Schools are scrambling to prepare students for the writing assessments aligned to the Common Core State Standards. In some states, writing has not been assessed for over a decade. Yet, with the use of computerized grading of the student's writing, many teachers are wondering how to best prepare students for the writing assessments that will…

Due to budgetary concerns, the FDOE restructured the Writing portion of the FCAT assessment program for 2010. Among the changes was a difference in how the writing essays were scored. In the past, two people independently judged each essay and each assigned a score from 1 to 6. In the event of a disagreement between judges, the average of the…