Weighting responses to Constructed-Response (CR) items has been proposed as a way to increase the contribution these items make to the test score when there is insufficient testing time to administer additional CR items. The effect of various types of weighting items of an IRT-based mixed-format writing examination was investigated.…

This paper undertakes a review of the literature on writing cognition, writing instruction, and writing assessment with the goal of developing a framework and competency model for a new approach to writing assessment. The model developed is part of the Cognitively Based Assessments of, for, and as Learning (CBAL) initiative, an ongoing research…

This paper presents the Final Report on the Audio-Digital MCAS Pilot Program. The Department and Recording For the Blind & Dyslexic (RFB&D) have collaborated to provide audio-digital read-aloud editions of the Grade 10 English Language Arts and Mathematics MCAS tests for a small number of students with disabilities such as dyslexia and/or…

Two major obstacles to using problem-based learning methods with writing in elementary school classrooms are the time it takes to design the learning environment and the time required for students to interact at their own pace with ill-structured problems used to spur student writing. This study examined whether game elements could be used along…

Building on the work of an earlier article ["The Word Writing CAFE: Assessing Student Writing for Complexity, Accuracy, and Fluency," Dorothy J. Leal, "Reading Teacher," 59 (4) Dec 2005 (EJ738016)], these authors investigated the use of a simple assessment tool with a different audience to yield similar useful results. (Contains 3 figures and 4…

The use of online rater self-training is growing in popularity and has obvious practical benefits, facilitating access to training materials and rating samples and allowing raters to reorient themselves to the rating scale and self monitor their behaviour at their own convenience. However there has thus far been little research into rater…

This study demonstrates the advantages of using a constrained optimization algorithm to explore the optimal number of prompts, modes of discourse, and raters for achieving an acceptable level of reliability during a direct writing assessment. Writing samples elicited from 50 college students were rated by 3 graduate students and the scores…

This booklet provides Alberta (Canada) grade 9 teachers, administrators, and students with samples of the full range of students' writing that exemplify the criteria used to score students' written responses on the June 1990 Grade 9 English Language Arts Achievement Test. Commentary accompanying the students' writing samples in the booklet…

The purpose of this booklet is to provide administrators, teachers, and students in Alberta, Canada, with samples of students' writing that exemplify the criteria used to score students' written responses on the June 1991 Grade 9 Social Studies Achievement Test. The Grade 9 Social Studies Achievement Test consisted of two parts: Part A: Multiple…

The summary information in this report provides teachers, school administrators, students, and the general public in Alberta, Canada with an overview of results from the June 1998 administration of the English 33 Diploma Examination. The information in the report is most helpful when used in conjunction with the detailed school and jurisdiction…

To address the need for writing assessment tools, two analytic measures for evaluating managerial writing were used: the Analysis of Argument Measure based on Toulmin's (1958) elements of an argument, and the Persuasive Adaptiveness Measure, which draws on the Delia, Kline, and Burleson (1979) ranking system for scoring the degree of social…

The principal goals of the State University of New York (SUNY) Brockport's large-scale writing assessment are to determine if a writing program actually helps students to write better and, if so, whether that growth can be measured during the college years. Portfolio assessment has become an attractive alternative to single-test essay at SUNY…

A study was conducted at North Shore Community College (NSCC) to determine whether there was a particular score on the General Education Development (GED) Writing Skills Test that would predict a passing score for GED recipients on the College Level Examination Program (CLEP) General English Composition Examination. A total of 73 GED recipients…

This paper presents a model of scored cognition that incorporates two types of mental models: models of performance (i.e., the criteria for judging performance) and models of scoring (i.e., the procedural scripts for scoring an essay). In Study 1, six novice and five experienced scorers wrote definitions of three levels of a 6-point holistic…

Providing information to help develop students' sense of narrative and to show them specific test-taking strategies, this publication is helpful to teachers as they ready their students for the North Carolina Fourth Grade Writing Assessment. The publication provides materials on generating ideas for writing, selecting topics, revising, developing…