Thoughts On The Alliance's New Report: Informing Writing
As an education professional, I have had a longstanding interest in ensuring that all students learn what they need to learn to succeed, but as a professional writer and editor, I am particularly interested in seeing that students can write well. Clear writing reflects clear thinking, and the ability to write effectively—whether it’s a letter to a city official, a memo to a supervisor, or a research paper for an academic journal—is an essential skill. I have seen in my career, though, that even well-educated people have difficulty writing well, and the evidence from the National Assessment of Educational Progress suggests that most students continue to struggle with writing. A new report issued by the Alliance for Excellent Education provides some good news. The report, Informing Writing: The Benefits of Formative Assessment, offers solid evidence that writing assessment is an effective tool to improve student writing. Written by Steve Graham, Karen Harris, and Michael Hebert of Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of Education, the report finds that when teachers or peers provide feedback to students on their writing, or when students assess their own writing, the quality of their prose improves. In addition, the report identified six practices to ensure that assessment is done reliably and fairly.
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