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Results for “Writing Assessment”
Handwringing Moments in Teaching
Assessing Writing, Teaching Writers, by Mary Ann Smith and Sherry Swain, introduces the Analytic Writing Continuum (AWC), a writing rubric/assessment tool developed over time by researchers and educators, which has long been the centerpiece of National Writing Project scoring conferences. In…
Standardized Writing Opportunities: A Case Study of Writing Instruction in Inclusive Classrooms
This study of the writing opportunities provided to middle school students with disabilities in an inclusion setting finds that standardized goals and outcomes (driven by accountability policy) and a lack of differentiation are the norm, resulting in low-quality writing instruction for these…
Writing Now: A Policy Research Brief by the National Council of Teachers of English
NCTE's policy statement on Writing Now, despite its publication date, is still relevant for teachers and schools taking first steps beyond traditional assignments. Teacher-leaders might use it to reflect with colleagues on the kinds of writing young people experience across the curriculum…
Writing Essays by Formula Teaches Students How Not to Think
What happens when we allow a tool to become our desired outcome? Education scholar David Labaree explores the dominance of the five-paragraph essay (and its lengthier relatives), and examines the consequences of valuing form over content and meaning.
Making Classroom Writing Assessment More Visible, Equitable, and Portable through Digital Badging
Educator Stephanie West-Puckett describes her experience using collaboratively designed digital badges as a networked, contextual, and participatory form of writing assessment in a college first-year writing course. She describes how this “community-based assessment” supported diverse…
Book Review: Rethinking Rubrics in Writing Assessment
This review describes the work of high school teacher and author Maja Wilson, whose book examines what assessment without rubrics looks like and where it may take us. The sample chapter, "My Troubles with Rubrics," advises that instead of reviewing student papers based on prescribed…
Planning for Writing Instruction
In this brief tip from his book, When Writing Workshop Isn't Working, Mark Overmeyer describes a process of collaborative backward planning that provides a scope and sequence for the year that meets district curriculum requirements, allows for the study of genres connected to various…
Democracy, Struggle, and the Praxis of Assessment
Invited to assist in restructuring the assessment practices of a college first-year writing program, Tony Scott and Lil Brannon examine the structure and ideology of the existing assessment system, exploring how it serves to preserve the status quo by providing seemingly objective proof of…
Book Review: The Testing Trap: How State Writing Assessments Control Learning
This review of George Hillocks's 2002 book, The Testing Trap: How State Writing Assessments Control Learning, is still a relevant read, providing history and research connected to the issues involved in high stakes state writing tests. The review details the validity and reliability of such…
Improving Students’ Academic Writing: Building a Bridge to Success
This report would be of interest to teachers engaged in or planning college-preparatory reading/writing initiatives. It describes the statistically significant impact of a statewide professional development program designed to improve students' understanding of and ability to write…
Honoring Dialect and Culture: Pathways to Student Success on High-Stakes Writing Assessments
As teachers we often struggle to find ways to honor our students’ home dialects while still preparing them to take high-stakes writing tests requiring the use of Standard English. In this piece, the author describes her three-pronged approach within a Writing Strategies class for students…
Write Now Teacher Studio
Where teachers write, share, and talk shop about writing and the teaching of writing
Hosted by the National Writing Project, the Write Now Teacher Studio is an open, online community of educators for educators. It’s a place to write together, examine our teaching, create and refine curricula, and work toward ever more effective and equitable practices to create confident, creative, and critical thinkers and writers in our classrooms and courses.