Performance assessments have become the norm for evaluating language learners' writing abilities in international examinations of English proficiency. Two aspects of these assessments are usually systematically varied: test takers respond to different prompts, and their responses are read by different raters. This raises the possibility of undue…

This study investigated the level of generalizability across a few high quality assessment tasks and the validity of measuring student writing ability using a limited number of essay tasks. More specifically, the research team explored how well writing prompts could measure student general writing ability and if student performance from one…

This study explored the extent to which the reading-to-write construct is the sum of one's reading and writing abilities or an independent construct. The investigation included an analysis of (a) test tasks, (b) the relationship of test task scores and scores on reading and writing measures, and (c) the effects of proficiency level and educational…

This article describes the development and evaluation of a five-item writing assessment for persons with age-related vision loss. It provides a standard for measuring the baseline ability and the effectiveness of interventions to improve the writing ability of this population.

Evaluates external and diagnostic validity of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf Writing Test. Supports its external validity but does not support the diagnostic validity of this and other writing tests of the same basic design. (SR)

A study involving 120 school-aged children that investigated the concurrent validity of measures of written language found that the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test Written Expression subtest correlates moderately with the Written Expression subtest of the Peabody Individual Achievement Test-Revised and the Spontaneous Writing Quotient of the…

The NTID Writing Test was developed to assess the writing ability of postsecondary deaf students entering the National Technical Institute for the Deaf and to determine their appropriate placement into developmental writing courses. While previous research (Albertini et al., 1986; Albertini et al., 1996; Bochner, Albertini, Samar, & Metz, 1992)…

This study compared the written products of four groups of 26 male students in grades 4-6, including 8 students identified as gifted, 6 learning-disabled/gifted, 6 learning-disabled, and 6 normal. The Test of Written Language-2 was administered and seven subtest scores were compared among the four groups. In general, the speculation that…

Internal consistency, test-retest reliability, item analysis, and construct and concurrent criterion-related validity of the Writing Essential Skill Screener-Preschool Version were studied using four independent samples of children (ages 4 to 5). The test displayed a high degree of reliability and validity for a brief pre-writing skills screener.…

Many universities rely on multiple choice or true/false tests to admit students to mass communication programs. The high stakes that prospective majors face suggest that there is an urgent need for departments to rethink their assumptions about entrance testing, as a narrow conception of scholastic ability can undermine any attempt to "weed…

As part of the mandate of the Alberta Government's Student Evaluation Branch to monitor changes in student achievement, the Humanities Diploma Examinations Unit compared the written work from 1984 and the 1990 English 30, Social Studies 30, and English 33 Canadian provincial diploma examinations. Full-length essays written by over 30,000 students…

To evaluate the writing abilities of American students, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) asked nationally representative samples of fourth, eighth, and twelfth graders--approximately 20,000 students in all--to perform a variety of informative, persuasive, and narrative writing tasks. In addition, students were asked about the…

This booklet, which concerns student writing on a social studies examination given to Alberta (Canada) students, addresses two major purposes. First, the booklet illustrates and compares two important levels of expectations, or standards, that have been set for student writing on this examination: satisfactory and excellent. Second, it provides…

This study examined the SAT® II: Writing Subject Test as a predictor of writing performance in college English courses. Writing performance was based on eight writing samples submitted as part of regular course work by students in eight colleges. The samples consisted of drafts and final papers submitted in response to four take-home writing…

A Many-Faceted Rasch Model (FACETS) for measurement of writing ability is described, and its use in solving measurement problems in large-scale assessment is illustrated with a random sample of 1,000 students from Georgia's Eighth Grade Writing Test. It is a promising approach to assessment through written compositions. (SLD)