This handbook describes the responsibilities of district and school assessment coordinators in the administration of the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA). This updated guidebook contains the following sections: (1) General Assessment Guidelines for All Assessments; (2) Writing Specific Guidelines; (3) Reading and Mathematics…

The Colorado Process Analysis of the Written Language of Hearing-Impaired Children assesses the semantic characteristics of expressive written language narratives prepared by beginning writers. The validity of the instrument was examined with 284 children (ages 7-21), indicating that the model does identify characteristics that are critical to the…

Four independent samples of children were used to study the reliability and validity of the Writing Essential Skill Screener, a measure designed to screen primary grade children at risk for writing difficulties. Among findings was that the measure is comprised of two dimensions, writing and name writing, that the factor structure did not fit the…

A study was conducted to investigate issues of test validation by placing them in a context. The study examined the ways in which instances of "good" and "poor" writing have been identified in the marking of part of an English writing test that is given each year to incoming Arts Faculty students at the University of Hong Kong.…

This study compared alternative measures of early writing performance with 15 second-grade students in a summer program for students at risk. Two- to three-minute samples were obtained of word copying, sentence copying, word dictation, and sentence dictation. Writing from word and sentence dictation correlated best with global judgments of…

The Test of Written Language-2, for use with students ages 7-17, identifies low achievement, determines strengths and weaknesses, and documents progress. The test assesses three language components (conventional, linguistic, and conceptual) using two formats (contrived and spontaneous.) This paper describes the test's administration, scoring,…

This review of the Test of Early Written Language concludes that the test succeeds in identifying students who are below their peers in writing and in measuring long-term gains in written language achievement; but its format makes it difficult to document specific strengths and weaknesses and its reliability; and validity have not been…

Five countable indices of writing quality were examined for their suitability in making special education screening-eligibility decisions, based on writing samples from 2,160 students. Even the best index was only moderately efficient. "Percentage of words spelled correctly" was best overall, and "percentage of correct word sequences" was best for…

This study investigated the technical adequacy of 7 objective indexes of writing quality in monitoring the progress of 36 middle school students with mild disabilities over a 6-month period. Three indexes (such as "percent of legible words") were moderately correlated with holistic ratings but were not sufficiently stable over time. (Author/JDD)

The Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery-Revised is a set of tests designed to measure cognitive abilities, scholastic aptitude, and achievement in the areas of reading, mathematics, and written language, in individuals aged 2-95 years. This paper describes the test battery's administration, scoring, standardization, reliability, and…

A study was conducted at Riverside Community College in California to evaluate by ethnic group the enrollment behavior and academic achievement of first-year students who completed assessment testing and were recommended for placement in a pre-college-level writing course. The study sample included the two cohorts of students who enrolled at the…

Sixty-three commercially-available instruments for measuring the outcomes of adult literacy programs are reviewed. Tests of basic reading, writing, and mathematics skills; oral English proficiency of English as a second language students; affective outcomes; and critical thinking are included. The instruments include paper-and-pencil tests,…