Western Oregon Journal

Two years ago, Dr. Katherine Schmidt, the Writing Center Director and Assistant Professor of English at Western, was teaching pre-education students about standards for writing and how assessments are conducted when she realized, Here I have all these future Oregon teachers learning about state assessment. Why not end the course by really doing it? The idea to set up training on campus came from Western English Professor, Dr. Cornelia Paraskevas, and the idea became a reality thanks to Ken Hermens, a Western graduate and the state’s Language Arts Assessment Specialist.

Western hosted its first annual State Department of Education Field Test Training and Scoring project in Dec. of 2003. Sixty students at Western, and students from local colleges including the University of Oregon, Oregon State University and Chemeketa Community College received free training and certification as professional state scorers after receiving rigorous training, then grading actual papers from tenth grade students. It was the hope of Dr. Schmidt to make this a “yearly event, with a different grade each year.” This year, 65 students assessed fifth grade papers.

During a five-hour training session on Monday Dec. 6, students were introduced to the state guidelines and benchmarks on writing and assessment. They were coached on the six different scoring categories, and then began to practice their grading. On Tuesday, Dec. 7, students were given actual elementary school papers to grade during a six-hour scoring session. “It was very challenging,” said Dr. Schmidt, “and your success depends on what you bring to it.” Upon certification, students are able to become paid assessors.

According to Hermens, the writing assessment is part of a federal and state requirement for students in elementary, middle and high schools that, “measures students writing proficiency.” Oregon has 12 to 15 assessment sites including Linn-Benton Community College, Albany and West Salem High School, and in the past, licensed teachers have been paid by the state to get certification as professional scorers.

“The scoring and assessment series offers pre-service teachers at Western a truly unique opportunity, in that teachers gain a real understanding of what student writing looks like, how the state of Oregon values that writing and how we as teachers can make a difference in the classroom and in writers’ lives,” said Schmidt.

This free, hands-on learning experience and professional training is one of the opportunities provided to students at Western. Many education classes, including FS 358 Winter Experience and Math 396, provide students interactive experiences, including fieldwork, training and mentoring. There are many leadership activities, internships and training opportunities scheduled for the rest of the 2004-2005 school year, so check your announcements and your email for upcoming events.

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