Suggests that direct and indirect measures of writing ability tend to tap similar skills. Concludes that educational decisions about competence in writing can be be made by using a combination of direct and indirect means. (FL)

Many local and state education agencies in the United States now mandate annual assessments of student writing ability. To comply with these mandates, schools across the country have developed a variety of assessment procedures. To determine the "state of the art" of large-scale writing assessment in the country, a questionnaire was sent…