Finnish special-education teachers (n=135) rated five sentences written by an 11-year-old student either labeled or not labeled as being in a special class for educable mentally retarded (EMR) students. Results indicated that the EMR label diminished teachers' ratings and that teacher dogmatism and pessimistic stereotype correlated negatively with…

Describes a self-conference sheet used by a history professor to help students improve their research papers. Includes a sample sheet with questions for students to consider when revising their papers. Provides additional suggestions for evaluating first drafts and examining title, thesis, and explanation of the major point. (DK)

This review of the Test of Early Written Language concludes that the test succeeds in identifying students who are below their peers in writing and in measuring long-term gains in written language achievement; but its format makes it difficult to document specific strengths and weaknesses and its reliability; and validity have not been…

Analyzes the case of a Vietnamese-speaking science student who has repeatedly failed an English competency examination that analyzes essay content, rhetorical organization, and preparation for writing. Raises questions regarding the purposes, development, and evaluation of writing competency tests. (RDS)

Describes a play-based procedure for assessing young children's knowledge of the functions of writing. A case study highlights this discussion. (BB)

A study with more than 1,000 students in grades 3 and 8 explored the advantages of analytical scoring in writing assessment. Cluster analysis revealed 11 patterns of student scores, reflecting different patterns of writing strength and weakness, and replicated across 5 modes of writing. (SLD)

A study of the success of English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students on an institutional exit exam showed that ESL students are twice as likely as native English speakers to fail the exam although they compensate by passing the appeal. The findings suggest that portfolio assessment may be more valid for judging ESL students' writing. (Contains 25…

The effects of two distinct ways of responding to a student essay (discrete-item attention to form and holistic feedback on meaning) were compared for a linguistically diverse group of 26 first-year college students. Findings suggest that the holistic response is likely to result in improvements in grammatical accuracy. (19 references) (Author/LB)

Identifies problems of definition affecting the assessment of writing skills. Considers the strengths and weaknesses of three methods of assessing writing: multiple-choice testing, essay testing, and portfolio assessment. Offers recommendations about what should and should not be done in assessing written communication skills. (DMM)

Describes a collaboration between two high school English teachers that linked sophomore and senior English classes in using literacy for real purposes in the "Magazines for Change" project. Discusses the process of collaboration between the teachers, and describes the project itself. Notes the many benefits that resulted, and describes how…

Examines the dynamic relation between response theory and responding practice, noting how the author commented on the writing of one case-study student. Argues that effective teacher response puts into practice certain accepted principles of response and adapts comments to the larger classroom context, according to the sequence of assignments and…

Describes how a literacy coach worked with two content area teachers to revise the way they think about and implement instruction to enhance students' reading and writing. Shares two teacher inquiries: the experiences of a ninth-grade science teacher and his students as they developed and rated a class-written expository essay; and a…

Used writing samples, informal observations, and formal interviews and observations over 6 weeks to document a 4-year-old's emergent writing process. Found that the subject made the transition from the pre-phonetic to the semi-phonetic writing stages at an early age. Also found that young children's low tolerance level for frustration has…

Curriculum-based measures have been validated for use in evaluating reading, mathematics, and writing skills (Marston, 1989). Despite its common use by school psychologists (Wilson & Reschly, 1996), the relationship between the Woodcock Johnson-Revised and curriculum-based measures of writing has not been evaluated. This study investigated the…

Background: Previous research suggests that there are advantages to writing in groups or in pairs compared with writing individually, and that men write differently from women. However, as far as we know, no one has yet used new technology to assess published academic articles written in these different modes. Method: We assembled 80 papers from…