A program of the
Volunteer Judges
Welcome to InvestWrite
What is InvestWrite?
InvestWrite® is an innovative national writing competition, sponsored by the SIFMA Foundation, for students in 4th through 12th grade. InvestWrite integrates critical thinking and language arts components that help reinforce the financial decision-making skills that students learn in the classroom while using The Stock Market Game™ program.
Being a Volunteer InvestWrite Judge
The SIFMA Foundation would be honored to have you participate as a national judge in this unique educational competition!
Your participation will help us recognize students throughout the nation for their newly acquired investment knowledge. Moreover, you will play a significant role in selecting which students and teachers win great InvestWrite awards! Be a volunteer - Register to judge now!
VOLUNTEER
Arthur Ashe
May Quan - Elementary School Teacher
Through InvestWrite, my students were able to recognize the importance of diversification in their individual portfolios and learn about different charity organizations in the community. With the past InvestWrite topic, my students were glad to have the opportunity to combine their personal experience with their favorite charity and money management. It really made them think and research hard on how to make the existing charity’s money grow at the same time as how to protect its principal as much as possible. They learned that the way to do this is through diversification and managing calculated risks.
Morrisville, North Carolina
Judith Kraus - Middle School Teacher
The InvestWrite essay serves as an authentic assessment of my students' ability to research, analyze, and concisely communicate key financial concepts and metrics to an authentic audience of industry experts. The relevant and comprehensive scenarios challenge my students to demonstrate an applied understanding of personal finance. InvestWrite is a key measure of their progress from financial literacy toward true financial capability.
Las Vegas, Nevada
Lewis C. Smith III - Elementary School Teacher
With the InvestWrite program, my students see connections all around them. They see the usefulness of their inventive, artistic and analytic talents. Here a mathematical ability and the development of clear and concise expression coincide to generate a real-world argument which students can be proud of.
Romulus, Michigan
Daniel Adler - High School Teacher
InvestWrite puts The Stock Market Game into context. It allows it to become more than a contest, more than guessing. It requires students to think about what they are doing and to put their purchases into the context of the economy as a whole.
Investwrite makes macroeconomics come to life for students. When the questions relate to the economy as a whole, or when students can legitimately bring those things into their answer, it brings to life the connection between the broader economy and their own life decisions.
The awards and trophies decorate my room and they are great motivators for students!
Long Beach, CA
What is my role as a judge?
As a judge, you will evaluate up to 8 student essays, 300-1000 words each.
For standardization purposes, each essay provided to you will be of the same grade division (elementary, middle or high school). The essays you will receive have been pre-selected by the students’ classroom teacher and will be graded by four volunteers.
Judging will take place entirely online, with no meetings or phone calls! All contact will be handled via email and through the InvestWrite judging website. When the judging session begins you will be notified by email that student essays have been assigned for you to judge. The email will direct you to the InvestWrite judges’ website where you will be given directions on how to review and score your students’ essays.
Directions for Judging
We make it easy to be a volunteer judge. For your convenience, you will be given the option to review and score the entries online or print the entries and return to the website to assign scores to each essay.
The essays you judge will be scored on a 300 point system according to the following criteria: Rationale (100 points), student's understanding of the subject matter (100 points), and writing style(100 points). Below is an explanation of the essay grading criteria:
Rationale (100 points)
The essay should be well organized and written in a manner that indicates there was a logical thought process involved in addressing the assignment. In the essay, the student should present a thoughtful progression of ideas and recommendations. The essay should draw clear connections between the students thinking and recommendations or conclusions.
Understanding of the Subject Matter (100 points)
Read the essay with the following questions in mind. Does the student address the elements of the question using appropriate terminology? Does the student exhibit knowledge regarding researching and planning an investment strategy? This aspect of scoring targets the students understanding of the basic concepts taught in the Stock Market Game.
Writing Style (100 points)
This scoring element allows the student's creativity to be recognized. Judges assess if the essay is interesting and easy to read and if they were encouraged to continue reading to the conclusion of the essay. Students have an opportunity to exhibit the ability to communicate thoughts in an engaging and inviting manner. Writing style includes assessment of grammar, spelling, and punctuation. This scoring element also offers students the chance to think beyond examples provided in the essay prompt and make their essay unique by expressing their individual interests and creativity.
Once you have been assigned your essays you will be provided a document that will provide additional information to assist you in the judging process.
Judges FAQ's
Are there any special requirements to be a judge?
In order to ensure the integrity of the competition, all judges are subject to approval by the SIFMA Foundation prior to judging. In addition, educators participating in the InvestWrite program in any capacity will not be allowed to contribute to the judging process.
How much time will it take me to judge InvestWrite essays?
Depending on the number of judges participating, you could receive up to 8 essays to judge. Please plan to spend between one to two hours reviewing and scoring all essays.
Why must I review and score the essays within three days?
InvestWrite was designed to provide teachers participating in The Stock Market Game™ program as much time as possible to implement the competition in the classroom before the end of the semester. Completing the judging process within this time frame will ensure that teachers and students can be presented with their prizes prior to the close of the school term.
How will I know when to start?
Once the essays are ready to be judged, you will receive an email notification containing the login ID and password information needed in order to gain access to your InvestWrite essays.
Will I be given directions on how to judge?
Yes. Upon accessing the InvestWrite website to judge the essays, you will be provided with comprehensive grading directions, explanation of the point system and the InvestWrite assignment for your grade division.