This publication presents information about the technical characteristics of the 1997 Florida Writing Assessment Program, Grades 4, 8, and 10. Descriptive and statistical information is provided for the census assessment, and the procedures used in prompt development, pilot testing, field testing, scoring, and item banking are reviewed. The psychometric properties of the 1998 census assessment are also examined. The Florida Writing Assessment Program evaluates the proficiency of students in generating a written response to an assigned topic (prompt) within a 45-minute period. In each grade, students are asked to respond to one of two prompts. The census assessment of Florida's students began in 1992 at grade 4. In January 1998, the census assessment involved 150,600 fourth graders in 1,548 schools. In February, a census assessment was conducted of 139,810 8th graders in 653 schools and 117,634 10th graders in 526 schools. New prompts were field tested in all three grades in February. Information is provided about the distribution of holistic score points by racial and ethnic group. Appendixes contain a list of writing assessment advisory committee members and a sample prompt evaluation form. (Contains 15 tables, 4 figures, and 10 references.) (SLD)