This book describes the essential components of any teacher-researcher group. Part I describes an experience, a process, that aids teacher-researchers in completing a study. Part II reexamines the issues and questions surrounding teacher research, as they have both shifted and steadied over the years. Part III consists of research articles written…

The purpose of this report is to increase understanding of the achievement levels for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), what they are, and what they are not. NAEP is a survey of American students' knowledge and skills in different subjects at grades 4, 8, and 12. NAEP combines the samples of performances to provide…

The purpose of this guide is to assist teachers in preparing their students to write effectively in all contexts, including the Georgia Grade Five Writing Assessment. Teachers are encouraged to make optimal instructional use of the information in this guide by creating transparencies and handouts for students. The guide includes a revising/editing…

The purpose of this guide is to improve high school writing and writing instruction. Teachers are encouraged to make transparencies and handouts of the information in this guide in order to make the information accessible to students. Using the scoring rubrics and model papers, students can be taught to recognize both strong and weak areas in…

In the hope that students would develop authority in their writing, they were instructed to write a personal essay about themselves. Most of the essays, however, were mediocre and formulaic. While one student's experience of the painful loss of his mother to cancer was tragic, his essay was cliched. Supporters of the use of personal essay in…

This booklet is designed to assist schools or school systems in analyzing and evaluating student writing, writing instruction, and the writing program. The basic assumption is that improving the writing program needs to be a school-wide effort coordinated across K-12 grade levels, not an individual or isolated effort. After an overview and advice…

Continuing to respond to the increasing demand for the assessment of authentic language use, this book emphasizes that portfolios must first be useful and successful as part of instruction before they can be used effectively for assessment. Portfolios are presented as "working," not "show" portfolios, to promote the student's involvement in…

This paper traces the origins of the portfolio movement, examines the treatment of portfolios in texts and other writings on classroom assessment, and poses several questions about the use of portfolios in classrooms. Interest in portfolios as assessment devices first emerged in the literature in the field of composition and writing, but interest…

There has been much discussion of what students need to know to write effectively. An example of criteria is the requirements for the Writing Sample of the Texas Academic Skills Program (TASP). Students, unless exempted, must write an essay that meets this standard before they can receive an associate diploma or enroll in junior-level courses in…

While research papers may hold unique challenges for all writers, they are especially daunting for "less experienced" writers because these students often come to college without ever having written a research paper. A study examined several research papers written by students who took part in the Summer Bridge program at California…

For one freshman composition instructor, the method that has brought more students out of their shells in her classes over the past three years is group conferencing. Adapted from compositionist Donald Murray's method of conferencing with individual students to discuss their papers, group conferencing gives students the opportunity to discuss…

This study addresses the validation of a holistic English assessment process used at Cabrillo College (California). The process of prompt development, scoring rubrics, reader training, scoring, and administration procedures have remained largely unchanged over the years. This report provides new evidence on content validity, consequential and cut…

In North Carolina schools, the grade 10 writing assessment will be given once a year in the spring semester to all 10th-grade students. This change from an English II End-of-Course Test to a grade-specific test emphasizes the need for writing across the curriculum. This document is designed to illustrate correlation between high school courses and…

This booklet presents the Written Response part of the English 30 Grade 12 Diploma examination in Alberta, Canada. After instructions for students, the booklet presents the first part of the examination in which students respond to Thom Gunn's poem "Tamer and Hawk," which addresses the nature and effect of a ruling passion in an…

This brochure (which can be used in the classroom as a poster) is intended to provide "a quick way into" the Assessment of Achievement Programme (AAP) English language survey and its findings. The brochure pinpoints the reading purpose and strands that the survey covered. It contains brief sections on performance over time; gender…