Common Assessment Tool 4: Tests

Tests, both formal and informal, are another common way for teachers to gather information about student writing. Unlike some types of tests such as math, which have specific questions students must answer, writing tests often require students to write a specific writing task within a limited amount of time. Some of these tests include formal standardized tests such as the writing components in grade 3 and 6, the grade 9 OSSLT, and tests which measure certain aspects of writing such as curriculum based measures (CBM), correct word sequences (CWSs), or incorrect word sequences (IWSs).  These can be beneficial to see if students are performing at grade level, to identify areas of strength or areas of concern, and to measure specific aspects of writing.

Some of the major criticisms of testing student writing is that this form of assessment is politically driven, and often undermines or contradicts the process of writing (draft, edit, review) that teachers strive to promote in schools. In addition, teachers often feel tests do not allow students to produce their best pieces of writing, and are thus unfair. Weigle (2007) argues that this type of assessment, while clearly not meant to elicit a student’s best writing, is important for a number of reasons. Firstly, she argues that timed writing is a fact of life, as students will need to engage in this type of quick writing throughout their schooling careers. In addition, she says it can be one of the only ways for teachers to determine for certain what a student is capable of producing on their own, without teacher or parent support. While testing is obviously not ideal to assess all areas of student writing, no one assessment tool is, and used in conjunction with a variety of other tools, tests can be one helpful tool used in the process of assessing student writing.