Issues and Applications

This monograph provides educators with the fundamental knowledge needed to develop and use direct assessments of student writing proficiency. The first chapter offers a brief review of the current status of writing assessment in the United States, focusing cn eterging interest in the topic over the past decade. The second chaptf.: presents an Overview of writing assessment procedures touching on (.1) differences between direct and indirect tests of writing proficiency. (2) considerations in improving the quality of the assessment, (3) strategies for exercise development, and (41 alternative approaches to scoring. The concluding chapter contains a discussion of approaches for conducting writing assessaents in various educational contexts. Alternative testing methods are linked to various testing purposes, and strategies are outlined for optimizing the match tetween the two. M