District Administration of State Written Composition Test
3501.0250 TESTING FOR STATEWIDE STANDARDS IN THE BASIC
REQUIREMENT OF WRITTEN COMPOSITION.
Subpart 1. District testing. A school district shall test for competency in the statewide standard in the basic
requirement of written composition by using the state basic skills test of written composition.
Subp. 2. Offering tests in basic requirements. A district shall first offer the test of the basic requirement in written
composition to students in grade 10. Nonpassing students shall be given the opportunity to retake the test of the basic
requirement in written composition at least annually.
Subp. 3. Additional testing opportunities. A district shall establish a process for additional testing of students who
by April 1 of their anticipated graduation year have not passed a test in the basic requirement in written composition.
The process shall include:
A. how the parent, student, or both can request:
(1) an additional testing opportunity to take the basic requirement in written composition test; and
(2) testing accommodations;
B. the procedure that the district shall use to act on a request in item A; and
C. how a parent, student, or both can appeal the district's action under item B.
In addition to the regularly scheduled annual availability of a new form of the state test, an additional statewide
administration of the state test shall be made available by the department for one additional retesting of seniors.
Subp. 4. Transfer students. A student transferring into a district shall not be required to take a test of the basic
requirement for written composition if the student's record from the former school verifies that the student has already passed a
test of that basic requirement consistent with this part. This subpart applies even if the student transfers into a district
that has higher standards than the statewide standard for the basic requirement in written composition.
Subp. 5. Specifications for state test in written composition. The state test shall assess the statewide standard
for the basic requirement in written composition. The state test shall be written, administered, and scored according to
subparts 6 to 8.
Subp. 6. Test contents. The state test shall require a student to compose a single composition in response to one
prompt. The prompt shall:
A. require no prior preparation for response;
B. indicate that the response should be written for a specific adult reader;
C. accommodate a variety of writing strategies and instruction;
D. contain a topic that is unknown to students, their parents, teachers, or test proctors before the actual testing session; and
E. elicit demonstration of the general scoring criteria of the statewide standard for the basic requirement in written composition.
Subp. 7. Test administration. The state test shall be administered according to standard conditions for administration that shall be provided to the district with the test.
A. The state test shall be untimed but must be completed in an unbroken block of time. Once the student is excused for lunch, another class, activity, or to go home, the testing session has been concluded.
B. The state test shall require that the student's response be written directly in the test booklets without the use of word processors or writing tools other than pencils and pens, except when the district determines that a student has a physical condition that prevents the student writing by hand or as provided for under part 3501.0090.
C. A student shall not use a dictionary, thesaurus, or other published or prepared reference or preparation material of any type during testing.
Subp. 8. Test scoring. Tests shall be scored independently by members of a state-approved, trained scoring panel using the scoring criteria and the scoring process specified by the state. The state scoring process for the test of the basic requirement in written composition shall be according to items A to E.
A. The state shall contract with an independent vendor chosen for its experience and reliability in training and conducting the scoring of tests of written composition.
B. The contracted vendor shall train each rater on the prompt to be scored and each rater shall satisfactorily complete a qualifying assessment prior to scoring actual student responses. The contractor shall provide periodic reports of interrater agreement as scoring progresses and summary data on interrater agreement when scoring has been completed. The contractor shall also periodically recheck the accuracy of each rater. To qualify for scoring student responses, an individual
rater shall demonstrate at least a 90 percent rate of agreement with scores assigned by scoring leaders.
C. A rubric, which is the scoring criteria applied to example compositions unique to a specific prompt, shall be developed as part of the rater training process for rating a specific prompt.
D. Each composition shall be rated independently by two raters. Raters shall assign ratings on a scale of one to four (1-4) or assign a designation of not scorable according to the general scoring criteria in part 3501.0240 and the rubric developed for the specific prompt being scored. When a rater assigns N, the scoring leader shall either determine that the final score is N or declare the test scorable. A test, declared scorable through this procedure, shall be returned to begin the rating process again. Raters may assign only whole number ratings. Except as provided in item E, the written composition score for each student shall be the average of the two assigned ratings. An average score of at least 3.0 shall be required to pass the written composition test.
E. A student composition shall be evaluated by a third rater who is a scoring leader when the composition receives two ratings that:
(1) differ by more than one point; or
(2) consist of one 2 and one 3 rating.
The scoring leader shall independently assign a third rating to the composition. The final score shall be calculated by averaging the two ratings that are on the same side of the pass/not pass line. Final scores that are possible under this item are: 1, 1.5, 2, 3, 3.5, and 4. An assigned score of at least 3.0 shall be required to pass the written composition test.
Subp. 9. Test review. All written compositions shall be returned to districts after scoring is completed so that schools, teachers, and students have the opportunity to review them for diagnosis of student writing proficiency and identification of needs for further instruction. Districts may request, in advance of scoring, that compositions with failing scores be returned with analytic scoring to provide additional assistance in preparing the student for retesting.
STAT AUTH: MS s 14.388; 121.11
HIST: 21 SR 1106; L 1998 c 397 art 11 s 3; 23 SR 2358
Current as of 10/27/03
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