Lisa Reagan

TERG 3703

4/2/19

Writing Sample Analysis

A writing sample analysis was administered to Kaliyah E. on March 1st, 2019. Kaliyah

just turned nine years old. She is in the 3rd grade at Volney Rogers Elementary School. The

assessment that was administered is called the Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Assessment. The

end of this assessment contains a writing portion, which was administered directly after the oral

reading and comprehension questions. The text that was used is called The Sleepover Party by

Melinda Boroson, which is a level H on the Fountas and Pinnell Scale.

While a level H reading is usually administered to children in the first grade, it is within

Kaliyah’s independent reading level. Although, she later moved to a letter K to find her

instructional level. The prompt that Kaliyah responded to for the writing portion of the

assessment said, “Write about how Jim felt about the sleepover party at the beginning of the

story and how he felt at the end.” This prompt also allowed the child to draw a picture to go with

her writing, which she did draw a picture for the beginning of the story and the end of the story.

Kaliyah showed that she understood the text, but she seemed to have some trouble writing about

what she was able to comprehend.

The writing sample was scored based on the 6 + 1 Traits 4 Point Writing Rubric:

Analytic Writing Scoring Guide. This rubric helps teachers score based on ideas, organization,

word choice, sentence fluency, conventions, voice, and presentation. Kaliyah scored a total of 13

out of 28 on the rubric, which shows that she is mostly between progressing and developing in

her writing skills. For ideas, Kaliyah received a 2 out of 4. She received this score because the
details in her writing are limited and broad, lacking specificity of her overall comprehension of

the text. For example, Kaliyah wrote “Jim felt happy in the end” but she did not specify as to

why Jim was happy. She received a score of 1 out of 4 for organization of the writing sample.

Kaliyah’s writing sample consists of two sentences, one for the beginning of the book and one

for the end. She drew very detailed pictures to convey the specific details of the text, but she did

not explain these details in her writing. She received this score because her writing was missing

transitions and it was very brief so there was not evident of appropriate paragraphing. For word

choice, Kaliyah received a score of 1 out of 4, due to limited vocabulary and lack of figurative

language. Kaliyah used the words “weird,” “happy,” “beginning,” and “end” which depict

effective vocabulary terms, but she did not expand on vocabulary further than this to describe

how Jim had felt in the text. For sentence fluency, she received a score of 2 out of 4 because the

two sentences were clear, but she did not have enough writing to determine sentence variety

being used. For example, Kaliyah wrote “jim felt weerid becuase He was going to a sleepover in

the beginning.” This sentence was clear and showed that audience how Jim felt and what he was

doing at the beginning, but the format of the sentence is showing that she may have difficulty

structuring a sentence.

For conventions, Kaliyah received 3 out of 4 points due to her errors not distracting from

the meaning that she was trying to convey. Kaliyah did show some errors in grammar,

punctuation, capitalization, and spelling. For an example of her punctuation, Kaliyah did not put

a period at the end of her first sentence. For an example of capitalization, Kaliyah did not

capitalize the name “Jim” which was also the first word in both of her sentences. Kaliyah also

had random capitalized letters in the middle of sentences for the words “He” and “The.” An

example of her spelling was shown when she spelled weird as “weerid,” because as “becuase,”
and felt as “felf.” For voice, Kaliyah received a score of 1 out of 4 because she did not show a

concern for audience and she did not seem to show perspective. For example, Kaliyah wrote

“Jim felt happy in the end,” which does not reflect a viewpoint or concern for audience as she

left out details that would be necessary to tell an audience. Lastly, Kaliyah received a score of 3

out of 4 for presentation because her hand writing was legible, and the appearance of the writing

was acceptable. Kaliyah showed some trouble with spacing letters and she traced over some

letters to adjust their form. Overall, Kaliyah’s seems to be between progressing and developing

as a writer according to this rubric.

These findings show a lot about Kaliyah’s ability as a writer. Kaliyah has strengths in

conventions and presentation. This shows that she makes errors, but they do not distract from the

meaning she is trying to convey. Her handwriting is legible and she is able to form letters

appropriately. Kaliyah is still working on progressing towards strengthening her weaknesses in

ideas, organization, word choice, sentence fluency, and voice. The most concern for her

weaknesses seems to be in organization, word choice, and voice. Overall, Kaliyah is progressing

towards a development of skills to strengthen her writing.