Writing achievement is crucial for English as a foreign language (EFL) learners due to its impact on language skills, overall proficiency, academic success, creativity, and critical thinking. However, the teacher feedback may be problematic due to timing, subjectivity, overemphasis, and alignment with learning goals. Automated feedback, on the…

This study addresses a problem of practice at Nipmuc Elementary School (NES), a large urban elementary school in New England. State standardized test data and student writing samples showed that students were performing well-below grade level in writing. The primary factors driving this problem included teachers' lack of knowledge and low…

This article focuses on the 2019 National Monitoring Study of Student Achievement (NMSSA) assessment of student ability in writing. It begins with an overview of the study and its results, then turns to students' use of planning strategies to support their writing. Drawing on research on the association between planning and achievement in writing,…

This essay brings to light new evidence about the relationship between revision and reflective writing in the first-year writing classroom. Based on a robust study of student work, we illuminate a variety of complex relationships between the writing knowledge that students articulate in their reflections--including how they narrate their course…

The purpose of the report is to explore some of the mechanisms involved in the writing process. In particular, we examine students' process data (keystroke log analysis) to uncover how students approach a knowledge-telling task using 2 different task types. In the first task, students were asked to list as many words as possible related to a…

In this report, we examine the feasibility of characterizing writing performance using process features derived from a keystroke log. Using data derived from a set of "CBAL"™ writing assessments, we examine the following research questions: (a) How stable are the keystroke timing and process features across testing occasions?; (b) How…

Every Child a Writer is a genre-based model of writing instruction promoted by the National Literacy Coalition. This paper reports on Colorado schools implementing the model. Statistical analyses of achievement patterns in implementing schools were compared to statewide achievement results. A student cohort design across multiple years was…

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…

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of formulaic writing such as the five-paragraph theme (FPT) or essay for the purpose of earning high scores on high-stakes writing assessments. This qualitative descriptive study analyzed more than 1000 essays from Delaware Grade 8 and 10 writers, written for a statewide…

Describes the process approach to teaching writing and offers tips to teachers for increasing students' knowledge and understanding. (seven references) (LMI)

Providing information to help develop students' sense of narrative and to show them specific test-taking strategies, this publication is helpful to teachers as they ready their students for the North Carolina Fourth Grade Writing Assessment. The publication provides materials on generating ideas for writing, selecting topics, revising, developing…

Designed to provide an experience as close as possible to the actual assessment, this paper presents the revised model of assessment in writing for the Michigan High School Test (HST). The revisions incorporated into the paper reflect the testing transition from the High School Proficiency Test to the HST. Session 1 looks at how well students can…

A study investigated the effect of word processing on the quality of children's writing. Subjects were 32 fifth-graders in a public school in the suburban town of Livingston, New Jersey. One sample had access to computers in their classroom everyday for writing. The other sample group used computers once a week in the lab; their daily writing…

A study examined how college students wrote a critique of a sociology article; which features of written critiques were valued most by professors in the discipline; and whether students' educational level and status predicted the quality of their critiques. Subjects, 32 students enrolled in an upper-level sociology course, read and responded by…

This article presents a comprehensive model of daily, classroom informal writing assessment that is constantly linked to instruction and the characteristics of proficient writers. Methods for promoting teacher, student, and parent collaboration and their roles in dialoguing, conferencing, and reflection are discussed. Strategies for including…