This study compares the results of an indirect measure of writing ability, the Florida State Student Assessment Test, Part I (SSAT-I), and the Production Writing Assessment (PWA). Both instruments were administered to 10th graders in Dade County (Florida) during the spring of 1987. The SSAT-I is an untimed test containing a section indirectly measuring writing ability through multiple-choice items that address specific skills such as punctuation, capitalization, spelling, and grammar. The PWA directly measures writing performance by requiring students to write an essay on a given topic within one class period. A holistic scoring method (for 3,386 papers) and an analytical scoring method were used in the PWA. Results show that: (1) SSAT-I results agree with those from analytically scored production writing only when students have fairly high levels of overall writing skill; (2) scores representing the same skills for below-average students tend to be lower on the SSAT-I than on the analytically scored papers; and (3) SSAT-I results tend to penalize students with lower levels of overall writing skills. It appears that use of the writing portion of the SSAT-I as the criterion for labeling schools deficient is, at best, debatable. Examples of holistically scored students' essays from the 1986 PWA and results of analytical scoring of the PWA are appended. (TJH)