College and university instructors who assess student writing, including but not limited to teachers of first-year composition, sometimes keep the gate. Gatekeeping by writing instructors is an activity directly related to grading practices and, in many cases, to grading practices which emphasize formal, mechanical, usually sentence-level choices…

Inoue [Inoue, A. B. (2005). "Community-based assessment pedagogy." "Assessing Writing: An International Journal, 3", 208-238] sets up a radically experimental writing class as a kind of laboratory of assessment. He seeks to avoid the standard situation where a teacher unilaterally assesses and grades student writing, using only his or her own…

Argues that lack of attention to the student's perspective (how they react to, and what sense they make of, their teachers' comments) limits the conclusions that can be drawn from research on teacher response. Reviews three articles in the same issue of this journal that deal with teacher response to student writing in light of this limitation.…

Responds to three articles in this same issue on response to student writing. Analyses the consensus view of responding to student writing in order to highlight missing or misconceived elements of current theory. Offers a speculative outline for a more comprehensive study of response. Offers two variations on the theme of response, depicting it as…

Argues that writing research has not explored the ethical implications of using self-evaluations in classroom and large-scale writing assessment. Explores portfolio cover letters, reflective essays, self-grading, and self-placement as depicted in college composition literature using this postmodern ethical framework. Demonstrates a process of…

Identifies the many different groups of scholars, teachers, administrators, and other professionals who lay claim to the field of writing assessment. Describes the various positions, and outlines the major beliefs and assumptions about what is important and valuable. Examines an intolerance for other positions within each position, and identifies…

Presents a discursive, reflective, and experimental essay. Considers the wealth of images created by a 75-year-old letter from the author's father to his sister. Reflects on the relationship of writing to identity, history, and personal expression. Suggests that assessment needs to be contextual, descriptive, and personal. (RS)

Presents an electronic conversation which critiques holistic scoring procedures. Explores the different ways people in English are taught to read. Offers the idea of minimal holistic scoring in which raters make a specific educational decision rather than supply a number on a rating scale. Asks educators to focus more time on teaching than…

Discusses the tension between testing and literacy education, the deleterious influences of testing on the curriculum, and the lack of a firm relationship between improved test scores and improved educational experiences for students. Presents two alternative systems for evaluation of writing skills at the local and state level. Demonstrates the…

Suggests that assessment must be built into the curriculum and focused upon the kinds of skills students need. Considers much educational testing in writing to be reductionist, unrealistic, and detrimental to learning. Critiques writing assessment's trust and reliance on a single or small sample of student work collected and scored outside of a…

Presents the historical background of competing models of education as a context for the development of assessment in American education, contending, however, that practical considerations, such as efficiency and fairness, have often been more important than theoretical issues. Analyzes the specific case of writing assessment. (PA)

Asserts that portfolios often seem to take on the characteristics of the existing curricula. Provides a picture of the diversity in approaches to portfolios. Examines how different curriculum perspectives are reflected in the designs of portfolios, how they reveal "patterns on practice" in the teaching of writing, and how they reveal fundamental…

Contends that assessing writing is much the same as reviewing literature. Questions the differences between oral literature and composition and responses to them, and hypertext and responses to them. Discusses how these questions relate to determining achievement, performance, or learning in writing. Defines, offers a blueprint of, and discusses…

Addresses issues arising concerning work undertaken by the National Center for Education Statistics to begin development of a National Assessment of College Student Learning (NACSL). Reviews assessment forms; identifies conditions assessment of "advanced ability to communicate" should meet; suggests how the communication component of the NACSL…

Discusses "grade inflation," and the pressure on instructors to "play grade roll politics to save their own professional hides." Argues that the grade deflation movement works at cross purposes with its goal of elevating academic standards, and that it is at odds with composition theory and its process pedagogy. Suggests portfolio assessment as…