A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Audience Approved by the JDRP for all students grades 3-9.

Description Profile Approach to Writing (PAW) provides a reliable system for accurate assessment of writ- ing and meaningful feedback to students about their writing. The goals and objectives of the program are to

• Improve and measure student writing performance,
  
• Provide meaningful feedback for revision,
  
• Increase objectivity and reliability of readers, thereby standardizing writing evaluation, and
  
• Reduce teacher grading time.

Central to the program are the Composition Profile, a holistic/analytic evaluation instrument, and the Extended Criteria. Both were developed for three populations--elementary, middle school/junior high, and high school.

The Profile contains five components, each focusing on an important aspect of writing and weighted according to its approximate importance for written communication. The Content component concerns the invention of writing--having something to say. The Organization component addresses disposition, or the rhetorical principles for arrangement. Vocabulary, Language Use, and Mechanics together deal with elocutio--the linguistic and mechanical principles for effective delivery of discourse.

Year-long studies conducted in the College Station Independent School District, the Bryan Independent School District, and the Spring Branch Independent School District of Houston, TX found that using the Profile Approach to Writing:

• Evaluation provides an effective means to promote and show student writing progress,
  
• The program is effective with students of varying abilities,
  
• Teachers grade more uniformly and objectively than with impressionistic methods,
  
• Grading time is reduced significantly, yet students receive increased and more meaningful feedback with directive comments.

PAW addresses the third National Goal for Education in that the program helps students develop competency in their abilities to reason, solve problems, and apply knowledge through effective written communication. The program supports the goal's objective for significant increase in the academic performance of elementary and secondary students, and it provides a means of accountability.

Evidence of Effectiveness In school districts where the Profile Approach has been implemented, students in grades 3-9 have shown increased writing achievement. This achievement was measured using either the Profile scale or by the writing component of the Texas TAAS test.

Requirements Essential to the implementation of the program is teacher training in the use of the Profile and Extended Criteria and in the applications of each. The program can be implemented across the curriculum to provide standard grading criteria. In language arts and English classes, the program aids instructors in teaching the writing process and in assigning grades for writing. In other subject areas, the program provides for the inclusion of meaningful writing assignments and a guide for assessing them. It also reinforces the rules, conventions, and guidelines being taught in language arts. The program and the materials required for it can be transferred easily to other locations.

Costs Staff Training (20 participants in a 6- to 30-hour workshop), $350 per day; Travel and per diem expenses for one trainer (if needed), $340 (est.); Consumables, $15; Profile Package (pad of 100 Profiles, 25 Criteria Cards, and Profile Guide), $45.

Services Awareness materials are available at no cost. Visitors are welcome at three different demonstration sites by appointment. Program staff are available for awareness sessions (costs to be negotiated). Follow-up services are available to adopters. Summer institute costs differ from on-site workshop costs. Call for further information.

Contact

Jane B. Hughey, Director or Susan Vammen, Coordinator, 1701 Southwest Parkway, Suite 102, College Station, TX 77840. (409) 764-9765.

Developmental Funding: College Station Independent School District, in kind.
JDRP No. 86-32 (10/30/86)

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