In 1998 for the first time, the NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) administered a writing assessment at the state level. This report describes the writing achievement of California eighth-grade students and compares their overall performance to students in the West region of the United States and the nation (using data from the NAEP national assessments). In California, 2157 students from 88 public schools and 224 students from 9 nonpublic schools were assessed. The writing assessment questions asked for three major kinds of writing: some required narrative, some informative, and some persuasive writing. Each student who participated in the state assessment was given two questions and had 25 minutes to respond to each question. The questions asked students to write in a variety of forms, such as essays, letters, stories, as well as to a variety of audiences, such as teachers, other students, and school boards. The distribution of writing results and writing achievement level results are provided for subpopulations of students (gender, race/ethnicity, students' reports of parents' educational level, free/reduced-price lunch program eligibility, and type of location). The average writing proficiency of eighth-grade public school students in California on the NAEP writing scale was 141 compared to 148 nationwide. (RS)