This study examines differences and similarities in the information provided by direct and indirect measures of writing from the Collegiate Assessment of Academic Proficiency (CAAP). The indirect measure was a 72-item multiple-choice test, while the direct measure involved responding to two essay prompts. The 40-minute multiple-choice test can be…

The purpose of this paper is to compare the precision of direct and indirect measures of writing assessment using the test information functions from a graded response Item Response Theory (IRT) model. Subjects were 192 sophomore English students from a parochial high school in Wisconsin. Both direct and indirect measures of writing ability were…

The similarity of information provided by direct and indirect methods of writing assessment was investigated using 219 tenth graders. A resulting cognitive model of writing skills indicates that practitioners interested in reliably measuring all aspects of the proposed writing process continuum use both direct and indirect methods. (TJH)