writing test items and passages

As a teacher I gave oodles of tests to my students every year. Some of the tests helped me teach what my students needed to know, and others seemed to have no obvious purpose except to satisfy the legislature. Once I began working as a freelance writer it occured to me that someone was paid to write these tests.

After looking around and paying attention to posts about writing test passages and items on the yahoo group NF for Kids: writing non-fiction for kids, I realized this was a job market for teachers and former teachers who like to write, and decided to find out more.

Test items and passages are written for test-preparation materials as well as actual tests. Continental Press , like many other publishers, creates materials based on state standards. Since each state has unique standards, they need fifty versions of their test-prep workbooks for each grade level. That's a lot of work for freelance writers.

Here are some companies that I have heard hire teachers and writers for test-prep and test-item work:

Measured Progress

Kaplan,Inc.

Educational Testing Service

Data Recognition Corporation

CTB/McGraw-Hill

ACT

Quarasan

Sometimes editors provide passages, asking writers to simply create test items to go with them. Most editors provide clear guidelines about how many of each type of test question to write. Some editors provide a template of sorts for the test items, and others give samples of the style they use. Sometimes writers are asked to write original passages and test-items to match. My experience has been varied.

Let us know if you've been hired recently to write test passages, test items, or test-prep materials. I'd love to send in a resume, and let others know where to find work.


Good luck with your writing!
Heidi

education wfh jobs update

I'm finally updating my wfh jobs links list along the right side of this blog. If you are looking for new job sources, scroll down until you get to: education wfh writing jobs . With luck, you'll find a company you didn't know about.

I'm sending out updated information to all of these companies. First, I checked each website to look for changes. Then, I looked through online catalogs (if there are any), and ordered catalogs that looked interesting.

Once I'm sure the company is still a good fit for me, I send a cover letter and resume, usually to Human Resources, Editorial, unless I have a current contact name.

I'd love to add to the list. Please share! If you have a blog with an excellent list, let me know.

Cheers,
Heidi

what do teachers want?

Teacher Appreciation Week in my house means a list is sent home by the Parent Association with items to send to school for the teacher each day. Sometimes my children and I are inspired by excellent teachers to go beyond the list, and sometimes we aren't. But in every case, I feel gratitude for these people who spend each day teaching my children.


I have spent the past ten months working in three schools with many great teachers who care deeply about doing their jobs well. I also noticed educational publishing trends that show publishers do listen to what teachers want. In honor of Teacher Appreciation Week I thought I'd pass along these observations to my fellow education freelance writers. Here are the top things I noticed this year:

-Teachers wanting MORE, MORE (!) science and social studies content related texts because they have less and less time to teach those two subjects. The teachers use language arts time to squeeze in some science and social studies content by reading related text whenever possible. (although everyone admits this isn't actually "teaching" science and social studies - but feel it's better than nothing)

-NF book purchases for the classroom and library aligned to state standards (including math which even the upper grade teachers want more of)

-Need for more NF materials that can be used for differentiated instruction (ELL, hi/low, etc)

-Questions about instructional materials being "research-based"

Have you noticed these or any other trends since last year? How has any of this affected your career?

Cheers,
Heidi

ps visit my post about my little Louella - a student who inspired me - Teacher Appreciation Week

free education clipart

Happy Monday! Thought I'd pass along this website to those who write on education and parenting topics:



The clip art gallery at Discovery Education wins today's prize for offering loads of free, safe clip art for educators and parents. Their terms of service are clear and easy to follow.

Do you have a favorite free clipart or graphics website?

Have a happy and productive week!

Cheers,
Heidi

Credit: "Clip art licensed from the Clip Art Gallery on DiscoverySchool.com"

education standards are hot

What's hot and what's not at the moment in education is often connected to education publishing wants and needs.

In a recent blog I wrote about why freelance writers should be aware of state and national standards. For example, if you are a non-fiction writer for children, standards will give you an idea what subjects teachers are required to teach for science and social studies. The standards influence choices teachers and librarians make when choosing books, teacher resources, and curriculum supplements. Think about it...if every child in the U.S. learns about the butterfly cycle at some point during the primary grades, publishers need to continue producing butterfly books and teaching materials so teachers don't get tired of using the same old stuff.

During the past week I had some time to kill in a school library. The librarian had stacks and stacks of catalogs, so I poured a cup of coffee and tooks extensive notes while looking through dozens of education publishers catalogs. You should try it! Very informative. It's extremely rare to find a catalog that doesn't claim to align their fiction and non-fiction books and curriculum products to state and national standards.

