This booklet outlines the California state guidelines for writing which assert that students should be carefully taught to read and compose many types of discourse to prepare them for higher education, the job market, and citizenship in democracy. The booklet summarizes the purposes for which the California Assessment Program (CAP) was developed,…

The problems and accomplishments of a program to evaluate the Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) program at Walsh College in Canton (Ohio) are described. The college-wide writing program began in 1987 with training workshops for faculty. Stage 1 of the program ended in 1988 with a summative evaluation and the development of a handbook to be used…

This study examined the educational effects of providing fifth-, sixth-, and seventh-grade students with 24-hour access to laptop computers. Specifically, the impact of laptops on classroom activities, student use of technology, and writing and problem-solving skills was examined. (Contains 47 references.) (MES)

This report describes a program for measuring student growth in the reading and writing process in order to improve achievement. The targeted population consisted of first- and second-grade students in three schools serving two suburban communities, located near a large midwestern city. School enrollment figures were 350, 399, and 669 students.…

This study of 63 students (in grades 2-8) with mild to moderate disabilities found that students in classrooms using curriculum-based measurement (CBM) achieved better than controls on reading measures. The study also found that students of teachers who received CBM expert system instructional consultation achieved better than others on written…

Although grounded in theory and research, this book is a practical text that specifies how to assess students and how to use assessment results to provide effective instruction for low achieving readers and writers. Forty sample lessons, described in step-by-step fashion, cover virtually every major skill or strategy. The emphasis is on teaching…

The purpose of this empirical study was to determine if there was a measurable difference on the content and organization portion of a narrative writing test by a sample of students taught by teachers who received professional development (PD) as compared to students whose teachers did not have this training and thus their students did not receive…

The article presents the cultural background, methodological design, theory, and results of a comprehensive research project where the doxa and textual norms of the judges at the national writing exam in Norway were studied. The background of the study is the quite comprehensive reforms in Norway of the way writing is taught in the upper secondary…

Collective teacher efficacy (CTE) refers to the collective perception that teachers in a given school make an educational difference to their students over and above the educational impact of their homes and communities. Significant positive relationships were found between CTE and student achievement on the grade 8 math, writing, and English…

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) gathers and publishes information on the status and progress of education in the United States. The "Condition of Education" is an annual, Congressionally mandated report produced by the NCES. It is an indicator report, presenting key data analyses that measure the health of education, monitor…