FWD: I: U.S. Department of Education study---Kids doesn't right good. ;-)

["Bob Lord, DTN 522-6614," <lord -at- CXCAD -dot- ENET -dot- DEC -dot- COM>]

From:   CXDOCS::CXDOCS::DONAHUE "Susan Donahue, IDC Editor, DTN 522-3762
11-Aug-1994 1302"   11-AUG-1994 13:03:58.12
To:     @SYS$TOOLS:ALL
CC:     DONAHUE
Subj:   I:  U.S. Department of Education study---Kids doesn't right good.  ;-)

                    U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
           OFFICE OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH AND IMPROVEMENT
                         OFFICE OF RESEARCH
                      EDUCATION RESEARCH REPORT

                              July 1993

            WHAT'S WRONG WITH WRITING AND WHAT CAN WE DO
                             RIGHT NOW?

In 1991, a national poll of American educators and employers found
widespread concern about students' preparation for further education
and employment (Louis Harris and Associates).  One particular concern
was students' ability to write well, since both educators and
employers value good writing skills.

When asked to rate the writing preparation of recent high school
graduates

o  Only 18 percent of educators and 12 percent of employers thought
   that high school graduates had learned to write well.

This low rating is all the more significant when compared to ratings
in other areas.  For example, 33 percent of educators and 30 percent
of employers thought that high school graduates had learned to read
well, and 27 percent of educators and 22 percent of employers thought
that high school graduates had learned to do mathematics well.

Parents and students, on the other hand, were much more positive
about the results of writing preparation in high school.  In the same
poll

o  66 percent of the students who took jobs and 56 percent of their
   parents thought the students' were well prepared in writing
   for the job market; and

o  71 percent of the students who went on to higher education and
   77 percent of their parents thought the students were well
   prepared in writing for higher education.

Who is right?  Are high school students as poorly prepared in writing
as employers and educators believe, or do parents and students have
a clearer view of the picture?  To help answer this question, we
examined data on the writing achievement of eleventh grade students
in 1990 on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).

STUDENTS DON'T WRITE WELL

The NAEP report TRENDS IN ACADEMIC PROGRESS provides information on
student achievement patterns across time in reading, math, science,
and writing.  The NAEP data for writing at grades 4, 8, and 11 tend
to confirm the employers' and educators' view of the quality of high
school preparation in writing.

According to the 1990 NAEP, which assessed students' writing ability
using a series of performance tasks, eleventh-graders tended to
produce minimally developed written work in terms of the tasks
required.  Students were given a variety of writing assignments--for
example, a description of a summer job they would like and their
qualifications for the job; a position paper on whether or not a bike
lane should be installed in their locality, including a refutation of
the opposite point of view; and a report based on notes they were
given about a haunted house.

For the last task, students were asked to reorganize the information
provided and to write an informative newspaper article about the
house.  Nearly half of the students wrote material rated
unsatisfactory or minimal.  The following is an example of a MINIMAL
response:

       "The house with no windows.  This is a house with dead-
        end hallways, 36 rooms and stairs leading to the cieling
        [sic].  Doorways go nowhere and all this to confuse ghosts."

This is the complete, verbatim response--and nearly half of all
eleventh grade students wrote similarly sketchy articles.

The other half of the students wrote reports rated ADEQUATE or
better, of which the following is an example:

       "Man builds strange house to scare ghosts.  He says that he
        did it to confuse the ghosts.  But why may we ask would he
        want to spend 10 years building a house.  For instance there
        are stairs that go nowhere and hallways that go nowhere.
        This house has 36 rooms.  If you ask me I think it is kind of
        strange."

While this piece of writing does present basic information, it is
unlikely to meet acceptable standards of adequate writing for many
jobs or college courses.

