Presents nonconfrontational critiquing as an alternative to traditional peer response in evaluating student writing. Provides a sample essay critiquing form. (MM)

After defining key terms, the article discusses options for the written language assessment of handicapped children in the areas of composition evaluation, and transcription evaluation. Types of evaluating include indirect measures, direct measures, process evaluation, product evaluation, holistic evaluation, and analytic evaluation. (DB)

Presents a positive, detailed scheme for evaluating students' papers. Includes an example of student writing with marks from the guide. (HTH)

Advocates the simplification of marking papers by using a list of 10 guide numbers given to students before the writing exercises begin. (DF)

Analyzes score differences for the papers of 50 students who wrote on four different writing topics, two that were on transactional and two that were on expressive topics. Results suggested that differences between scores might be very important for individuals, so to insure fairness, teachers should use additional forms of writing assessment. (DF)

Provides a rationale for and description of daily student journal writing, peer evaluation, and revision, which provide students with necessary writing practice without overloading the instructor. (HTH)

Reviews a survey of members of the College Section of the National Council of Teachers of English concerning their use of grading scales in the evaluation of freshman writing. Concludes that the theoretical interest in the scales is apparently not matched by their use by teachers. (FL)

Suggests that those who feel the need for competency testing in their program should find or construct a test that reflects the faculty's expectations, locate a coordinator to put the test into the curriculum, and find ways to bring the marginal student up to expectations. (EL)

Identifies four areas concerning writing across the curriculum programs in which consensus across the campus should be sought: dealing with errors, common terminology, a process or routine for response, and enthusiasm for the effort. Includes response checklists. (HTH)

Discusses flaws in the procedures for the marking of 'A' Level papers by examiners. (DF)

Describes the WEED program, in which students write every day but not all papers receive a teacher evaluation. Discusses getting started, follow-up, collecting papers and grading, incentives, and the results of the program. (EL)

Three essay questions were administered to junior education major college students. Factor analysis of the ratings showed that content played a large role in the students' responses, yielding dominant first order factors. Generalizability theory, used to examine the reliability of students' ratings, showed the need for more raters and questions.…

Describes the use of small writing groups in an advanced expository writing class and why the approach works. Includes a course syllabus. (HTH)

Examines some of the variables that have been found to affect topic choice and writing performance in writing assessment. (FL)

The measurement of writing offers a challenge to test developers due to controversy over the use of objective tests versus compositions. A discussion of a basic skills writing test developed in Los Angeles County offers insight into the issues of which competencies should be tested and how these competencies would be measured. (DF)