This report presents results of the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in writing at grades 8 and 12. In this new national writing assessment sample, 24,100 eighth-graders and 28,100 twelfth-graders engaged with writing tasks and composed their responses on computer. The assessment tasks reflected writing situations common to…

The two studies described here compare essays composed on word processors with those composed with pen and paper for a standardized writing assessment. The following questions guided these studies: (1) Are there differences in test administration and writing processes associated with handwritten versus word-processor writing assessments? (2) Are…