Current literature on writing instruction focuses on the writing conference, which accompanies a shift in emphasis from product to process and potentially transforms the teacher's role from task master and evaluator to respondent, opening the door to greater peer interaction in literacy learning. However desirable this ideal may be, extant…

The current New Jersey high school graduation law requires that students pass a ninth grade test in reading, writing, and mathematics. Equating the writing test from year to year to be sure that passing scores remain identical, regardless of the test form administered, requires developing a scoring technique. A research study was developed based…

Based on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 1984 assessment of the writing achievement of American school children, this report presents national and demographic subgroup achievement results for students in grades four, eight, and eleven, and discusses students' attitudes toward writing and instruction. The first chapter…

The Success in Reading and Writing Program used in the District of Columbia Public Schools in 1985-86 is described and evaluated. The program, used in pre-kindergarten through sixth grade, employed a variety of materials, as well as the students' own writing. Instruction lasted approximately 2.5 hours each school day. The program connected reading…

The first statewide direct writing assessment was conducted for grade 8 by the California Assessment Program (CAP) in the spring of 1987. Each student wrote an essay in response to 1 of 15 prompts (writing tasks) representing: (1) an autobiographical incident; (2) a report of information; (3) a solution to a problem; and (4) an evaluation. In all,…

Designed to coordinate composition instruction between the primary and senior high school years, this curriculum guide presents a system for both the direct teaching of specific composition objectives and the assessment of student achievement and program effectiveness. The first of the guide's five major sections explains the curriculum's scope,…

This resource manual resulted from a professional development project conducted in New York to provide two-year college staff members with the awareness, skills, and knowledge necessary to facilitate and reinforce occupational students' acquisition of writing skills. Introductory material outlines the purposes and objectives of the project, i.e.,…

Addressing the question of why some children manage to continue successfully through the later stages of literacy acquisition while others are unable to meet the challenges presented by fourth and fifth grade reading tasks, an 18-month, in-depth study was conducted of the home environment factors influencing the reading comprehension of second,…

The present study, using a sample of 1,491 grade 10 students from a mid-western province in Canada, examined the validity evidence on the Canadian Tests of Basic Skills. Factor analysis of the 34 micro-skills (content by skill/process classification of items) of the four tests indicated that the Reading Comprehension, Written Expression, and Using…

A small follow-up study of three male and five female children, who were at risk of school failure and were enrolled in a model developmental Early Learning Center in the Boston (Massachusetts) Public Schools, is described. The focus was on determining whether a standardized achievement measure used to evaluate student academic success/progress…

The At-Risk Student Program Area, part of the National Center on Effective Secondary Schools, will study how at-risk secondary school students are affected by special programs, efforts toward school improvement, and policies of admission and attendance. This paper describes the testing procedures that will be used. Data will be collected in six…

To evaluate the effectiveness of a new writing curriculum in the Oak Ridge Schools (Tennessee), modeled after the process-oriented National Writing Project, a three-year study of student writing was conducted. The study consisted of evaluating writing samples collected from 90 students in grades 3 through 12 over 3 consecutive years, and surveying…

The third administration of the California State University and Colleges Freshman English Equivalency Examination, a test consisting of an objective examination graded by the Educational Testing Service and an essay examination scored by California State University and College faculty, is analyzed in this report. After a short preface, the first…

The fourth administration of the California State University and Colleges Freshman English Equivalency Examination, a test consisting of an objective examination graded by the Educational Testing Service and an essay examination scored by California State University and College faculty, is analyzed in this report. After a short index of previous…

The fifth administration of the California State University and Colleges Freshman English Equivalency Examination, a test consisting of an objective examination graded by the Educational Testing Service and an essay examination scored by California State University and College faculty, is analyzed in this report. After a short index of previous…