Notes that portfolios are a valuable classroom practice and one with many applications to the world students will enter when they leave the classroom, but the use of portfolios to assess distorts the concept and weakens its effectiveness. Discourages the use of portfolios for assessment. Concludes that portfolios are not about assessment; they are…

Describes features of the Six Traits approach to assessing student writing in a Montessori elementary classroom: ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions. Includes sample assessments for informational and creative writing. Maintains that use of the Six Traits assessment in conjunction with student reflection…

Interviews with 15 doctoral students in nursing generated themes related to the usefulness of writing critique. Students expressed a need for clearly designed writing assignments, varied feedback at different stages of the writing process, recognition of individuality, and assistance in finding their scholarly voice. (SK)

Examines comments of three writing teachers to the same student paper to call into question the simplicity of labeling teacher comments as either facilitative or directive. Points to more directive ways to talk about teacher evaluations and marks. (TB)

Analyzes two students' responses to a self-diagnostic writing prompt. Finds that the essays are effective in allowing the reader to perform an accurate "diagnosis" and in allowing students the opportunity to articulate their own interests and concerns about their writing. (RS)

Describes a two-year study to determine the relationship between initial evaluations of student placement essays and progress in a developmental writing course sequence at a midsize university. Finds a positive relationship and presents the methodology as a model for assessment, citing its adaptability, minimal costs, and improved program…

Tells the story of how two new English education professors attempted to introduce alternative methods of writing assessment to their education students. Explains the beliefs the professors brought to the experience and how these beliefs were altered by the resistance the professors encountered from their students. (TB)

Uses 90 postsecondary writing instructors and their rankings of 9 student essays to determine whether they have biases for a Greco-Latinate or Anglo-Saxon vocabulary. Raises questions about assessment practices, teaching methods, and possible effects on students who are exposed to teachers who variously favor a Greco-Latinate or an Anglo-Saxon…

Provides an overview--especially for administrators, developers, and tutors new to electronic tutoring environments--of issues and considerations unique to online tutoring that training programs need to address. Discusses three aspects of online tutoring: appreciating text-only environments, developing procedures for responding online, and…

Promotes honest debate focused upon clearer and more accurate writing. Errors commonly found in texts originate in part by overhasty publication and oversimplification. (SAH)

Describes methods especially suited for large classes of nontraditional students in community college creative writing courses. Suggests that by commenting upon and grading students' written peer responses, the instructor can enlist the class to become a peer audience that thoughtfully writes criticism and comments on each others' work each week.…

Suggests coordinated assessment and intervention strategies that speech language pathologists, special educators, and general educators, in co-teaching or inclusive settings, can use to assist at-risk students to achieve both oral and written linguistic competence. Proposes a strong link between talking and writing in the normal developmental…

Examines criterion-related validity of curriculum-based measures in written expression for secondary students. Finds a combination of measures was better than any single measure for predicting students' general performance in written expression; and 3 measures added to the prediction of students' general writing proficiency (number of characters…

Discusses issues surrounding classroom-based assessment of writing. Describes the author's own experiences in developing and using a formative evaluation system for middle school students with learning problems; and discusses issues related to the linkage between assessment and instruction. Suggests matters of technical adequacy are as important…

Discusses how a writing/design (service learning) assignment in a technical writing class offered an opportunity to investigate differences and similarities in evaluation criteria between the classroom (instructors) and the workplace (clients outside academe). Finds considerable overlap between what instructors and clients emphasized, and large…