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Composition Forum 16, Fall 2006
http://compositionforum.com/issue/16/

Succinct Assessment Report from “Embracing the Exit”

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Joseph Eng

This is a succinct version of the assessment report including the Eastern Washington University English Composition Program goal, its assessment instrument, scores, and recommendations, a supplement to “Embracing the Exit: Assessment, Trust, and the Teaching of Writing.”

Our Major Program Goal:

By the end of E101, students should be able to produce a variety of essays based on effective rhetorical skills, including focus, development and support, organization, and mechanics, through constant practice, revision, and reflection.

I. Assessment Instrument with Scoring Rubric

As a common end-of-term requirement, the Exit Writing Portfolio calls for the following items, which are holistically assessed and trade-read, using the Holistic Scoring Guide:

The Program seeks to maintain validity and reliability based on the following:

II. Summary of Scores

Based on a pass rate at 90 % of all submitted finals in the Winter ’03, the most recent run, the majority of enrolled students met the requirements calling for writing abilities and skills achieved through revision, reflection, and practice.

III. Interpretation of Results

Based on the impressive pass rate cited above, the overwhelming majority of our enrolled student writers have achieved either

High Pass: With the Good Exit Portfolio exhibiting most of the following characteristics:

or, Pass: With The Adequate Exit Portfolio:

The assessment indicates that 10% of all students completing the course exhibit the following characteristics—

Fail: With an Inadequate Exit Portfolio

As mentioned above, the Program has instituted the Exit Portfolio as a common requirement. The consistently high pass rates have repeatedly reflected the high commitment and dedication shared among our instructors, who are mostly TAs and lecturers. (Other first-year programs average a much lower pass rate; Math, for instance, has an average pass rate at 50%.) Based on the recent student and instructor surveys (Appendixes D, E), the transition from the previous single-essay exit measure to our currently practiced writing-portfolio measure is also seen as a smooth and positive one.

IV. Recommendations

Information is used in several ways:

Since the Exit Portfolio has been adopted as a common, holistic measure for only two years, it is too early for the Program to make concluding comments. The Program made several records, however, during the implementation year:

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