Exploring Best Practices for Identification, Assessment, Course Placement, Support Services, and Academic Monitoring of First Year Students whose ACT Writing Scores Indicate Needs for Skill Building

The authors share some of the research about Generation 1.5 students as well as other students whose academic writing skills may need development. We relate some data from MSU, from state of Minnesota reports, and from federal studies and discuss some of the reading and writing issues for these students. We describe the possible roles of Adult Basic Education (ABE), community colleges, and MSU in developmental writing coursework and explore assessment tools utilized. We describe some models of writing development around the state and the nation, and finally describe some consequences of doing nothing, piloting project(s), and implementing a program for identifying, assessing and monitoring academic writing at MSU