Holistic Evaluation of Peer Writings by Able and Less Able Readers in Eighth and Tenth Grades

The purpose of this study was to examine the use of general impression scoring by teachers and students, and to compare the criteria used in evaluating student writings.\ud Subjects for the study were 40 eighth grade and tenth grade students of varying reading ability in regular English classes in a suburban school district.\ud Teachers and students evaluated two sets of writings in the narrative, classificatory and descriptive modes, generated by ninth grade students in regular English classes in the same school district. In addition, a comment, citing criteria upon which evaluation was based, was made on each writing.\ud The design for this study was an extended factorial analysis. A three way analysis of variance was computed for ability and grade for each level of quality of writing in each mode of discourse.\ud Six hypotheses were tested. Hypotheses one and two dealt with comparison of ratings by students who differed by ability and grade. No significant differences were found.\ud Hypotheses three and four dealt with interaction between grade, ability and mode of discourse. No significant interaction was found.\ud Hypotheses five and six dealt with differences in evaluations between teachers and students of varying ability. A significant difference was found in how teachers and students evaluate writing (p .01).\ud Examination of criteria used in evaluating writings indicated that teachers consistently referred to elements of the text. Students also made text-based comments. In addition, students responded subjectively, referring to common experience, interest, and memories cued by the text