Here is your sampling letter, with names removed to protect the parties, but with the concepts intact.

Dear Parents/Guardians:

Starting third quarter, Teacher X and Teacher Y will be practicing random sampling on writing assignments in class. This practice is taken from the work on random sampling from Lee Jenkins [as influenced by Deming’s Quality Principles].

The way random sampling works is that once a deadline for an assigned paper arrives, all students save a final copy of the piece, including all drafts, and then the student grades their final piece using the rubric given. The teacher will collect all papers in order to assess completion. Upon collection of every student’s work, the teacher randomly draws five numbers or the square root of the total number of students in the class. The square root provides a large enough sample to provide accuracy and a clear picture of the writing issues plaguing the papers. The ‘owners’ of these five numbers are the authors who will actually have their papers assessed by the rubric. All other papers will be immediately returned and placed in students’ writing folders.

The reason for sampling – there is just not enough time to assess students AND provide students with abundant writing opportunities. Random sampling permits the frequent gathering of skills information by which the teacher can then direct her instruction. Due to the limited and manageable number of papers, the teacher is able to grade the collected papers immediately; maintain a consistent grading perspective; provide more thorough and thoughtful feedback to the five students; and without delay, return the collected papers and offer subsequent, timely follow-up conferences.

Under the traditional collection method, teachers face at least two weeks of intermittent grading until all papers can be scored and returned. With such a time span, the teacher’s grading perspective and accuracy ebb and flow; remaining consistent and precise is nearly impossible. Fearing a pile up of work needing grading, no new writing would begin. Finding planning time or continuing to conference is difficult as well. With random sampling, however, students and teacher are ready to apply a fresh idea to a different writing mode within a few short days. With random sampling, the teacher determines the specific mini-lessons from the sample papers and the common problems contained within. Students are swiftly and with minimal pause, back into the writing process.

The writing process continues, but in the duration, students have regular and consistent access for editing and revising, during which time they need to be revising all previous pieces to reflect the most recent mini-lesson or conference conversation. By the last two weeks of the quarter, every student has had one piece of writing formally assessed.

During the quarter, time is offered for final revisions on ALL pieces. Conferences for revising and editing continue. Focused, productive work is crucial. With random sampling, students must give their full attention to ALL of their pieces of writing, since they do not know when their number will come up or which pieces will be collected. They cannot afford to ignore or slight any single piece of writing. Original rubrics, graded or not, are attached to the latest round of revisions and the new, final draft.

As the quarter nears its end, the completed pieces of writing are assigned a number; a foam die is rolled, and whichever number is rolled, the corresponding numbered piece of writing is submitted by all students. For the quarter, this is the one and only piece of writing that every student will have scored.

By the end of the quarter, each student will have a language arts grade partially based upon two completed and graded papers. While two sizeable papers per quarter is not atypical, the reality that these students have written five or more significant papers per quarter is completely unusual, and absolutely necessary if we wish our students to have numerous rich writing opportunities.

The essays are cumulative, and by semester’s end, students have at least ten possible papers to revise, edit, and potentially submit. The dice could be rolled multiple times, selecting two to three numbers, permitting students to choose their favorite piece of those two or three.

As with most things, random sampling has a few drawbacks. The situation that elicits the most commentary – “What if I think I have written my finest paper of all times, but my number is not drawn? My teacher will never read it.” For some students, this is a legitimate concern, which can easily be addressed. A student and teacher will have multiple chances to confer about many pieces; the student’s “best-ever” piece could be read and discussed during conferences.

Some parents have suggested that random sampling is demotivating, but we have found to the contrary. When surveyed, all students reported the unpredictability of sampling required them to work hard all the time. Teachers find that to be a “good thing.”

Finally, students must work hard all the time on all their pieces. They must be independent workers. They must be able to manage their time and work productively. That reality can often go unheeded by some students, and in the end, the consequences will be steep. However, as 8th grade teachers, preparation for the demands of high school is always lurking in the work and management skills we teach. We feel by using random sampling we are affording our students the rich writing opportunities with the most constructive and effective teaching and feedback, while fostering responsibility in our students.

In the end, the students have lost nothing via this process and have gained much because they will have many more opportunities for writing, conferencing, and improving their skills.

Thank you for taking the time to read this information regarding this new and exciting procedure. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, do not hesitate to contact Teacher X or Teacher Y. We can be reached via email at XXX or YYY or by phone at ###-###-####.

Thank you,

Team ############


Anyone who has read the literature in a Playboy magazine already subscribes to this sampling technique. Who are we to object?

quote:

Some parents have suggested that random sampling is demotivating

First thing my Hadley graduate said when I informed he/she of the practice.

He/She a top student is still aggravated at the lack of education received at Hadley. Especially in the LA department. Feels the students from the area private schools are much more prepared than the students from Hadley.

Sad. Just sad.

quote:

Finally, students must work hard all the time on all their pieces. They must be independent workers. They must be able to manage their time and work productively. That reality can often go unheeded by some students, and in the end, the consequences will be steep. However, as 8th grade teachers, preparation for the demands of high school is always lurking in the work and management skills we teach. We feel by using random sampling we are affording our students the rich writing opportunities with the most constructive and effective teaching and feedback, while fostering responsibility in our students.

There's a program at 5:00 on Thursdays on WSCR. It's called "Who ya crappin?

Independent work comes from the confidence to work independently. It's not intuitive. So, the objective here is not to teach writing, but to teach responsibility, time management and productivity. Forget the love of the written word. By sampling, you are NOT affording "rich writing opportunities", only the fear of getting caught doing a poor job. Lose the corporate-speak. You are trying to make your time more efficient. Effectiveness is a completely different concept.
Finally, if I hear about "preparation for the demands of high school" one more.....just a laughable statement. When do we start finals weeks in middle school?

i think that everyone should go in tomorrow and tell their boss that they are only going to do a random sampling of work, based on the square root of what needs to be done. who cooks up this stuff? here's an idea...hire graders!!! there are alot of college educated stay at home moms who could grade a sampling (ha ha) of papers, and then ALL the papers could receive attention. they could pay 10.00 an hour....it would be one way for them to give back some of the money they stole from us the last 7 years or so.