The hypothesis that role-playing scenarios specifying full rhetorical contexts were a superior means of eliciting valid writing samples for the purpose of assessing compositional skills of prospective Florida teachers was tested. In addition, topics for use on the initial administrations of the Florida Teacher Competency Examination's writing…

The development of the City University of New York's writing assessment test is discussed in this paper. Its relationship to the total freshman skills assessment program, which also involves the assessment of minimal competencies in mathematics and reading, is related. The discussion of the test includes descriptions of the test development…

In an informal experiment, ten pairs of passages covering a range of writing (poems, narrative prose, legal writing, "educationalese," anthropology, and literary criticism) were presented to two sections of freshman English and two sections of a graduate seminar in which the students were primarily experienced high school and college…

Examines the experience of reading student writing by holding it against current views of reading from literary theory and composition studies. Describes this experience as a concentrated effort at once to read and not to "read" the student writing. (MS)

To determine the reliability of evaluation decisions about student writing competency across modes of discourse, a large sample of students was randomly assigned a writing task in one of four modes of discourse. Results provide evidence that mode of discourse must be considered when judging the adequacy of student writing. (Author/LMO)

A comparative study examined the extent of growth in overall writing quality of college freshmen to determine whether feedback from the instructor during planning and the composing process (especially on the computer) was more effective than another instructor's feedback during conferences on each final, graded writing product in the students'…

This book is intended for graduate teaching assistants and undergraduate teacher education majors who might benefit from a directed exploration, reflection, and application of particular topics related to communicative language teaching and for practicing teachers who need a resource manual for developing tasks and materials for their classrooms.…

This report provides a longitudinal, comprehensive compendium of student performance data in the area of writing for the 2000-2001 school year. The report was generated using aggregate student data from North Carolina public schools, including charter schools, and provides information regarding student performance at the state level at each of the…

This document evaluates the effectiveness of the Los Angeles Unified School District's Academic English Mastery Program, a program designed to serve students whose lack of proficiency in standard American English is an impediment to academic performance. This study used random sampling, experimental and control groups, and three principle data…

Suggesting that informational kinds of reading and writing are crucial in every lesson, this book looks at how teachers can encourage children from the very beginning to think of themselves as young researchers using skills and strategies for clear purposes. It argues that the creative practitioner nurtures children's sense of wonder and curiosity…

This document includes the left-hand column ("What All Students Should Know") and the center column ("What All Students Should Be Able To Do") from "Missouri's Framework for Curriculum Development in Communication Arts K-12." Next to these two columns has been added a column which includes assessment notes for those…

This book presents 93 essays that offer guidance, reassurance, and commentary on the many activities leading up to and surrounding classroom instruction in first-year composition. Essays in the book are written by instructors who teach in community colleges, liberal arts colleges, state university systems, and research institutions. The 14 section…

Discusses the findings of a 1981 Montana survey that assessed English teachers' attitudes concerning the need for more preservice and inservice preparation. (HOD)

Suggests how social studies teachers can critically choose methods that allow for differences in students' learning styles and abilities and select ways to help students become part of the evaluation process. Includes a chart of nine different techniques which outlines advantages and considerations. (MJP)

Investigated the effect of grammatical and discourse features on rater perceptions of writing quality in evaluating foreign language writing samples. Also investigated differences in rating profiles between native and nonnative speaking raters. (Author/VWL)