ERIC Number: EJ1116341
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2009-Dec-3
Pages: N/A
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-1554-8244
EISSN: N/A
Voices at the Table: Balancing the Needs and Wants of Program Stakeholders to Design a Value-Added Writing Assessment Plan
Zawacki, Terry Myers; Reid, E. Shelley; Zhou, Ying; Baker, Sarah E.
Across the Disciplines, v6 spec iss Dec 2009
The WAC director, composition director, director of Institutional Assessment (OIA), and WAC/OIA liaison describe the programmatic "needs" and "wants" they balanced in the plan they collaboratively designed to respond to a state mandate for "value-added" writing assessment. To satisfy this mandate, as they explain, they carried out an assessment of research-based essays from the first-year composition (FYC) course that mirrored the discipline-focused, course-embedded, and workshop-based assessment process George Mason has been implementing successfully in upper-division writing-intensive (WI) courses since 2002. Just as the writing-in-the-disciplines (WID) assessment data have been informing WAC efforts, the FYC process was designed to provide data to inform programmatic efforts in curriculum and faculty development. The authors begin with background on their model program of WID-based assessment and then discuss the steps they took to develop a value-added proposal that included well-defined learning outcomes for both introductory composition and the WI courses and that was reliable, valid, cost-effective, and sustainable. With this backdrop, they each describe and reflect on their different perspectives on the FYC implementation process, program goals, and the assessment outcomes. They conclude by offering their collective views on how the overall process has fostered the kinds of cross-disciplinary conversations that help them sustain and enhance their programs, and how these conversations model the spirit of negotiation and cooperation that has likewise sustained the culture of writing at Mason.
Descriptors: Stakeholders, Value Added Models, Writing Evaluation, Writing Tests, Freshman Composition, Content Area Writing, Writing Across the Curriculum, Interdisciplinary Approach, Behavioral Objectives, College Programs, Curriculum Development, Program Development, Program Implementation, Educational Planning
WAC Clearinghouse. Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523. Tel: 970-491-3132; Web site: http://wac.colostate.edu
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Virginia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A