Topic: Standardized Writing Tests

10-second review: What don’t standardized writing tests tell us about student writers? “Standardized tests like the SAT II and our own writing placement test, while they do provide some data about student writers, do not capture some of the qualities—like motivation, task persistence, and the metacognitive abilities that allow students to take courses strategically—that count most heavily toward success in the university. (That is why high school GPA remains the most accurate single predictor of success in college.)”

Source: S McLeod, H Horn & RH Haswell. College Composition and Communication (June 2005), 556-580. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Comment: “Metacognitive abilities” means the ability of students to learn from problems they encounter and to organize their learning consciously, that is, the ability to understand how they learn best.

Timed writings do not reveal how students can improve their writing by revising over a period of time. I think timed writings need to be supplemented by portfolio collections of students’ writing. But who has the time for that? RayS.