These three booklets include the writing assessment tests of the Wisconsin Pupil Assessment Program for grades 5, 8, and 11. The first exercise in each booklet is the writing of a story using a photograph as the stimulus. The second exercise is the revision of a story written previously. The eleventh grade test also includes a third exercise:…

The Registered Holistic Scoring Method, which has been used for one year to score the ninth grade writing test of the New Jersey High School Proficiency Test, is described. Registered Holistic Scoring was developed from the previous holistic approach in order to provide more reliable scoring guidelines year after year. Two trained evaluators…

This manual contains the writing objectives and measurement specifications for grades 3, 5, and 9, for use by teachers and other educators responsible for pupil instruction, and for test development specialists involved with preparing the Texas Assessment of Basic Skills tests. The learning objectives are congruent with the "State Board of…

A statewide sample testing of writing skills in the fourth, seventh, and tenth grades was conducted by the Michigan Educational Assessment Program in the fall of 1982. This report, which shares the writing assessment information (historical, descriptive, and interpretive) for educational decision-making, was prepared in the hope of increasing…

Reports on the student assessment systems of states participating in the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory are presented. These reports were developed from the database of the Council of Chief State School Officers and the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory. Detailed information about each state's student assessment program…

The Texas Educational Assessment of Minimum Skills (TEAMS) Exit Level Writing Test is based on eight behavioral objectives that fall under five skill areas. Satisfactory performance on this test is required for high school graduation in Texas. This document, intended for teachers and test developers, presents general testing instructions and…

The DATAWave is a weekly publication of the Assessment Resource Office of Eastern New Mexico University (ENMU). Its purpose is to inform the campus community and broader constituencies about assessment issues and practice at ENMU. The issues of this first volume cover the following assessment topics: (1) introduction to the newsletter and report…

In December 1993, children who were in grade 3 in the Trenton Public Schools (New Jersey) in 1985-86 will take a high-risk writing proficiency test to determine whether they will graduate from high school. An emerging study of the writing of the Class of 1995 in Trenton is described as students move toward that test. The activity of studying…

The language arts department of an Arizona high school serving American Indian students developed a locally normed writing assessment to comply with a state mandate for the identification of limited English proficient (LEP) students. The members of the language arts department decided on a direct assessment of writing in which the student would…

Results of the Wisconsin Pupil Assessment Program's 1984 test administrations are summarized. A sample of 16,000 public school students were tested. Tests included objective-referenced tests in writing and understanding of economics, and the norm-referenced Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills (CTBS) test of reading, mathematics, and language.…

The Student Assessment Consortium (SAC), a collaboration between the Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing and the Council of Chief State School Officers, was created to facilitate innovative assessment work in several subject areas. Its purpose is to share expertise and information about the development of innovative…