Thirty Days to Unlock FCAT Writing Success - Polk County School ...

Analyzing and Creating Writing Prompts
• As a class, or in small groups, students examine FCAT Writing prompts and share with the whole
class what they notice. Post responses on chart paper.
o NOTE: Teacher should help students to identify the following:
• types of writing assessed at their grade level (expository &
persuasive)
• different purposes for writing elicited from prompts (to explain,
inform, clarify a process, define a concept, convince/persuade)
• two basic components of all prompts: the writing situation and
directions for writing audience identified in persuasive writing
• Read Descriptions of the Writing Prompts with students, next page. Emphasize the Department
of Education’s focus on avoiding bias in FCAT Writing prompts. Make the explicit connection
for students between the vague language in the prompts and the goal of avoiding bias.
• Working in groups, students create prompts that are similar to FCAT prompts. Be sure they
model the criteria of the prompt. It must be general enough so that it does not provide bias.
Must be worded in the same format. Must have an expository and a persuasive prompt.
• Evaluate prompts in small groups or as a class for their effectiveness in meeting the prompt
criteria. Students should use the P-A-C activity to analyze the prompt.
Descriptions of the FCAT Writing Prompts: From the Florida Writes! Report on the 2007
FCAT Writing Assessment
Each student taking the FCAT Writing+ assessment is given a booklet in which the topic for writing,
called a prompt, is printed. The prompt serves as a stimulus for writing by presenting the topic and by
suggesting that the student think about some aspect of the topic’s central theme. The prompt does not
contain directives concerning the organizational structure or the development of support.
Prompts are designed to elicit writing for specific purposes. For instance, expository prompts ask
students to explain why or how, while persuasive prompts require students to convince a person to
accept a point of view or to take a particular action. Prompts have two basic components: the writing
situation and the directions for writing. The writing situation orients students to the subject, and the
directions for writing set the parameters, such as identifying the audience to whom the writing is
directed.
The prompts for the FCAT Writing+ assessment are selected to ensure that the subject matter is
appropriate for eighth grade students. In addition, prompts are reviewed for offensive or biased
language relating to religion, gender, and racial or ethnic backgrounds. All prompts are reviewed by
members of the Eighth Grade Writing Assessment Advisory Committee and are pilot tested on a small
group of students, then field tested on 1,000 students statewide. The DOE annually writes, reviews, pilot
tests, and field tests prompts for potential use.
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