
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Writing Assessment, Formative and Summative
For nearly twelve years, Geof Hewitt led Vermont’s statewide writing assessment, developing a five-trait (analytic) system and, subsequently, a holistic scoring rubric that incorporates the criteria of almost all primary-trait and six-trait systems.
Although many states have published rubrics for helping teachers understand state writing standards, student scores often fail to reach acceptable levels. In this workshop, Hewitt reviews the actual rubrics that participants are using, and addresses how those rubrics can inspire better student writing. Whether “Six trait,” “Analytic,” or “Holistic,” such rubrics are all aimed at helping students write clear, engaging prose, but in their complexity they often discourage meaningful application. Hewitt helps educators train their instructional focus on the criteria for writing that meets or exceeds the standards of “summative assessments.”
Addressing formative assessment, Hewitt considers the many forms of informal, ongoing, classroom assessment. This varies from effective conferencing strategies to grading to creating rubrics in collaboration with the students. These can be adapted from the state rubrics or tailored for specific writing assignments. Simplicity is key here, with resulting rubrics reflecting students’ goals for their own writing. In this context, peer- and self-assessment are every bit as valuable as a teacher’s judgment. Students actively participating in evaluating their own writing are far more likely to become engaged as writers than those receiving scores from on high.
Workshop leader Geof Hewitt has consulted for several local, state, and national testing initiative. He spearheaded the development and implementation of Vermont’s statewide writing assessment program from 1990-2001. In 1995, Heinemann published his book, A Portfolio Primer: Teaching, Collecting, and Assessing Student Writing, which outlines his experiences developing Vermont’s statewide scoring system.
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