The document outlines NC Write & Durham Public Schools' district-wide literacy initiative to improve student writing skills across curricular areas by incorporating the 5 pillars of literacy, 5 strands of the Common Core, and 21st century skills into classroom instruction. It details action steps for the initiative, including providing online writing tools for practice and feedback, writing prompts, graphic organizers, scoring rubrics, and professional development training for teachers in writing instruction. The goal is for students to effectively communicate through writing to be prepared for college and careers.

1. NC Write & Durham Public Schools:
A District-Wide Literacy Initiative
Trish Martin, Ed.D.

2. DPS Comprehensive Literacy Framework
The goal of all
literacy
instruction
The 5 Pillars of
Literacy
The 5 Strands of
the Common Core
Literacy Anchor
Standards
Curricular Areas
that provide
literacy
development
opportunities for
college and career
readiness.

3. Learners Communicating Effectively
through Writing
Incorporating Writing with:
• 21st Century Learning
• Reading Informational Texts
• Speaking and Listening
• Language
• Reading Literature
Within College & Career Ready
Curricular Areas including:
• Science
• Social Studies
• Healthful Living
• Mathematics
• Arts Education
• World Languages
• Career & Tech Education
• Literature

4. Action Steps
Learners
Communicating
Effectively
through Writing
Writing in Every
Classroom
Everyday
Support for
Content Area
Teachers
assigning and
scoring writing
Writing for
Learning
Training for All
Teachers
PreK - 12
Six Traits
Writing for
Grades 3 - 12
Differentiated
Support for
Student Writing
Improvement
District-Wide
Integrated
Performance
Tasks

5. • Online Practice Writing Tool for Students in Grades 2 - 12
• Argumentative, Informative/Explanatory, & Narrative Writing
• Instant holistic and trait scores using award-winning automated
scoring technologies
• Immediate suggestions for grammar, spelling, and writing trait
improvement
• Teacher/student feedback via electronic “sticky note”
suggestions, instant messaging, and digital peer review
• Student writing portfolios and reports for progress monitoring
• Interactive student writing tutorials

6. Ready-Made & Custom Writing Prompts
Pre-packaged and teacher-created writing prompts
with reading passages, images, and research links
to support claims and ideas.

7. Advanced Graphic Organizers
Digital graphic organizers to
help students plan and develop
different types of writing.

8. Holistic AND Trait Scoring
Powered by PEG™, the nation’s
leading automated essay-scoring
technology
First place in the Hewlitt Foundation
ASAP X-Prize Competition
Creating and Submitting an Essay
Enter text directly or
copy/paste from Word

9. Specific suggestions for
improvement on each of
the six traits of writing
Descriptive Feedback & Suggestions
Grammar and
spelling feedback
within the essay

10. Create and submit
multiple drafts of
an essay for
revision and
editing
Multiple Drafts for Revision & Editing

11. Interactive Writing Lessons
Students receive links to suggested writing trait lessons and
grammar exercises based on their individual writing needs

12. Peer Review Process

13. Student Writing Portfolio
Easily access all
essay drafts and
view score
averages
Access messages sent by
the instructor
View instructor
scores for content
accuracy and
textual evidence

14. Teacher Scoring Tool
In the student score report, teachers can select the number of stars that
correspond with the appropriate score point and add feedback in the comment
box.
Teachers can score student essays for
Textual Evidence (Standard 8 and 9) &
Content Accuracy (Standards 1,2,8,& 9)
using 0-3 scoring rubrics provided.
Students can view the score
and feedback through their
writing portfolio.

15. Contact Us
Measurement Incorporated
Software Products Division
423 Morris Street
Durham, NC 27701
919-683-2413
Trish Martin
tmartin@measinc.com
Ext. 2100
Elizabeth Price
eprice@measinc.com
Ext.