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Writing in the Nation's Classrooms: Teacher Interviews and Student Work Collected from Participants in the NAEP 1998 Writing Assessment

Author(s):
Solomon, Charlotte; Lutkus, Anthony; Kaplan, Bruce A.; Skolnik, Ilene
Publication Year:
2004
Report Number:
ETS-NAEP-04-R02
Source:
NAEP Report
Document Type:
Report
Page Count:
132
Subject/Key Words:
Trend Analysis, Academic Achievement, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), Writing Ability, National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), United States

Abstract

This study presents follow-up results to the NAEP 1998 writing assessment that administered detailed questionnaires and structured interviews to writing teachers in 100 public schools at each of grades 4 and 8. Detailed results regarding teacher practices in classroom writing instruction are presented in terms of nationally representative percentages of classrooms. The teacher interviews covered a variety of instructional topics such as prewriting, drafting, giving feedback, sharing writing, portfolios, and the use of computers. In addition, students in the selected schools submitted their two best pieces of writing from that year's class work. These writing pieces were then coded into types and graded on a consistent scale by trained readers who were not from the selected schools, but who were familiar with large scale writing assessment. Students' scores on the NAEP writing assessment were matched and compared to the study's scores for students' classroom writing. Moderate, positive correlations were found between the classroom-based writing samples and the NAEP writing scores.

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