Defends the CUNY-WAT against the charges made by Fishman (CS 731 865). Offers suggestions for those wishing to undertake research into the choice of topics for writing assessment tests. (FL)

Argues that when tests equate proficiency, competency, and literacy with writing academic essays, they maintain a severely understated and mistaken notion of what it means to write well and usefully and vigorously. (FL)

In most colleges and universities, the task of assigning students to basic or remedial writing courses is handled the same way--students are tested during a summer orientation program by a combination objective and essay examination or during the first few days of the term by a composition instructor. Whereas the intentions of the testing are…

To revitalize humanities courses and to improve student thinking, a workshop for faculty members of the University of the Sacred Heart (Puerto Rico) will cover two models of collaborative learning, collaborative group work and peer criticism. In collaborative group work, students should be able to learn how to reach a consensus about a specific…

Standardized tests of writing ability have individual and shared limitations and deficiencies that should be acknowledged by test designers and users. Most institutions use the portions of standardized tests that test ability to proofread and edit, but they do not use the optional essay sections that actually require students to write. To assure…