Explanatory Performance Assessment
The Explanatory Performance Assessments were developed as part of the Reading and Writing Project at Columbia University, and is closely aligned with Common Core goals. Children are asked to listen to a piece of nonfiction writing. They are then asked to summarize the information in writing. Writing is then analyzed across several parameters, including reading, ideas and content, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions. Each parameter is judged on a scale of 1-4, according to a scoring rubric. The rubric can be interpreted as showing the student’s proficiency across each of the seven parameters. A total score is then produced across all seven parameters, with a possible total score of 28. Table 4 presents the mean and standard deviation for the total scores of the experimental compared to the control group.
Please Insert Table 4
The children in the control group had higher total scores, on the average, during all three assessment periods. The experimental group children had less variation in their EPA Performance Assessment scores than did the control group children during the Winter and Spring assessment.
When these data were subjected to an analysis of variance, the results were much the same as the above two analyses, F (1,4) =.307, p=.608. Effect size calculations were: d=.337 for the Fall assessment, d=.206 for the Winter assessment, and d=.297 for the Spring assessment. On the basis of this analysis the null hypothesis is accepted. Effect size calculations indicate small effects between the groups.