Assessing Writing to Support Learning Turning Accountability Inside Out

Acknowledgements  1. Why Do We Need to Remodel Our Accountability and Assessment Systems and Why Now?  What do we mean by assessment?  How have high-stakes accountability policies impacted writing curriculum?  2. What Do Assessment Concepts Tell Us about the Limitations of Traditional Approaches to the Large-Scale Assessment of Writing?  Reliability  Validity  Implications for rebuilding the system  3. How Have Theories of Writing and Learning Evolved?  Conceptions of writing: Shifting toward the social  Conceptions of writing: Emphasizing the social context  Conceptions of learning: Shifting toward the social  Implications of contemporary conceptions of writing and learning for the teaching of writing  4. Redesigning Assessments to Support Learning and Align with a Complex Cognitive and Social Construct of Writing  Using assessment to promote learning  Assessing a complex cognitive and socially situated construct of writing in large-scale systems  Designing performance assessments and portfolios to support learning  Taking social perspectives on learning, accountability, and assessment  5. Redesigning and Renovating Writing Assessment: Engaging Teachers and Students  Investing in teachers and students  Investing in teachers’ professional development  Involving teachers in the development and scoring of assessments  Encouraging collaboration across different levels of the system  Supporting and reinforcing the teacher’s role in formative assessment  Turning accountability inside out  6. An Ecological Approach to Writing Assessment  Ecology in writing studies  Writing assessment ecologies  Ecological validity  Taking an ecological approach to assessment

Biography

Sandra Murphy is Professor Emerita at University of California, Davis, USA.

Peggy O’Neill is Professor of Writing at Loyola University Maryland, USA.

"Sandra Murphy and Peggy O’Neill take up an ambitious and important task: explaining the need for, and the ways to design, ecologically sound writing assessments that support students. Writing assessment itself, they argue, can provide a learning moment, one large-scale K-12 systems currently squander. Murphy and O’Neill also make the case that the definition, or construct, of writing informing standardized tests is out of sync with both current definitions of writing and everyday writing practices like digital multimodal writing and collaborative writing. We can do better, Murphy and O’Neill argue, and invoking ecological models of writing and of assessment, they show us how to begin. This book will be essential reading for stakeholders interested in writing assessment, including teachers, assessment practitioners, researchers, and policymakers."

--Kathleen Blake Yancey, Kellogg Hunt Professor and Distinguished Research Professor Emerita, Florida State University, USA

"This essential text for secondary and college writing instructors offers a fresh perspective by examining the complexity of writing instruction, its history, and the effects of high-stakes testing, all viewed through the lens of meaningful assessment."

--Barbara A. Ward, Children's and Young Adult Literature Instructor, University of New Orleans, USA

"An essential addition to the literature on writing assessment and a must-read for scholars working in writing studies, writing assessment, the teaching of writing, and the administration of writing programs."

　–Chris M. Anson, Distinguished University Professor, Executive Director, Campus Writing and Speaking Program, North Carolina State University, USA