The study aims to understand psychological processes relevant to learning argumentative writing in high school. Multi-group path analysis was used to explore whether self-efficacy mediates the relationship between writing anxiety and use of self-regulation across students with different goal orientation profiles. A cluster analysis identified…

The Advanced Placement® (AP®) Program offers high school students the opportunity to take rigorous coursework in high school and receive college credit for AP Exam scores that meet or exceed the requirements of their attending institution. Students receiving AP credit are typically exempted from an introductory level course or series of courses…

Prior research has demonstrated gaps in the academic success of college student subgroups defined by race/ethnicity, income, and gender. We studied trends over time in the success of students in these subgroups in particular first-year college courses: English Composition I, College Algebra, social science courses, and Biology. The study is based…

Following an organizational outline of specific language skills associated with expository writing (but applicable to creative writing as well), this booklet charts the introductory, teaching/refinement, and mastery levels from kindergarten through grade 12 for writing skills in the categories of sentence structure, paragraph structure,…

In this study, we investigated a variety of Reader effects that may influence the validity of ratings assigned to AP® English Literature and Composition essays. Specifically, we investigated whether Readers exhibit changes in their levels of severity and accuracy, and their use of individual scale categories over time. We refer to changes in these…

In response to the growing achievement gap between English Learners (ELs) and non-ELs, standards-based instruction and assessment have been promulgated at the state and federal level. Yet, the consequences of standards-based assessment reforms for ELs have rarely been systematically studied. The work reported here represents the initial study of a…

Concerned with the selection, organization, and expression of ideas, this sequential composition guide for elementary students places emphasis on "doing" and on "using" language in speaking and writing. Introductory materials include basic assumptions about composition, an overview of skills to be mastered, and a glossary of composition terms. The…

SELECTED ASPECTS OF COMPOSITIONS, WRITTEN BY INTERMEDIATE GRADE CHILDREN (FOURTH, FIFTH, AND SIXTH GRADES), WERE STUDIED TO REVEAL GROWTH GRADIENTS OF WRITTEN LANGUAGE BY THE FOLLOWING CHARACTERISTICS (1) SEX, (2) CHRONOLOGICAL AGE, (3) GRADE LEVEL, (4) GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION, AND (5) RESIDENCE AREA. THE SUBJECTS WERE 14,400 CHILDREN IN FOUR…