This study utilized confirmatory factor analyses and latent change score analyses to model individual and developmental differences in a longitudinal study of children's writing. Participants were 158 children who completed a writing sample each year from 1st through 4th grade. At all four time points, a four-factor model of writing provided…

National assessment data indicate that the large majority of students in America perform below expected proficiency levels in the area of writing. Given the importance of writing skills, this is a significant problem. Curriculum-based measurement, when used for progress monitoring and intervention planning, has been shown to lead to improved…

By centralizing the issue of test fairness in language proficiency assessments, this study responds to a call by researchers for developing greater social responsibility in the language testing agenda. As inquiries into language attitude and psychology indicate, there is an underlying uncertainty pertaining to the validity of test use and score…