In contrast, the following is an example of an ELABORATED response,
a step up from a rating of ADEQUATE:

       "Years of rumors and unsubstantiated reports have created, in
        a quiet urban neighborhood, a house of horrors.  The dwelling
        is one Appleby House, a modest dwelling of 36 rooms built
        over an 8 year period.  On interviewing neighbors, who dubbed
        the owner "strange," one finds that 10 carpenters have been
        employed to build such oddities as stairways to ceilings,
        windows on blank walls, and doorways going nowhere.
        According to reports, these bizarre customizings are intended
        to confuse ghosts.  Maybe the owner will report one day that
        he has caught one in a dead end hallway!  Until then,
        however, the mystery of the building of Appleby House remains
        just that--a mystery."

Unfortunately only 2 percent of the eleventh grade students wrote
material rated ELABORATED on this task, about the same percentage as
on the other writing tasks.  Furthermore, only 19 to 68 percent of
students rated ADEQUATE or better on the other tasks.

DESCRIPTION OF WRITING TASKS AND PERCENTAGES RATED AT OR ABOVE THE
ADEQUATE LEVEL

JOB APPLICATION:  Students were asked to provide a brief description
of a desirable summer job and to summarize their previous experiences
or qualifications for it. (68%)

APPLEBY HOUSE:  Students were asked to write a newspaper article
about an unusual haunted house based on notes they were given. (50%)

FOOD ON THE FRONTIER:  Students were required to read a social
studies passage about frontier life and then to explain how
modern-day food differs from frontier food. (19%)

SPACE PROGRAM:  Students were required to adopt a point of view about
whether or not funding for the space program should be reduced, and
to write a letter to their senators explaining their position. (28%)

BIKE LANE:  Students were instructed to take a stand on whether or
not a bike lane should be installed in their community, and to refute
the opposing view. (20%)

RECREATION OPPORTUNITIES:  Students were asked to take a position on
their town's purchase of a railroad track or a warehouse as a
recreation center, to defend their position, and to refute the
alternative position. (20%)

STUDENTS DON'T WRITE MUCH

Because no survey can capture all of the factors related to students'
performance in school, survey data should not be the basis for making
definitive statements about the causes of low achievement.  However,
we do know from research that in order to learn to write well,
students need frequent practice in writing a variety of materials.
Also, NAEP does contain information on students' writing instruction
as well as on their attitudes towards writing that may help us to
better understand their achievement levels.

Unfortunately, a majority of high school students neither like to
write nor do much writing in school or outside of school.  The 1990
assessment of eleventh grade students found that

o  Only 39 percent usually liked to write; and

o  Only 28 percent wrote on their own outside of school.

What about writing in school?  The 1988 NAEP assessment of twelfth
grade students--students who were about to enter college or the work
force--found that

o  Only 8 percent reported that they were assigned to write a paper
   that was three or more pages long every week in English class; and

o  61 percent said they wrote papers this long less than once a
   month.

These students did not write much in their other classes either:

o  75 percent said they never received writing assignments in their
   social studies or history classes.

When asked how many reports or papers they had written during the
last six weeks as part of any school assignment, 11 percent said
none and 38 percent said only one or two.  While students may not
receive long assignments because teachers do not have time to grade
them, it is unlikely that students will improve their writing skills
without frequent practice in writing.  In fact, NAEP found a
correlation between the number of writing assignments students
completed and their performance on the NAEP writing measures.

While this result suggests that those who write more improve their
writing, it is also quite possible that the better writers are given
more writing assignments, and that this accounts for the observed
score differences.  However, given the importance of writing for
further education and employment success, it seems clear that all
students could benefit from more writing assignments.

WHY DO SO MANY STUDENTS THINK THEY WRITE WELL?

The Harris Poll, as noted earlier, showed that the majority of
students (66 and 71 percent, respectively) believed that their high
school writing instruction prepared them well for jobs and higher
education.  The NAEP findings were somewhat less positive.  A
majority of the students recognized that they did not write well:
only 44 percent agreed with the statement "I am a good writer."

