The Milwaukee Writing Proficiency Standards effort was established to improve writing by setting higher standards for selected grades in elementary, middle and high school. The emphasis is on writing and maintaining portfolios in all grades. High school students who do not demonstrate proficiency have two additional opportunities to reach proficiency in the senior year, plus the option of submitting a portfolio of their writing for an evaluation.
Teachers participate in district-wide scoring sessions and in workshops on the writing process.
Teacher leaders who can lead scoring sessions at the school and district level are needed. For the students not proficient in English, especially Spanish, the use of prompts and scoring rubrics with Spanish facilitate accurate and fair scoring. Tom McIntosh, Performance Assessment Specialist, Milwaukee Public Schools.