Today's high-stakes testing world has changed the English classroom a great deal, and perhaps one of the most dramatically affected areas has been that of creative writing. As all English teachers well know, creative writing does not easily lend itself to a multiple-choice test or a five-paragraph essay. As the authors began the push to prepare…

This paper discusses the development of a program of writing instruction across the curriculum at William Jewell College. It reports on a series of faculty forums that discussed what the college-wide standards for effective writing should be, investigated multidisciplinary instruction in writing, and considered a proficiency test. Descriptions of…

The Educational Testing Service Composition Scale was derived from a factor analysis of grades on 300 college freshman compositions, followed by further ratings using the scales with high school papers. This summary provides brief descriptions of the characteristics of student writing rated high, middle, and low on the eight subscales: ideas;…

Examines reasons for using essay tests in the direct assessment of writing ability. Reviews the steps in developing a large-scale testing program; e.g., creating a pool of topics or prompts; developing scoring procedures; training raters; field-testing the system; scoring writing samples; assessing reliability; and assessing validity. (DMM)

The South Carolina Basic Skills Assessment Program (BSAP) is discussed in a question/answer format. The 20 questions present information regarding the requirements of the legislation as it impacts classroom instruction, parental notification and involvement, recordkeeping, local school curricula, additional instructional materials, developmental…

In 1981, the Faculty Senate, at an upper division midwestern university, initiated the consideration of a literate skills testing program to address variance in academic level of the entering undergraduate student. The policy stipulated that all undergraduate students admitted to a degree program must demonstrate competency in writing and…

Since 1979, New York State has been working on an instrument to evaluate elementary school students' writing ability. Several thousand writing samples were obtained and were analyzed, by a test development committee consisting of elementary school teachers, qualitatively within each grade as high, average, and low, and in terms of organization and…

The faculties of the postsecondary institutions in Florida, using the authority of the State Board of Education, have implemented a testing program that increases the assurance that all students who complete their sophomore year in college have achieved the communication and computation skills expected of them. (Author/MLW)

In 1972, the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia instituted the Regents' Testing Program (RTP) to provide systemwide information on the status of student competence in reading and writing and to provide a uniform means of identifying those students who fail to attain minimum levels of competence in these areas. Since 1972, some…

In 1976, the American College Testing Program (ACT) organized the College Outcome Measures Project (COMP) to design, develop, validate, and implement assessment materials for measuring the knowledge and skills that are expected of general education college graduates and that are important to functioning effectively in adult society. The Composite…

In compliance with Section 1 of the 1978 Act 631, the following information is reported: (1) the administration of readiness test to all students at the beginning of first grade and (2) the development, field testing, and revision of end of year criterion-referenced tests in Grades 1, 2, 3, 6, and 8. The readiness test was administered statewide…

Competency testing in New York State began in the nineteenth century, first with a local testing mandate and later with the "preliminary Regents examinations," which were administered at the end of the eighth grade. Optional competency tests were introduced in 1962, and in 1976 the Board of Regents mandated the passing of a series of…

In 1981, as part of its implementation of Roueche's model for developmental education, Pima Community College (PCC) initiated its first collegewide assessment and placement program. Faculty in the areas of reading, writing, and mathematics met to establish scores on which recommendations for student course placement would be based. A study was…

The New York Regents Competency Testing Program has been designed to assure that all students develop adequate skills in reading comprehension, writing, and mathematics before graduation from high school. In this booklet, information is provided on two elements of the Regents Competency Testing Program: diploma standards and screening tests.…

Information is presented on curriculum regulations for the Danish Higher Preparatory (HP) Examination. The examination is composed of common core subjects and elective subjects. Information is presented on the number of weekly lessons for common core and elective subjects; foreign language study; music and creative art; joint classes including…