A Review of the Mathematics-Writing Prompts and Rubrics Across State Mathematics Assessments Within the United States

Source abstract

Mathematics writing, written composition about a mathematics topic with embedded symbols and representations, frequently occurs as part of mathematics instruction. Moreover, mathematics writing is noted on national standards to support mathematics communication and reasoning. Yet, little is known about the expectations for students to use mathematics writing on high-stakes assessments. In this study, we reviewed the inclusion of mathematics writing on Grade 3 to 8 state mathematics assessments across all 50 states in the United States and Washington, D.C. We measured the frequency of mathematics writing within assessments, the features of mathematics-writing prompts, and the features of mathematics-writing scoring methods. The study results demonstrated that mathematics writing occurs on approximately half of state mathematics assessments in Grades 3 to 8. Common features of mathematics-writing prompts included informative writing, word problems, and content targeting integer operations. All the included prompts used holistic rubrics as the scoring method with an emphasis on measuring mathematics performance. From these trends across state mathematics assessments, it can be concluded that mathematics writing should be emphasized as a critical part of mathematics instruction and intervention. In addition, practitioners and researchers should align instruction and intervention with assessment expectations on students.