More on Student Writing

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1415015639692216699.post-50714826867819802292008-07-08T10:22:00.008-04:002008-07-09T20:05:02.551-04:002008-07-09T20:05:02.551-04:00More on Student Writing<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_9U9kkFk64GU/SHN8CP3ow1I/AAAAAAAAABY/GSXn_H2Dirw/s1600-h/writing.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_9U9kkFk64GU/SHN8CP3ow1I/AAAAAAAAABY/GSXn_H2Dirw/s200/writing.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5220652771114009426" border="0" /></a>I read <a href="http://www.generalblogofcrime.com/2008/06/gboc-lightning-round-take-three.html">last week's post</a> about student writing with great interest (although obviously without enough energy to actually comment). I am one of those professors who assumes that students should be able to write when they get to me (sorry, Velma). I am constantly annoyed by students who do not know how to use punctuation, capitalization, or even paragraph breaks in the appropriate manner. While I am happy to assist them with synthesizing, making connections, and critically analyzing academic literature, I really don't think it's my job to explain that a group of words with no verb does not a sentence make. I feel vindicated by an article in today's <a href="http://chronicle.com/daily/2008/07/3707n.htm?utm_source=at&utm_medium=en">Chronicle</a> about the new SAT writing section and its ability to predict student success. The authors point out that the SAT may not be a perfect predictor of success, but when teamed with other methods of assessment can prove valuable for college admissions: <blockquote>Among their findings: When controlling for other factors, such as level of parental education, each 100-point increase on the SAT writing section correlated, on average, with gains of 0.07 on first-year grade-point averages, 0.18 on grade-point averages in freshman English courses, and 0.54 in credit-hours earned. "While the scores are imperfect," the researchers wrote in a working paper on the study, "taken together with high-school GPA, other portions of standardized tests, AP credit, and noncognitive variables, they clearly help predict first-year student academic achievement.</blockquote>Certainly, the increases found are small (but significant). I'm left wondering, however, what the writing portion of the SAT actually measures--is it the ability to construct a sentence using the rules of English, or the ability to analyze and critically assess a problem using those skills? I suppose those are questions best left to the researchers in the College of Education. As a final note, I leave you with the ever-so-wise opinion of <a href="http://www.veganmomma.com/blog%20pictures/Cartoons/2007/06.08.07.CalvinonWriting.gif">Calvin</a>. *Any spelling or grammatical errors in this essay are the fault of the New Jersey Public School System, and not the author herself.ShockProfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07229905574263889666noreply@blogger.com1