Wakonda students write well by Ally Eckert Wakonda's ninth graders and most of the fifth graders are proficient writers, according to recent results of the Stanford Writing Assessment.
Every year, South Dakota's fifth and ninth graders take the Stanford writing assessment test. In October, 21,259 students across the state were administered the test. Overall 60 percent of ninth graders and 48 percent of fifth graders are proficient in writing in South Dakota.
The students' writing was graded on six analytic categories: ideas and development, organization, unity and coherence, word choice, sentences and paragraphs, grammar and usage, and mechanics.
The results show that Wakonda ninth graders are well above the state average, with three 100 percent proficiency scores.
"The freshmen are excellent thinkers and writers," says high school English teacher Stacy Huber. "To see the 100 percent proficiency in three categories is so exciting � that means that each and every student scored proficient or advanced in those areas. These ninth grades scores have got to be one of the highest in the state."
The fifth graders are above average in three of the six analytic categories but below in the other three. The tables below show these scores.
Ninth Grade
Analytic Categories State (%) Wakonda (%)
Ideas & Development 66 93
Organization, Unity, & Coherence 64 100
Word Choice 63 100
Sentences & Paragraphs 65 100
Grammar & Usage 62 93
Mechanics 63 85
Fifth Grade
Analytic Categories State (%) Wakonda (%)
Ideas & Development 64 73
Organization, Unity, & Coherence 38 30
Word Choice 55 36
Sentences & Paragraphs 41 54
Grammar & Usage 47 64
Mechanics 42 27
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