Pupils’ Writing Ability Spelled Out : New Statewide Test Finds Adequate Skills, or Worse

Most California eighth-graders are adequate writers--or worse. They are better at spelling and grammar than at the more complex thinking and composing skills writing also entails. And they are far better at reporting information than they are at presenting and supporting their own opinions.

These are some of the results of the state’s new writing test, first taken last spring by 268,700 eighth-graders as part of the California Assessment Program. The test, which has been in development since 1984, is the state’s first to directly assess students’ writing ability.

In the past, writing achievement was evaluated on the basis of students’ responses to multiple-choice questions on standardized tests. The new test requires each student to write an original essay of a specified type on a given topic in 45 minutes. The students’ essays then were read and evaluated by selected teachers.

Skills ‘Essential’

“Good writing skills are essential for students’ success in a rigorous high school program and for them to compete in a complex and rapidly changing job market,” said Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig in releasing the results of the 1986-87 test. “We now will have concrete data about how well students can actually write.”

The first test reveals that 14% of the state’s eighth-graders are good to excellent writers, while 19% write poorly. The majority (65%) are adequate or barely adequate.

Statewide, the average score on the new writing test was 250 on a scale from about 100 to 400. About 34,000 eighth-graders in the Los Angeles Unified School District took the test. Their average score was 220. Students in some district magnet programs, however, were among the best writers in the state.

The 1,281 eighth-graders tested in the Conejo Valley Unified School District, the largest group tested in Ventura County, scored above the state average (272).

Statewide, 58% of the students showed adequate or better mastery of the mechanics of writing, but only 34% wrote effectively. The eighth-graders were best at reporting information (52% were adequate or better) and least successful at critical writing (34% were adequate or better).

Honig said he was not surprised that poor writers outnumbered very good ones. “This is a tough test with high scoring standards,” he said.

CAP does not provide information about individual students. Data is collected about individual schools and school districts and how they compare with others in the state.

California is one of 25 states with a statewide test of student writing ability, according to the Educational Commission of the States, an educational clearinghouse in Denver.

Honig described California’s new test as a state-of-the-art tool for evaluating how well students have mastered the different skills and some of the different forms of writing.

In taking the test, students were asked to write one of four different kinds of essays: an autobiographical sketch, an informative report, a proposal of a solution to a problem or a critical essay. The students were given a “prompt,” or specific writing assignment, such as: Write a letter to the school principal suggesting how to solve the school litter problem, or write an essay justifying your preference for a particular type of music.

Read by Teachers

The essays were then read by teachers who evaluated each essay for its rhetorical effectiveness, its coherence or some other important feature of the writing and mastery of the mechanics of writing. The essays were scored from a low of 1 to a high of 6 in each of these areas.

“Many people expected the kids to do best on an autobiographical incident because of the popularity of personal writing with junior high teachers, but they did better on report of information,” said Beth Breneman, a language arts consultant to the CAP in Sacramento who helped develop the test.

According to Honig, development and scoring of the test was a monumental task, involving hundreds of teachers and other educators. All “prompts” were scrutinized by members of several minority groups to ensure that they were accessible to all students.

‘High Levels of Agreement’

Last July, 290 scorers read all the writing samples over an eight-day period. Five percent of the essays were double-scored, that is, rated by two evaluators. Double scoring was done to ensure that the essays were scored fairly. “The reliability figures we saw were very respectable,” Breneman said. “The readers achieved high levels of agreement.”

Breneman acknowledged that the new test has some limitations. It is not appropriate, she said, for evaluating certain kinds of writing, such as poetry. She also noted that its relatively short duration allows students little time to rewrite.

“Revision is essential to the writing process,” she said, “but students may or may not have time to revise in 45 minutes.”

The state plans to expand the writing evaluation program. This year’s test includes evaluation of two additional kinds of writing--the biographical sketch and the story.

Two more types (an essay involving speculation about causes or effects and “observational” or descriptive writing) will be added in 1989. High school seniors will be given a writing test in December, and sixth-grade and 10th-grade tests will be added in 1990-91 and 1992-93, respectively.