The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of formulaic writing such as the five-paragraph theme (FPT) or essay for the purpose of earning high scores on high-stakes writing assessments. This qualitative descriptive study analyzed more than 1000 essays from Delaware Grade 8 and 10 writers, written for a statewide…

The purpose of this writing sampler is to familiarize Delaware teachers and students with the major writing portion of the Delaware Student Testing Program. Included for each grade level (3, 5, 8, and 10) are the original prompt and an example of exemplary student work. Although the intent was to include student work for each of the rubric score…

The purpose of this document is to familiarize educators and parents with the text-based portion of the Delaware Student Testing Program (DSTP) writing assessment for third grade. The DSTP writing assessment consists of one "stand-alone" writing prompt (representing 2/3 of the overall writing score) and one "text-based" prompt…

The purpose of this writing sampler is to provide teachers and students with work representing each of the rubric score points for the stand alone writing prompt on the 2001 Delaware Student Testing Program. The student papers included in this document are part of the "anchor sets" (collections of scored student work "anchored"…