Five papers on the assessment of writing ability presented at the Division D meeting are critiqued. It is suggested that it is not possible to conclude--as has Larson in his study of grades 4, 6, and 8--that National Assessment of Educational Progress results do not give evidence of growth in writing ability. Dovell and Buhr, examining approaches to a system for generalizing essay writing scores in a state testing program, should perhaps have asked how much confidence one can have in decisions based on such scores. The examination by Cantor and Hoover of the reliability and validity of essay tests of writing ability was not designed to be generalizable. Swartz, Patience, and Whitney have asked if essays can contribute unique variance to the measurement of writing ability, but the data do not support their conclusions. The examination of item response theory by Ackerman, despite flaws in the analysis, does show it as a powerful tool. (SLD)