Place Middle School students are failing to meet state writing standards. Only 26% of 7th graders scored proficient on the writing portion of the state assessment. The needs assessment identifies gaps in the writing curriculum and recommends designing a new curriculum focused on grammar, organization, and providing effective feedback to students to improve their writing skills. Recommendations include using graphic organizers, daily grammar lessons, the 6 Traits writing model, and formative feedback to help students meet state standards.

1. 1
Needs Assessment
~ Mae Guerra
Problem
Place Middle School students in grade 7 are failing to meet the requirements of the
Colorado Model Content Standards in writing. Denver Public Schools conducts a
Benchmark pre-assessment in the fall and a mid-year and a post-assessment in the spring.
Currently at Place, students are failing to score proficient on the post assessment and
therefore are failing to meet the requirements of the Colorado Model Content Standards.
Curriculum Fit
Place Middle School students score below grade level in the following writing standards:
 Standard 2: Students write and speak for a variety of purposes and audiences.
 Standard 3: Students write and speak using conventional grammar, usage, sentence
structure, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling.
(CO Dept. of Education, 2005-2006)
In this needs assessment my primary role is to document the interventions made and
progress students make in the area of writing. The expected outcome is to discern the gaps
in student learning and design/adapt a curriculum that will allow students to be successful
in meeting Colorado Model Content Standards and as well as maintain grade level
expectations.
Local Data Collection & Analysis
In 2005-2006, Place Middle School was rated "Low" by the Colorado Department of
Education for the middle school level. The Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP)
tests students' skills in reading, writing and mathematics in grades 3 through 10 and in
science in grades 5, 8 and 10. On the CSAP 26% of 7th grade Place Middle School students
scored at or above proficient level on the writing portion of the CSAP assessment. That
means that 74% of seventh graders at Place middle school are below grade level standards
in writing. The Federal No Child Left Behind states that Place Middle School did not make
adequate yearly progress in 2005-2006 and the state Department of Education identified
this school as "in need of improvement, Year 2" for 2006-2007. (CO Dept. of Education,
2005-2006)

2. 2
Gap Analysis
The Studio writing curriculum that Denver Public Schools has been using fails to address
grammar and writing mechanics necessary for writing proficient essays. The ideal state at
Place would be that students would be proficient at writing essays that demonstrated
proper sentence structure, correct punctuation, and capitalization. The actual state at this
school is that students do not consistently demonstrate these skills based on CSAP scores.
Multiple Causes
There are three key factors that add to a large percentage of seventh graders performing
poorly. One such factor is that students lack needed organizational skills necessary for
academic success. Currently, 68% of students at Place Middle School are on free or
reduced lunch and lack the appropriate guidance at home in preparing for school each day.
Because of this, they are consistently missing required materials for class. Two, basic
grammar skills are below grade level as determined by the pre-essay assessment given to
all students the first week of school. Third, classroom teachers are asked to teach at grade
level with curriculum that does not support student’s needs in grammar and punctuation.
Other factors that contribute to the lack of student success on test scores are: inconsistency
of staff, student mobility, students arriving late to class, lack of parent support, large class
size and low staff morale. Another strong factor in low scores has to do with family income
level. The students participating in free or reduced-price lunch program at Place is 68%
compared to the State average of 32%. There is a strong correlation between low-test
scores and the lowest income schools as indicated in the article, “What's facing Denver
schools” from the Denver Post.
Our analysis found that DPS's lowest-income schools - those most in need of academic
growth - have shown little progress on the CSAP since the test's inception in 1996. While
some CSAP gains have occurred, they have been disproportionately in the district's highest-
income schools. As a result, the achievement gap in the district has widened, despite a
concerted effort over the past few years to narrow it. (Gottlieb & Schoales, 2005) To
increase scores on Benchmark tests we must consider the previously listed factors facing
our students and we must find methods in resolving these issues.
Non-Educational Alternatives
There are some non-educational alternatives that may solve some of the deficiencies in
writing. These alternatives consist of eating a good breakfast, going to bed at a reasonable
hour, getting to school on time and acquiring the necessary materials for class. Although
some of these alternatives are out of an educators control it is worthy to note that these
non-educational alternatives could contribute to solving some of the deficiencies in writing.

3. 3
Values and Priorities
Place Middle School has written a school improvement plan due to the low overall
academic performance on CSAP. It is recommended that teachers prioritize the immediate
needs of the students and formulate a plan of action to address any educational gaps within
the curriculum. Teachers also have high values in correcting these deficiencies as required
by the school improvement plan. At our school, teachers are given a great amount of
autonomy in designing new curriculum that supports the school improvement plan.
Determined Need/Recommendation
The need is to improve student achievement in the areas of reading and writing and
improve test scores. One method that can resolve writing deficiencies is to find what is and
what is not successful with students on the Benchmark assessments and determine
alternative positive interventions. Another recommendation for action is to design a
curriculum that addresses writing deficiencies through the use of graphic organizers, Daily
Oral Language practice sessions, grammar lessons, and the use of the 6 traits of writing
model.
The 6 trait writing model helps students understand what is working well and what needs
to be improved in their writing. This model gives teachers a focus for their writing
instruction and gives all a common language for talking about and celebrating writing. The
model also breaks down writing performance into a manageable group of teachable and
assessable skills. A key focus of the recommended action is to provide effective feedback to
students and to develop self-assessment skills in students so that they make improvements
in their own drafts. Current research supports the claim that immediate feedback on essay
writing increases student achievement (Natriello, 1987; Crooks, 1988; Black & William,
1998). This is also supported by Marzano’s (2003) synthesis of 35 years of research on
effective schools. In his research he identified a set of 11 strategies that characterize high-
achieving schools. Effective monitoring and feedback of assessment information to
students was ranked 2nd out of the 11 characteristics. Marzano also identified a number of
features of feedback that make it successful:
• Feedback needs to be judicious throughout the learning process
• Use specific feedback to the content being learned
• Align feedback with assessment
• Feedback needs to be formative in nature
The recommended action in this needs assessment is to design a curriculum that
meets all these criteria by helping students internalize and use feedback to generate their
own feedback as they work through their own process of writing.

4. 4
References
Black, P., & Wiliam, D. (1998). Assessment and classroom learning. Assessment in
Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 5(1), 7–74.
Crooks, T.J. (1988). The impact of classroom evaluation practices on students. Review of
Educational Research, 58(4), 438–481.
Gottlieb, Alan, Schoales, Van (2005). What's facing Denver schools? Retrieved February 4,
2007, from Study points to problems and fixes Web site: http://nychold.com/art-
denverpost-050703a.html
Marzano, R.J. (2003). What works in schools: Translating research into action.
Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Natriello, G. (1987). The impact of evaluation processes on students. Educational
Psychologist, 22(2), 155–175.