A study was conducted by the Student Development Center of the University of Hawaii at Hilo to develop a writing placement procedure in a community college setting which would be practical, reliable, and valid. The key to this procedure was an English composition placement device that could help readers rate, holistically, writing samples written by prospective two-year college students. A standardization session was held to provide readers with the opportunity to understand the established procedures, gain information about the need for inter-reader reliability, and obtain as much agreement as possible on placement. Each writing sample was to be read by two members of the writing faculty independently, and, if the first two readers did not agree on course placement, by a third. In subsequent rating sessions, 210 writing samples were read. Course placement was agreed upon by the first two readers in 120 (57%) of the cases, while there was dispute requiring a third reading in 90 (43%) of the cases. The following academic year, 62 of the students who wrote writing samples enrolled in a composition course. In 32 out of 61 cases (52%), the instructor's rating of the course the student "should have been" placed in was congruent with the final course recommendation based on the writing sample. Evaluation criteria for placement and the writing sample form are appended. (Author/EJV)