Writing Test on Track for 2004–05 Delivery

National Curriculum Survey: Teachers Rank Skills

Every three to four years, as one of the steps in the content validation process, ACT conducts surveys to ensure that the academic tests on EXPLORE^®, PLAN^® and the ACT Assessment^® represent current secondary school curricula and focus on the prerequisite skills needed for success in entry-level postsecondary courses. In the fall of 2002, writing curriculum survey instruments were developed and distributed to thousands of high school teachers and instructors of entry-level college courses.

Two versions of the writing survey were developed, one for secondary teachers and the other for postsecondary teachers, including those who teach English as a Second Language (ESL) students. Both surveys asked teachers to evaluate an identical set of 95 skills. The high school teachers were asked to indicate whether each skill is taught in their classrooms and the level of importance they place on that skill. The college instructors were asked to indicate the relative importance of each skill as a prerequisite to the entry-level course the instructor teaches.

Survey results revealed a high degree of agreement among high school and college teachers about the writing skills that are most important for students to possess, with one notable exception.

College instructors consider grammar and usage skills to be the most important writing skills for college freshmen. High school teachers consider the same skills to be the least important. In keeping with that view, just 69 percent of high school teachers reported teaching grammar and usage (see related story).

These survey results bolster confidence in ACT’s English Test, and reinforce the company’s decision to make its new Writing Test optional.

The ACT English Test is designed to measure skills necessary for effective writing, including punctuation, grammar, sentence structure, organization, and style—some of the very writing skills judged most important by college teachers. It measures specific grammar and usage skills in a way that no essay can. The English Test alone has been effective in providing helpful information to institutions.

Currently, some institutions supplement this information with on-campus, direct writing assessments for making course placement decisions. ACT has always considered its primary mission to be to offer responsive information to postsecondary institutions. Surveys of postsecondary institutional practices have revealed that one-third of the nation’s postsecondary institutions already have a direct writing assessment in place on their campuses; an additional one-third appear satisfied with the information they currently receive; and, although few have adopted policies yet, the remaining one-third are interested in a new writing test.

By offering the ACT Writing Test as an option, ACT acknowledges the varying needs of our nation’s postsecondary institutions by providing a flexible solution, rather than imposing a single approach on all students and institutions. They will make their own decisions about whether to require the results from the ACT Writing Test for admissions and/or course placement purposes. Students will decide whether to take the Writing Test based on the requirements of the institutions they are considering. Students will not be required to take a test they do not need or incur the added expense of an additional test, and institutions will have the freedom to require the tests that best meet their information needs.

National Advisory Panel: Experts Draft Specifications

In December 2002, a National Advisory Panel was convened at ACT to discuss the specifications for the Writing Test. Prior to the meeting, each of the eleven expert panelists drafted a position paper on large-scale writing assessment. When panelists met in Iowa City for two days, they reviewed the position papers and the results of the National Curriculum Study^TM, and discussed initial specifications for the ACT Writing Test. A second national panel was convened in January to discuss issues related specifically to ESL students. The discussions and analysis of the survey results by both of these panels informed the design the new Writing Test.

Next Steps: Field Testing and Studies of the New Test

The Writing Test will focus on those skills judged to be most important by high school and college instructors.

An initial pool of writing prompts for the assessment is being field tested now with a nationally representative sample of students. Responses to a variety of formats and topics will help further define the specifications and the scoring rubric for the Writing Test.

In the fall of 2003, a course placement study will help to estimate the course placement accuracy of the writing assessment and to establish the relationship between the Writing Test and first-year college grades. A subsequent scaling study will be designed to develop the combined English/Writing score and to establish the overall reliability of the assessment.