Describes an experiment conducted by the English department at the University of Missouri, Columbia, in which a brief essay written at home was used to help place incoming freshmen in appropriate writing classes. (JL)

Considers the impact of teacher responses to student writing. Notes the need for a greater identification by the teacher of the overall work that students present for evaluation and feedback. Offers guidelines for responding in more qualitative ways to student writing. (RL)

A former reader-evaluator of essays for "Advanced Placement Examination in English" explains why he cannot with good conscience continue as "part of a process which tells these students they are (to different degrees) 'qualified."' (RL)

A group of graduate-student instructors and English faculty at the University of Michigan discusses how computers were used to teach writing in their English composition courses. Collaborative evaluation and writing using e-mail and World Wide Web publishing were emphasized. A 10-point list of observations summarizes their insights which can be…

The margins of college students' writing are the ideal site for teacher-student conversations about the writing, but most of these conversations misfire, largely for reasons that are avoidable. Suggestions are made for responding so students can understand, respond to, and learn from teachers' written comments. Examples from several…

Examines how elementary teachers' understanding of new writing assessments and beliefs about students as writers mediate their acceptance of new narrative-writing assessment methods, noting dilemmas teachers face, staff developers' roles in resolving dilemmas, and ways teachers handle change. Experiences of teachers involved in the Writing What…

Discusses various issues in equating large-scale writing assessments and the implications for performance assessments in other disciplines. Issues include defining the underlying construct, the nature and effect of the assessment task, the assessment context, the scoring system and scale size, judge characteristics, and student characteristics.…

Describes writing portfolios, a teaching method that enhances students' taking responsibility for their learning, facilitates developmentally appropriate assessment, and allows evaluation of writing development. Includes six student forms: "Self-Evaluation of Writing,""Self-Evaluation of the Writing Portfolio,""Identification of Topics,""Writing…

This study of 461 Colorado students (ages 7-18) with deafness or partial hearing investigated the students' psychoeducational development by age and hearing loss, including syntactic comprehension and production, reading comprehension, social maturity, speech intelligibility, and math calculation skills. Traditional standardized measures of…

Discusses strategies (based on S. I. Hayakawa's abstraction ladder) to encourage connected thinking in student writing. Describes a recent cross-disciplinary workshop seeking to improve student essay writing and evaluation. (KEH)

Describes a year-long evaluation procedure in which students accomplish greater involvement in assessing their own learning, beginning with a first-day questionnaire on learning and writing assumptions, continuing with writing workshop experiences, and culminating in a coursework evaluation project and publication. (KEH)

Identifies student misunderstanding of teacher criticism and a lack of context for that criticism as problems in composition classes. Describes how an instructor provided taped comments on student papers to make criticisms clearer to students. Details how the procedure was used in guiding one student's successive drafts. (SG)

Contrasts a recent collection of "best" student essays with a report reviewing a 1929 test in English that was used for making college admissions decisions. Concludes that writing teachers have been as much or more interested in who they want their students to be as in what they want their students to write. (RS)

A survey of 23 scholarly journal editors in five countries concerning the qualities of acceptable and unacceptable articles is reported. Common problems, ways of improving manuscript quality, the role of the reviewer, and practical suggestions for aspiring authors are addressed. Emphasis is placed on getting published. (Author/MSE)

Describes the author's experience of taking two creative writing courses. Stresses the values that are taught: self-investment; avoidance of premature closure; seeing revision as discovery; experimentation; and trusting your own creative power--all necessary for good writing, whether academic or creative. (RAE)