The experience of the Colorado Springs (Colorado) Public Schools (CSPS) in using different assessment forms for different purposes is detailed. A small niche is reserved for national norm-referenced testing to fill the state achievement testing mandate and for Chapter 1 accountability. A second, and larger, part of the assessment program will be…

The New Mexico Portfolio Writing Assessment for grades 4 and 6 (optional for grade 8) is conducted each school year with a call for each student's best piece in March. All students in grades 4 and 6 participate, unless assessed as Limited English Proficient. This Teacher's Guide provides instructions for procedures to be followed throughout the…

The New Mexico Portfolio Writing Assessment for grades 4 and 6 (optional for grade 8) is conducted each school year, with a call for each student's best piece in March. This Teacher's Guide provides instructions for implementing the portfolio program throughout the year, in order to ensure standardized application of the process. The portfolio…

In 1991 Pennsylvania began implementation of a direct writing assessment at the sixth-grade and ninth-grade levels. A total of 18,758 sixth graders and 16,575 ninth graders wrote a response to 1 of 9 prompts reflecting 3 modes of writing. A six-point holistic scale was used to score the papers, with two readers scoring each paper. A third reader,…

Information on current trends and issues in English instruction, compiled by the directors of six National Council of Teachers of English commissions, is presented in this report, the eighth annual report by the commissions. The commissions and their directors represented in the report are: (1) Commission on Reading (Patrick Shannon); (2)…

Intended for classroom teachers who are interested in but apprehensive about starting a writing program, this journal article addresses some of the most common questions asked at workshops. The specific questions answered in the article are as follows: (1) How do I start? (2) What materials are needed? (3) How do I find time for student writing?…

Focusing on children's production of written language, a two-year study, conducted on the Oodham (Papago) Indian Reservation in Arizona, explored social context, linguistic systems, and the creation of meaning as aspects of the writing process. Ten American Indian children in third and fourth grade provided over 200 stories that formed the basic…

By building up the confidence of student writers, writing teachers hope to reduce the hostility and anxiety so often found in authoritarian introductory college composition classes. Process oriented writing theory implicitly defines confidence as a wholly personal quality resulting from students' discovery that they do have "something to…

Evaluating the longitudinal effects of a 5-year secondary school composition curriculum, a study investigated students' perceptions of their ability to use essay-level and syntax-level skills. Student questionnaires provided perception, definition, and usefulness data about the curriculum. Results showed that 3 years elapsed before students became…

A variety of process-oriented writing instruction strategies are presented in this focused journal issue. Article titles and authors are as follows: (1) "Central Reference to the Rescue" (Rod Kessler); (2)"Brainstorming: A Heuristic that Works" (Frank C. Cronin); (3) "Brainstorming: A Valuable Supplemental Technique for…

Intended for teachers of composition courses, this book provides twelve bibliographic essays covering various aspects of composition studies. The list of essays are as follows: (1) "Recent Developments in Rhetorical Invention" (Richard Young); (2) "Structure and Form in Non-Narrative Prose" (Richard L. Larson); (3)…

Intended for teachers and encompassing all aspects of teaching writing, this book applies the process paradigm to junior and senior high writing instruction. Part 1, "Process and Paradigm," outlines challenges faced by junior and senior high school writing instructors, defines the process paradigm, and presents a sample integrated…

The writing learning objectives for fifth graders contained in this volume are congruent with the Texas "State Board of Education Rules for Curriculum." These objectives and the measurement specifications are provided for use by teachers and other educators responsible for student instruction and for test development specialists involved…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 38 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) revision using electronic word processing; (2) photography as an intervention strategy in the verbal composing process; (3) the effects of planning processes…

The purpose of this study was to determine the validity of the National Teacher Examinations (NTE) Core Battery for use in teacher certification in Louisiana. This information was produced to assist in the recommendation and establishment of a required score on the NTE. The jury judgment approach was used. Panels of faculty members were drawn from…