About 9,000 students in grades 4, 8, and 12 participated in three writing excersises: (1) directed--short passage in response to a specific request; (2) global--extended narrative or exposition on a broad topic; and (3) proofreading and editing. The exercises reflected writing tasks required of the average adult as a citizen worker or creative writer; they were not designed to evaluate courses. Two or three teachers used rating scales to mark the exercises. Median interrater reliability was .66. A panel of educators and the public rated performance by grade on a five-point scale. Directed and global writing skills declined significantly with increasing grade level: by grade 12, none of the 31 writing skills assessed were judged to be very satisfactory or strong. Prominent weaknesses across grades were grammar, usage, and summarizing the main idea. Error analysis of a sub-sample revealed at least one serious error in sentence structure, typically a run-on sentence. The spelling, handwriting and word choice were judged as satisfactory for all grades. It was recommended that more class time be allotted to writing skills, particularly in high school, by teachers of all subject areas. Teacher training should stress writing skills as well as literature. (CP)