This study examined writing samples from across the United States to provide information on the writing of students in American high schools, students taking the General Educational Development Examination (GED), and a group of undergraduate students at Indiana University. The report includes findings on writing fluency, correctness of spelling, spelling variations, and the amount of estimated interference posed by misspelling. The samples for this study came from three national writing assessments, one state writing assessment program, and one comparison group of undergraduate students at Indiana University. Findings fall into two major categories: (1) words written (including the number of words per sample, the relationship of words written to the number of samples and of prompts, the most frequent words, and a sample of words which have either entered or left common usage since earlier studies); and (2) correctness of spelling (including the overall percentage of correctness, the most frequently misspelled words, and the numbers of variations of spelling). (Twenty-one tables of data and five figures are included. Appendixes contain the most frequently written words for grades 9 through 12, GED, and Indiana University undergraduates, and the most frequently misspelled words for the same groups.) (SR)