Assessment and Evaluation of Writing:

Recent studies of student writing find that students do not do enough writing in school. Furthermore, the writing opportunities students do encounter in schools require minimal analysis and critical thinking. Listing and short answer formats--all very good methods of assessing basic content knowledge--tend to dominate student writing experiences, ultimately leaving teachers and students short-changed in building some of the most important academic skills: critical thinking and communication skills.

When assessing student writing, teachers need to examine their course or unit objectives, and build writing assessments that all students to demonstrate the learning of these objectives. This includes the following considerations:

1. Designing assessments that require students to demonstrate the skills and/or knowledge outlined in your unit objectives

2. Creating writing prompts that clearly outline what students need to communicate in their writing

3. Communicating expectations of student writing 

4. Teaching the successful pre-writing and writing strategies

5. Evaluating Writing 

6. Providing Feedback to ensure that the evaluation process is also a learning process

Designing Assessments and Creating Writing Prompts (Numbers 1, 2, and 3): This presentation lays out some successful practices for creating writing prompts that will help communicate your expectations and allow you to measure student knowledge and skill development

Teaching Successful Pre-Writing and Writing Strategies: (3 and 4)

Evaluating Writing and Providing Feedback (5 and 6)--Highly Recommended for Students Who Want to Understand How They Are Evaluated