MSCTC reaches out to junior high students

By Trisha Marczak (Contact) | The Daily Journal

Published Thursday, June 26, 2008

Continuing on in efforts to improve the writing skills of incoming college freshmen, Minnesota State Colleges and University system’s College Readiness Center is extending its services to junior high students.

English instructor, Paul Carney, began putting the pieces of the puzzle together a few years ago after noticing a large percentage of students entering college were unaware their writing skills did not meet standards set by college professors.

Fueled by his and other college educators’ concerns, Carney set out to create a program that would bridge the communicative gap between high school and college educators and bring incoming college freshmen up to speed on college expectations.

After two years of preparation and research, the high-school-focussed Ready or Not Writing program was launched. The program provides high school students with an online tool, allowing them to submit essays, already corrected by high school teachers, to college educators. The program, which has just wrapped up its first year, proved useful for both students and teachers.

Teachers are able to align their grading with that of college educator’s, while students receive feedback and recommendations that will help prep them for college courses.

Following on the heels of the program’s success, Carney is in the process of launching a similar program — Step Write Up Writing — designed for students in junior high.

“Step-Write-Up writing is a way of extending the ladder down to the junior high and high school,” Carney said.

Starting in October, the program will allow junior high students in participating schools to submit writing samples to high school English teachers within the same district. In the same spirit of Ready or Not Writing, high school teachers will provide constructive feedback to better prepare students for high school.

And although the two programs have their similarities, Carney said the junior high program will allow more room for relationships to form between students and educators, as students will consistently submit essays to the same teacher throughout the school year.

Students will also create a portfolio throughout the year that will serve as a measurement tool for each student’s progress.

“We’re trying to build this concept of progress and improvement,” Carney said.

Funded by a two-year 2.2 million grant from Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system, the program is designed to level the playing field for all students.

“We wanted to make sure that this program is designed and targeted for under represented populations,” Carney said. “That means kids of color, lower income, first generation bound...”

Rubric for Step Write Up Writing will mirror that of Ready or Not Writing, but will be adjusted to meet necessary skill levels expected of high school freshman. The rubric will measure skill levels in regards to conventions, sentence fluency, word choice, content and organization of the essay.

The goals of the program, Carney said, are to increase student skill level and confidence in writing and to reduce the number of students who require remediation in high school and college.

Students participating in the Step Write Up program will have the opportunity to link right into the Ready or Not Writing program. Hopefully, Carney said, college educators and incoming college freshman will notice the difference.

The program’s success will also be measured through student attitudinal surveys, ninth grade state writing scores and a focus group, which Carney plans on setting up with participating students and teachers.