The purpose of the 2011 NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) Writing Framework is to describe how the new NAEP Writing Assessment is designed to measure students' writing at grades 4, 8, and 12. As the ongoing national indicator of the academic achievement of students in the United States, NAEP regularly collects information on…

Scoring systems for direct writing assessment are described. In holistic scoring, a global quality judgment of the writing sample is made. Primary trait scoring, developed by the National Assessment of Educational Progress, is conducted in accordance with specific goals. Analytic scoring identifies characteristics and quality of writing. These…

The Connecticut Assessment of Educational Progress assesses writing traits using different approaches to diagnose students' skills. These include multiple choice, direct assessment, "revising test," dictation, and note-taking. These measures and scoring guides are used to assess several elements of good writing. (DWH)

The proceedings of a one-day training seminar on the assessment of writing proficiency are presented. The seminar was designed to bring educators up to date on newly developed assessment methods and to help them see the developmental directions of the future. The program was divided into two parts: large-group presentations and small-group…

Describes a study that developed a valid method of assessing coherence based on current linguistic theory and discourse analysis that was then used to reanalyze the "Describe" essays written by 13- and 17-year-old students for the 1969, 1973-74, and 1978-79 NAEP assessments. (HOD)

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 1998 Writing Assessment measured student writing performance at the 4th, 8th, and 12th grades. Scoring guides for each grade allowed scorers to objectively evaluate students' work. This issue of NAEPfacts includes a 4th-grade narrative scoring guide, along with samples of student work at each…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 1998 Writing Assessment measured student writing performance at the 4th, 8th, and 12th grades. Scoring guides for three different writing purposes for each grade allowed scorers to objectively evaluate students' work. This issue of NAEPfacts includes an 8th-grade informative writing scoring…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 1998 Writing Assessment measured student writing performance at the 4th, 8th, and 12th grades. Scoring guides for three different writing purposes at each grade allowed scorers to objectively evaluate students' work. This issue of NAEPfacts includes a 12th-grade persuasive writing scoring…

A major issue facing the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Writing Assessment is its relationship with the most frequently encountered measurement practices among State Education Agencies (SEAs) and Local Education Agencies (LEAs). Should NAEP conduct its assessments in a fashion that represents how things should be, or reflect…

This study involved the selection and adaptation of a writing assessment procedure for teachers and researchers in the Duval County Public Schools (Florida) to use in assessing changes in writing ability among elementary grade students. Through a review of the literature, four writing assessment procedures (analytic, holistic, focused holistic,…

These comments provide further details which expand upon the recommendations of the subcommittee on National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Writing. Three issues are discussed. The first concerns how objectives of assessment in writing ought to be stated. The 1984 objectives are stated in general terms without reference to what might…

The influence of disability labels, writing behavior of the person labeled, evaluator's expertise, and the interaction between these variables on the scores assigned to children's writing was examined. Disability labels did not affect the score, but the quality of writing and the examiner's expertise had a significant influence. (JAZ)

A study was conducted to test the effectiveness of four instructional strategies on students' writing. Students, 138 fourth, sixth, and eighth graders in a semi-rural school district in southern California, were instructed in informational writing through one of four instructional strategies: (1) presentation of model pieces of writing; (2)…

Supplementary to "NAEP 1996 Trends in Academic Progress," this report describes two aspects of writing for which change has been measured since 1984: writing fluency as determined by holistic scoring; and mastery of the conventions of written English as determined by mechanics scoring. The introduction discusses the layout and means of…

Results from the third national writing assessment of 17-year-old students conducted in 1979 by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) are presented in this volume. Chapter one provides highlights of the results of the test assessment which indicate neither a major decline nor improvement in writing performance of 17-year-old…