Third grade teachers collected writing samples from their students. The writing samples were administered in the same fashion as the SAI and ISAT assessments. The teachers then scored the samples using a four-feature rubric. The data reported is the number of students who scored 2 or less on the features of focus, support and organization and less than a 2 on the convention feature. 77% of the total errors in third grade occurred in the areas of support and organization. The third grade teachers did a relation’s diagram to attempt to discover the root cause of two essential questions: Why can't students create support? and Why is student organization so poor? The third grade teachers developed an improvement theory from the root causes and effects.

Root Causes:

• Students are not encouraged to communicate.
• Students have a lack of life experiences.

Root Effects:

• Students do not go beyond the physical properties.

Improvement Theory:

• Design opportunities for students to share thoughts and feelings with a partner.
• Summarizing activity (2:00—1:00—:30—talk—listen—talk)
• Journal writing for fluency (interactive once per month)
• Morning message
• Apply graphic organizer for reading selection.
• Model feelings associated with writing instruction.