Supports for Writing
Writing is an essential skill for students to develop during their educational process. Good writing is an integral part of being a well educated person. It helps students analyze and synthesize information at a deeper level. Some students will develop writing skills with ease, while others will require additional supports and patience as their skills develop. The information on this page is designed to help all students in the Pulaski County School District develop proficient writing skills.
Universal Screening
Curriculum-based measures of spelling and written expression are available through AIMSweb to subscribing schools in our district. The following tools are available:
- Spelling
- Written Expression
- Total Words Written
- Words Spelled Correctly
- Correct Writing Sentences
Click this link to access the AIMSweb administration and scoring manual for Written Expression.
Tiered Service Delivery
In this section you will find information useful for implementing research-based instructional strategies for supporting the development of writing skills for core programming as well as individual learners.
- KDE Writing Handbook
- Learning Strategies
- Content Enhancement
- Writing Intervention Resources
- Writing Next - Middle and High School
Progress Monitoring
As with universal screening, curriculum-based measures of spelling and written expression are available through AIMSweb to subscribing schools in our district. The following tools are available:
- Spelling
- Written Expression
- Total Words Written
- Words Spelled Correctly
- Correct Writing Sentences
Click this link to access the AIMSweb administration and scoring manual for Written Expression.
Professional Development
Our district has access to staff trained as professional developers through the University of Kansas for the following intensive writing strategies. In the event you are interested in PD/follow-up on any of the research-based strategies or routines, please feel free to contact Amy Polston at 679-1123. Additional information can also be found at this link.
University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning (Writing Strategies):
- Fundamentals of Simple Sentence Writing Strategy (direct instruction of writing four types of simple sentences
- Proficiency in Sentence Writing Strategy (direct instruction of writing 14 types of varied sentence structure to include simple, compound, compound-complex, complex)
- Paragraph Writing Strategy (direct instruction for writing paragraphs of varied types)
- Fundamentals in Theme Writing Strategy (direct instruction of five paragraph essay)
- The Commas Strategies Program (direct instruction via CD program)
- The Capitalization Strategies Program (direct instruction via CD program)