Background: While the prevalence of language and communication difficulties among young people in custody is well established, holistic understanding of the complexity and co-occurrence of additional vulnerabilities among this population are rare. Methods: Ninety-three young people in a young offenders institution in England were assessed using…

In addition to determining students' writing proficiency, holistic writing scores obtained through a standardized evaluation provide useful data in making value judgments concerning various aspects of high school writing programs. In a cross-sectional study using holistic scoring, average scores of groups of students can be compared, and the…

Addressing the need to develop an evaluation system that assesses the effectiveness of a writing program on students' performance, the Holistic Writing Assessment Program of Mosley High School (Florida) was devised to ascertain and document the extent to which improvement occurred in students' compositions. On a designated day in the semester, all…

An informal study explored the difficulties of writing teachers who are asked to set aside preferred ways of viewing student writing for state-mandated criteria when serving as evaluators for state-mandated tests, such as Florida's College Level Academic Skills Test (CLAST). Twelve high school, community college, and university-level writing…

This manual is designed as a guide for the initial training of raters and referees in holistic evaluation of writing samples. It is intended for use by a single trainer in a group of twelve (nine raters, three referees) trainees. The manual is divided into sections corresponding to the procedures to be used in the training sessions. The left hand…

The writing examination package is divided into three volumes: Examination Handbook (present volume), Training Manual, and a Ratings Manual. The volumes are interdependent, and all three must be understood before using the Training Manual to train raters. The Examination Handbook provides a context for the other two volumes. It gives a general…