An attempt was made to replicate findings of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) among nine-year-old Hispanic students in Grade 4. The subjects were from 12 classrooms in four elementary schools with high Hispanic student enrollments. All writing activities took place within the respective classrooms during the morning, and the students were given as much time to complete the writing assignments as they needed. Ninety-two imaginative writing samples were collected; 72 informative writing samples were collected; and 76 persuasive writing samples were collected. Results were compared to NAEP findings for the national sample. For informative and persuasive writing, the NAEP sample produced superior writing samples, but the study sample was superior in imaginative writing. Within the study sample, no significant differences were attributable to gender for imaginative or informative writing, but females were superior to males in persuasive writing. The distribution of scores in the study sample was different from NAEP findings, indicating that the NAEP results have applications as a criterion in schools and do not exist for their own sake. (SLD)