ELA Writing Section & Modes

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires states to measure the full depth and breadth of their state academic content standards. Therefore, students must receive instruction in every writing mode outlined in the English Language Arts (ELA) Oklahoma Academic Standards as these modes are eligible for assessment in the future.  The Oklahoma State Department of Education will announce the assessed writing mode each year so that teachers and students may prepare for the Oklahoma School Testing Program assessments. However, all three writing modes should be taught to students, and students should be well practiced in each mode.

 For the 2016-2017 school year, the following modes will be assessed:

• Students taking the Grade 5 ELA test will be asked to write in an Informative mode.
• Students taking the Grade 8 ELA test will be asked to write in an Argument mode.
• Students taking the Grade 10 ELA test will be asked to write in an Argument mode.

Please be sure to reference the writing rubrics located within the ELA Test & Item Specifications posted on the state department’s website at: http://sde.ok.gov/sde/assessment-material for details on how these papers are scored.

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