Literature on the learning benefits and interpersonal mechanisms of peer assessment (PA) and teacher assessment (TA) has been inconsistent. As part of a large-scale study, the research reported here has addressed the effect of formative PA on language grammar uptake and complexity, accuracy, and fluency triad scale levels, in comparison both to TA…

This research inspects the allocation of involvement load to the evaluation component of the involvement load hypothesis, examining how three typical approaches to evaluation (cloze-exercises, sentence-writing, and composition-writing) promote word learning. The results of this research were partially consistent with the predictions of the…

In this report, we examine the feasibility of characterizing writing performance using process features derived from a keystroke log. Using data derived from a set of "CBAL"™ writing assessments, we examine the following research questions: (a) How stable are the keystroke timing and process features across testing occasions?; (b) How…

Automated scoring models for the "e-rater"® scoring engine were built and evaluated for the "GRE"® argument and issue-writing tasks. Prompt-specific, generic, and generic with prompt-specific intercept scoring models were built and evaluation statistics such as weighted kappas, Pearson correlations, standardized difference in…

A comparison of oral interviewing and written proctoring procedures is described. Students were required to present units orally or in writing from unit study guides. Final exam scores were positively correlated with the number of oral interviews one student interviewer gave to another student, and negatively correlated with the number of…

A study of 58 students in fifth grade (4 with disabilities) examined consequences of a statewide performance assessment program using Curriculum-Based Measurement. Results found significant gains in written expression, but no progress in reading, and concluded that this probably reflected increased time in writing activities in preparation for the…

A study within one Australian college of education investigated the appropriateness of literature-based essays to test learning and attitudes of students and faculty toward the assessment method. It is concluded that a number of faculty had shortcomings in theoretical knowledge of assessment, and that use of these essays frequently failed to meet…

Skill acquisition is conceptualized as a three-step process in which students sequentially know about, understand, and apply a skill. Skills are described as conceptually based actions whose performance in the classroom is dependent upon cognitive factors. Written classroom simulations are described as one effective means of measuring…

The purpose of this paper is to present the rationale and procedures used to implement the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) system of scoring writing papers from the 1974 national assessment of writing. Identifying important writing skills and developing writing tasks, scoring guides, and scoring procedures are also discussed. A…

To determine what pedagogical uses the primary trait system might serve apart from providing a means to assess students' writing, data were collected from 11 elementary and junior high school teachers who had participated in an earlier week-long workshop on primary trait scoring. Participating teachers were asked to complete a log of their…

Skilled and unskilled writers were given detailed information about an urban planning project and then read a letter from an influential, interested, and potentially hostile writer requesting information about the project. Each writer was next asked to generate all the ideas needed to answer the letter, organize a framework for the letter from a…

To determine whether Olivet Nazarene University's standard freshman writing course requirements measure favorably with those of the majority of the 75 Christian College Coalition (CCC) members, a study compared the textbooks, papers, activities, and evaluation procedures required by each institution. Stephen Witte's "National Survey of…

Reports on a research study to determine if computer-aided instruction could help stimulate prewriting composition. Compares three methods of prewriting instruction and argues that a systematic procedure may be taught as a means of improving writing production. Contends computer usage can enhance this procedure. (RKM)

This summary of the Bloomington, Minnesota, public schools writing assessment program includes background information about the selection of exercises that assessed fourth-, eighth-, and eleventh-grade students' writing abilities, a list of these exercises that were used, and information about the students who were assessed. The results of the…

Eighth grade students, in response to a pictorial stimulus (either an intact picture, or a series), were instructed to write either a story (which would be enjoyable for another eighth grader) or a description (which would help another eighth grader visualize the picture). Thirty responses from each of the four task conditions were then analyzed.…