First-Year Seminars (FYS) are among the high-impact practices described by AAC&U. We studied the long-standing First-Year Seminar Program at our public research university for the ways in which writing assignments--individualized for each seminar--help faculty and students achieve program objectives in critical and analytical thinking, the…

Using an experimental study design (N = 41), we examined whether participation in an informal writing assignment, specifically writing a letter to a friend about course content, improved exam scores in an undergraduate child development course. Findings indicated that participating in the writing assignment significantly improved scores on an exam…

This article describes a three-year study assessing change in critical thinking demonstrated in essays written for regular class assignments. A rubric was designed and scorers trained to assess critical thinking holistically without knowledge of the writing prompt or author's status. The longitudinal improvement in scores earned by freshmen over…

The language arts component of the California State "Model Curriculum Guides" series, this document sets guidelines for the elementary and middle school English language arts curriculum. The guide suggests a learning sequence--core, integrated, and across the curriculum--and delineates concepts, skills, and activities appropriate for…