College Composition and Communication Dec 1990

A Program Development Handbook for the Holistic Assessment of Writing

Edward M. White ; Norbert Elliot ; Maximino Plata ; Paul Zelhart

Abstract

This book is a major breakthrough for developers of writing assessment programs who must certify the writing competency of undergraduate students. Legislators and accreditation boards across the nation have called for and implemented large scale projects to measure educational outcomes. This single source provides comprehensive information on the history, underlying concepts, and process of conducting a large scale writing assessment program at a specific institution of higher education. The handbook opens with an analysis of the rationale for the assessment of writing during the junior year of the undergraduate curriculum. The authors then turn to a case study of the success of their own institutional wide assessment program. A history is provided of 20th century writing assessment practices; as well, attention is given to defining levels of literacy. After describing an assessment process model, discussion turns to the design of questions, the administration of the assessment, the rating of papers, and the statistical analysis of data. Attention is also given to the design of a course for those who are unsuccessful on the assessment. The study closes with directions for further research and over 200 references in the bibliography.

Journal
College Composition and Communication
Published
1990-12-01
DOI
10.2307/357942
CompPile
Open Access
Closed
Topics
graduate education assessment qualitative research literacy studies
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