Suggests that poetry teachers can make children's lives richer and happier and give them more alternatives. Urges teachers to persist in selecting and then learning poems to read aloud to the class. Notes that students will give teachers their trust when teachers point out to students where they are at their best in their work. (RS)

Addresses issues arising concerning work undertaken by the National Center for Education Statistics to begin development of a National Assessment of College Student Learning (NACSL). Reviews assessment forms; identifies conditions assessment of "advanced ability to communicate" should meet; suggests how the communication component of the…

Describes the establishment of a hermeneutic circle of portfolio researchers (writing teachers from Alaska to Florida) acting as "outside readers" for each other--six months into the project, the group established an e-mail network called "Portnet." Contemplates the group's experiences during Portnet's first year. (PA)

Addresses, in an empirical study, the role personality types of writers and of raters play in the holistic rating of writing, and whether there is a relationship between writers' personalities and raters' personalities. Indicates writers' personality types affect the ratings their essays receive and raters' personality types affect the ratings…

Describes consequences of an inadvertent misalignment in grading practice by analyzing an instructor's essay evaluation checklist. Finds that, in trying to promote evaluative consistency, the checklist privileges product over process, academic discourse over students' own voices, and an analytic predisposition to student writing over an…

Presents a model of the cognitive frameworks and processes used by essay scorers. Investigates the relationship between a scorer's reading style and proficiency with a scoring rubric. Finds that proficient scorers are better able to withhold judgment and may focus their efforts more intensely on the process of evaluation. Discusses implications of…

Examines the potential interactive effects of target race (African American/Caucasian), weight (overweight/nonoverweight), and gender (female/male) on American Caucasian students' ratings of writing competency. Reports differences in evaluation ratings based on the gender of the evaluator, the weight of the author, and the gender of the author.…

Aims to redefine what happens in the margins through a practice called "sideshadowing," adapted from Bakhtinian theorist Gary Saul Morson's examination of narrative technique. States that sideshadowing redirects the attention to the present moment, its multiple conflicts, and its multiple possibilities. Argues for sideshadowing's…

Describes a grading system used in a college composition class that shifts the focus away from letter grades and toward continuous student progress. Describes how it is based on a personalized, flexible standard that challenges each student's particular skills as a writer, and encourages real improvement in student writing. (SR)

Describes an empirical study that tested the impact of placement test rater meetings on rates of agreement and placement outcomes. Notes that the study provides a rich array of data for the testing of theoretical assumptions about placement models. Reviews the foundations of holistic scoring and the challenges raised by the Washington State…

Considers whether differences might emerge in writing quality when students wrote examinations by hand or on a computer, and whether raters differed in their evaluation of essays written by hand, on a computer, or by hand and then transcribed to typed form before scoring. Finds no statistically significant differences in ratings among the three…

Examines how visible students were as writers to instructors who were not acquainted with composition theory. Asks what identities faculty were crafting for themselves and their students (both consciously and unconsciously) and how those identities were revealed in their responses to student texts. Indicates that the content-area faculty…

Studied the relationship between writing skills tested on a relatively brief standardized assessment and some nontest indicators of student writing ability. Results for 2,057 college students show modest correlations between writing assessment essays and the various nontest indicators, with performance on the assessment exhibiting the strongest…

Maintains that all teachers on interdisciplinary teams in middle schools should teach writing. Examines how content area teachers can use writing to enhance learning. Looks at three levels of student writing (correlated with complexity and time) that may be useful in content area classes. Discusses concerns about writing in content areas. (SR)

Addresses problems related to consistency of goals and objectives in student portfolio applications. Poses questions to test if the portfolio process is working correctly and authentically, particularly in weighing the use of portfolios as a formative rather than summative tool. (SG)