Here are some links to National standards you can bookmark or print out:

TESOL Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages

NCTM National Council of Teachers of Mathematics

NCTEStandards for the Language Arts sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of English and the International Reading Association

NETS National Education Technology Standards

NSES National Science Education standards

NASPE National Association for Sports and Physical Education

Editors ask me to work with state standards, too. I can usually find each state's standards by googling the name of the state followed by "standards". There is often a link to the standards on each state's department of education website.

So tell me, do you use state and national standards when you write?

Cheers,
Heidi

Write content for struggling readers

Have you ever thought about writing for struggling readers?

I became aware of content created specifically for struggling readers while working as a dyslexia intervention specialist about ten years ago. Flip through education publisher catalogues and you'll see categories like Hi/Lo Readers, Leveled Text, Reading Intervention Programs, and research-based programs for struggling readers.

Reading levels
First, you need to become familiar with reading levels. Kathy Schrock’s Guide for Readability Levels is a good place to start. My experience has been that publishers tell me what readability guide they prefer. It’s good to be familiar with them all.

If you want a printable reading level chart that compares grade levels, guided reading levels, DRA levels, Success for All levels, Reading Recovery levels, and Lexile levels, check out this chart from Scholastic.

Hi/Lo Readers
Hi/Lo books are high interest for older students, but low reading levels. They are developed with older children and teens in mind. The subject matter and illustrations reflect the older students who might be embarrassed about their struggle to learn to read. If you have ever taught upper grades, you know students like to hold the latest big, thick, cool novel in their hands and look as though they are reading it. No older student wants to sit in class and read from a skinny first grade beginning reader.

Reading Rockets (a MUST-BOOKMARK site for education writers) has an excellent article on the subject of Hi/Lo readers.

High Noon books specializes in the Hi/Lo market. Click on “Hi/Lo Reading Books” on their home page to see their large selection of Hi/Lo books.

Remedia Publications also has a nice selection of High Interest content for struggling students.

HIP Books has an edgy, fun look that older struggling readers would be attracted to.

Reading Intervention Programs
If you are asked to write content for a Reading Intervention Program, you need to be familiar with common terms like these on the Reading Rockets website. This website was created to be a resource for parents and teachers of struggling readers, and is my go-to spot for a quick review of terms.

Most publishers who need writers for reading intervention programs have a clearly developed plan, and need writers to create activities and lessons within their framework. You might be asked to write lessons based on grade-level state standards in a different way so students who are not reading on grade level can read and understand the content.

Where are the jobs?
I don’t have an easy answer for this. It comes down to persistence and research – and of course good timing. It helps to have a degree in education and experience with struggling readers to land your first job, but if you are a good writer, writing Hi/Lo stories or leveled readers is a good place to start.

So, what have I missed? Any ideas or experiences to share?

Cheers,
Heidi

correlation jobs

The most obvious things are often right in front of my nose and I can't see them. I guess I don't focus on them because I'm distracted by so many other things going on in the world around me. (having four kids at home will do that...)

Correlating work for the education market is a completely obvious option I never focused on. Never even considered it until I read a wonderfully helpful article on the Writing for the Education Market blog.

Correlating is sometimes called "alignment", because the work involves aligning curriculum, activities, and other content to state standards. Everyone who works in the education market has to deal with state standards and alignment at some point. Some education market writing assignments I've worked on were already aligned, so, I was asked to create content - such as test questions, test prep workbook content, teacher resource activity pages - for each standard.

I've worked as a literacy coach all year. Much of what I do is think about what the state and national standards are, and work with teachers to make sure their students are presented with excellent, relevant instruction. I sit with teachers and look at whether time spent during the language arts block reflects the education standards of the district, state, etc. Two big questions schools ask before making curriculum choices are: is it research-based?, and, does it correlate with our standards?

A good place to check out how state standards affect the publishing world are company websites. I have written two teacher resource books for Carson-Dellosa, and just noticed their State Standards search page this week. If you have a favorite publisher, find out whether they align their products to state standards. If they do, they have to pay someone to do the correlating. If you are looking for a new source of income, and have education-related experience, ask your editor if this might be an option for you. I plan to spend some time looking into this more thoroughly over the next couple months, and will let you know what I find out.

Here are some other companies I'm going to check into for correlating jobs. I don't know what will happen since this is a new area for me, but I'll let you know:

Six Things
Red Rover
Quarasan Group
Waterloo Education

Do you have any experience as a paid correlator? Have any tips or suggestions to share?

And, while you are visiting Laura at her Writing for the Education Market blog, be sure to sign up for her email option. She posts good job leads for the education market.

Cheers,
Heidi