The differences between the Harris Poll and the NAEP findings may be
due to the wording of the questions:  students may think they are
prepared well enough for a job without necessarily thinking they are
good writers.  However, both studies indicate that students may not
have a realistic view of how well they write, and that they do not
have an accurate idea of what constitutes good writing, especially as
judged by employers, postsecondary educators, and NAEP standards.

Many students may think they write well based on feedback from
teachers.  For example, the 1990 NAEP found that a third of eighth
grade teachers reported giving their students mostly A's or about
half A's and B's on their writing assignments.  (This information was
not available for older students in 1990.)  Furthermore, students may
not receive enough information about how to improve their writing.
The 1988 NAEP found that while 66 percent of twelfth grade students
reported that their teachers usually commented on what they did well
in a paper, and 60 percent commented on the ideas, only 45 percent
commented on what they should do next time to improve their writing.
WHAT CAN BE DONE?

Students need better preparation in writing in high school to be
successful in college and on the job.

Schools need to

o  Provide students with frequent writing assignments;

o  Give students a wide variety of writing assignments:  stories,
   reports, letters, poems, journals;

o  Provide students with examples of good writing;

o  Teach students how good writers approach writing:  how they
   organize their thoughts, brainstorm, revise, and work with others
   to improve their final work;

o  Provide students with constructive and honest feedback on their
   writing, including suggestions for how to improve future writing
   assignments; and

o  Hold students to high standards.

Parents can help their children become better writers by encouraging
good writing skills early.  Younger children should be encouraged to

o  Write to pen pals;

o  Write letters and postcards to family members;

o  Keep a diary or journal;

o  Help write a family newsletter to send to relatives;

o  Compose poems, or rewrite favorite poems to tell their own story;

o  Write and illustrate stories they can share; and

o  Write their own lyrics to favorite tunes.

Parents should ensure that their older children receive frequent
writing assignments in all their classes--not just in English
class--, that they are held accountable for completing them, and that
teachers give constructive feedback to help them improve their
writing skills.

This RESEARCH REPORT is part of a series published by the Office of
Educational Research and Improvement for teachers and parents.  If
you would like to suggest topics for future RESEARCH REPORTS, please
write to:  Office of Research, U.S. Department of Education, 555 New
Jersey Avenue NW, Room 610e, Washington, DC, 20208-5648.  To be added
to the RESEARCH REPORT mailing list, send your name and address to
OERI RESEARCH REPORT, Outreach Office at the address above.  This
report is a public document and may be reproduced in part or in its
entirety without permission.  Please credit OERI.

REFERENCES

Educational Testing Service.  June 1990.  LEARNING TO WRITE IN OUR
NATION'S SCHOOLS:  INSTRUCTION AND ACHIEVEMENT IN 1988 AT GRADES 4,
8, AND 12.

Educational Testing Service.  January 1990.  THE WRITING REPORT CARD,
1984-1988.

Louis Harris and Associates.  1991.  AN ASSESSMENT OF AMERICAN
EDUCATION:  THE VIEW OF EMPLOYERS, HIGHER EDUCATORS, THE PUBLIC,
RECENT STUDENTS, AND THEIR PARENTS.

U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and
Improvement.  August 1992.  WRITING.  Draft report prepared by Judy
Segal.

U.S. Department of Education.  November 1991.  TRENDS IN ACADEMIC
PROGRESS (Report No:  21--T--01).

NOTES:  (1) The Harris study was based on a sample of 402 employers,
301 educators in trade and vocational schools, 2-year colleges, small
4-year colleges, and large 4-year universities, and 1,744 members of
the public.  (2) The 1990 NAEP assessment of writing performance
included approximately 30,000 students in grades 4, 8, and 11.  The
1988 assessment included approximately 20,000 students in grades 4,
8, and 12.  (3) Information on effective writing programs is
available from the National Diffusion Network, 555 New Jersey Avenue
NW, Room 510e, Washington, DC 20208-5648.

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