Establishing the score or the placement as the first priority in a writing assessment leads to more reductive forms of writing assessment. However, if the prompts used in a direct test of writing were generative--that is, if they asked test-takers to analyze their own experiences as writers or learners, for example--the resulting texts would be…

Elaborates on explorations and arguments prompted by the effort undertaken by the Department of Education through the National Center for Education Statistics to begin developing the National Assessment of College Student Learning (NACSL), which focuses on, among other things, "advanced ability to communicate effectively," as specified…