A model for helping classroom teachers understand and evaluate the growth of children in oral and written compositions is presented. The recommended procedure is centered around T-unit analysis. The following sequence is one possible way the T-unit analysis procedure might be used by an elementary school teacher: (1) Divide all the sentences of a pupil's composition into T-units; (2) Divide the total number of words in the composition by the total number of T-units, which will reveal the average length of the pupil's T units; (3) Analyze each sentence in the composition in terms of the number of T-units, number of words per T-unit, ways in which subordination and coordination are indicated, means for the development of characterization, nominals, adverbials and any other measures which affect T-unit length; (4) Prepare a summary outline based on the analysis of sentences including T-unit measures, features of the pupil's syntax, methods utilized for developing characterizations, plot structure analysis, and story interpretation; and (5) Write an evaluation based on the data obtained in steps 1 to 4. This method is illustrated with dictated oral compositions of two grade 1 students. The chief benefit of this procedure is the insights it gives the teacher as to the syntactic performance of his pupils. (Author/DB)