A study was undertaken to determine the impact of the new writing component pioneered by New York State on General Educational Development (GED) performance or passing rates. Data were collected in two phases: Phase I dealt with passing rate data prior to the introduction of the writing sample to the writing subtest; Phase II was begun during the…

The responses of approximately 150 political and educational leaders to the question, "If it were in your power, what one thing would you do to improve the reading and writing skills of boys and girls?" are presented in this report. Their views, along with original letters, are alphabetically arranged according to group represented: (1)…

Replicated 1982 study of student writing and nature of writing instruction in one Kentucky school district. Found that teachers in 1995 spent twice as much time teaching writing as in 1982 and that students spent more time on higher-level writing activities involving composition of extended text and less time on lower-level activities such as…

This report describes the procedures followed in scoring the October 1978 Florida Minimal Writing Production Skills Assessment and reports the results of that assessment. The assessment was conducted on a sample of Florida public school students in grades 3, 5, 8, and 11. Sections include descriptions of the rating scale and scorer's guide as well…

The effects of presenting a choice of writing tasks on the quality of essays produced by eleventh graders were studied with 34,200 students in Georgia. The choice condition had no substantive effect on the quality of essays, but race, gender, and the writing task variable did. (SLD)

Results of writing tests given to a large sample of 9, 13, and 17-year olds throughout Texas are reported in detail. Results are reported in terms of the percent of students writing at stated levels of competency or exhibiting particular writing skills. The results are reported for eight categories: (1) statewide; (2) 20 state geographic regions;…

This paper examined the status of assessment of writing as it is currently performed in the United States. All fifty states and the District of Columbia responded to a survey requesting information on their testing programs. Twenty-six states and the District of Columbia were found to assess writing on the statewide level, and eight states were in…

The North Carolina Annual Testing Program assessed the writing skills of students in Grade 6 and Grade 8 in the 1989-90 school year. Sixth-grade students were asked to write a clarification composition focusing on a special day and explaining to the reader why the day is special, and eighth-grade students were asked to write a letter to their…

This report contains the 1982-83 results of the annual administration of the California Assessment Program's Survey of Basic Skills to 3rd, 6th, and 12th grade students in the Mount Diablo School District. The survey measures the reading, written language, and mathematics skill attainment of schools and districts, but not of individual students.…

An apparent discrepancy between building level scores in basic skills produced by Pennsylvania's state assessment program (EQA) and building summary scores, generally a grade equivalent, provided by commercial standardized achievement tests is investigated. The impetus for the study came from occasional reports by school administrators that their…

During the 1979-80 school year, California public school students in grades 3, 6 and 12 were tested in the basic skills of reading, written expression, and mathematics. Complete statewide results of this California Assessment Program (CAP) are presented, including the following features that have become standard: (1) detailed findings including…

Findings are summarized from the statewide assessment of Texas students' achievement in mathematics, reading, citizenship awareness, and writing skills. For reading and mathematics achievement, criterion-referenced tests were developed. Test items from exercises developed by the National Assessment of Educational Programs (NAEP) were used to…

The 1969 Virginia Needs Assessment project was conducted in two stages: (1) identification of statewide school program goals, and evidences of programmatic effort and outcomes; and (2) the development of a model that focused on the learner in the school environment, and incorporated cognitive, affective, and facilitative data in the context of the…

In December 1993, children who were in grade 3 in the Trenton Public Schools (New Jersey) in 1985-86 will take a high-risk writing proficiency test to determine whether they will graduate from high school. An emerging study of the writing of the Class of 1995 in Trenton is described as students move toward that test. The activity of studying…

The current New Jersey high school graduation law requires that students pass a ninth grade test in reading, writing, and mathematics. Equating the writing test from year to year to be sure that passing scores remain identical, regardless of the test form administered, requires developing a scoring technique. A research study was developed based…