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Reframing Writing Assessment to Improve Teaching and Learning PDF

217 Pages·2010·1.39 MB·English
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REFRAMING WRITING ASSESSMENT REFRAMING WRITING ASSESSMENT TO IMPROVE TEACHING AND LEARNING LINDA ADLER-KASSNER PEGGY O’NEILL UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS Logan, Utah 2010 Utah State University Press Logan, Utah 84322-7800 Copyright 2010 Utah State University Press All rights reserved ISBN 978-0-87421-798-8 (paperback) ISBN 978-0-87421-799-5 (ebook) Manufactured in the United States of America Cover photo and design by Barbara Yale-Read Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Adler-Kassner, Linda. Reframing writing assessment to improve teaching and learning / Linda Adler-Kassner, Peggy O’Neill. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-87421-798-8 (pbk. : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-0-87421-799-5 (e-book : alk. paper) 1. English language--Rhetoric--Study and teaching. 2. Grading and marking (Students) 3. Report writing--Evaluation. 4. College prose--Evaluation. I. O’Neill, Peggy - II. Title. PE1404.A347 2010 808’.0420711--dc22 2010010079 CONTENTS Acknowledgments vii 1  Higher Education, Framing, and Writing Assessment 1 2  Framing (and) American Education 13 3  The Framing of Composition and Writing  Assessment 40 4  Reframing Strategies and Techniques 81 5  Reframing in Action 110 6  Reframing Assessment: Why Does My Participation  Matter? 145 7  Reimagining Writing Assessment 179 References 192 Index 205 About the Authors 208 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We first began collaborating as part of the Network for Media Action, a component of the Council of Writing Program Administrators dedicated to developing strategies for program directors and writing instructors to participate in public conver- sations about writing. CWPA and the WPA-NMA have provided a hospitable, engaging, and supportive community of fellow writing instructors and program directors. This book came out of generative conversations with colleagues from that organi- zation, including Dominic Delli Carpini, Darsie Bowden, Eli Goldblatt, and others. Once we started thinking about develop- ing our ideas on reframing into a book, Leasa Burton encour- aged us to create an initial proposal. We would like to thank the reviewers for USUP who pushed and prodded us to do more and the participants at various conference workshops and presentations who were the initial audiences for several parts of the manuscript, providing valuable feedback as we worked through ideas and drafts. A special thanks to the colleagues who participated in our research by sharing their experiences with us through interviews and documents. Thanks also to our col- leagues and friends, both near and far, who read drafts of differ- ent parts of the manuscript, provided feedback, and helped us along the way—especially , Bill Smith, Susanmarie Harrington, Brian Huot, Cathy Fleischer, and the USUP anonymous review- ers. Finally, thanks to Michael Spooner and others at USUP who continued to encourage and support us through the various stages of publishing. And of course, thanks to our families, who listen to and live with us as we work every day. 1 HIGHER EDUCATION, FRAMING, AND WRITING ASSESSMENT Consider the following scenario, discussed on the Writing Program Administration listserv (WPA-L). The scenario is based on the experiences of a writing program administrator at a large midwestern university: The writing program director learns that “there is a movement afoot” at her university to administer the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA) to first-year students and seniors. This will mean that these students will take a ninety-minute essay exam designed to “test” their critical thinking skills. The tests results will be published so that her institution can be compared to others in its category and, if necessary, used to improve any weaknesses that are identified. In listening to the conversations on campus, this program director feels there is an implicit message that the test would be a way of marketing the school as a “first-rate institution.” Although no one explicitly discusses the CLA as an assessment of writing (instead, they say, it is an indication of critical thinking skills), she feels strongly that it will reflect on the writing program. In response to what she is learning as she listens to the dis- cussions on campus, the program director turns to the national community of writing professionals on the WPA-L to get back- ground information for her upcoming meeting with the univer- sity assessment committee. She learns that the test is just one indicator the school wants to use to demonstrate “critical think- ing”—although the other indicators were never articulated, at least not to her. After the meeting, she writes a memo to the committee and administrators outlining her concerns based on her knowledge of writing pedagogy, assessment, and the

Description:
Adler-Kassner and O'Neill show writing faculty and administrators how to frame discussions of writing assessment so that they accurately represent research-based practices, and promote assessments that are valid, reliable, and discipline-appropriate. Public discourse about writing instruction is cur
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Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.