Testing and Accountability
The State of California has defined what students should know and be able to do at each grade level in English/Language Arts, Mathematics, Social Science, and Science. PittsburgUnified School District has adopted these State Content Standards.
There are three things you can do to insure the highest possible scores on the 4th, 7th and 11th Grade State Writing Assessment:
- Concentrate on writing. Teachers and students should work from the sample prompts in the official CDE guide. If your school doesn't have this guide, click the link under ‘Additional Resources' at the end this page.
- Over the next week, teachers should be teaching students that they SHOULD take the time to write an outline first. Students should be taught to go back and forth between the outline and essay while they are writing their essay.
- Teachers should teach students what is needed to successfully complete this test:
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- Fourth graders should stick to the rule of 3's: 3 paragraphs + 3 specifics each.
- Seventh graders should stick to the rule of 3's with the addition of an entry paragraph and a summary paragraph. In total they should have an entry paragraph + 3 paragraphs with 3 specifics each + a summary paragraph.
- Student's experiencing difficulty with writing in each grade should be instructed to stick to the topic and write. They can get 2 of the possible 8 points just for writing to the topic. It will help your school's API.
