Writing Assessment and Writing Center Assessment: Collision, Collusion, Conversation

The benefits and risks of evaluating how writing centers effect students' performance on exit exams. Sophia makes her first visit to the writing center in a state of desperation[1]. Although she’s earning adequate grades in the Basic Writing class she’s currently taking (for the third time), she has twice failed the institutionally-mandated exit exam that will enable her to enter a college composition course focusing on academic argumentation. If she doesn’t pass the exam on her third try, she’ll be dismissed from the university. During the exam she’ll have two hours to read a short passage she’s never seen before and craft a response, supporting her position with appropriate examples. She has only a few weeks before the exam date — just enough time for a handful of individual consultations with a peer tutor and participation in a group workshop for Basic Writing students.University Writing Cente