General Information

• Iowa Writing Assessment

• The Riverside Publishing Company, 1994

• $39.00: 25 test booklets, 25 response sheets

• 40 minutes to plan, write and edit

• 4 tests in the battery

Purpose

“The purpose of this test is to see how well you organize and express your ideas in writing.”

Nature of Test

Narrative Descriptive Persuasive Expository

given to grades 3-12

4 types of writing

SCORING

Holistic scoreor

Analytical score

Done locally according to guidelines

2 raters - average of the 2

Raw score = criterion referenced information (can be converted)

Standardization Sample

Samples of student work collected during a 2 week period in October 1992Approximately 20,000 papers from 323 buildings in 32 statesSeparate norms developed for each grade and each writing promptPercentile bands and ranks provided with the test literatureStandard setting procedures: manuals, scoring protocols, anchor papers, training papers, & teacher training.

Reliability - quantitative assessment of

consistency for…..

• Reader reliability

From one scorer to another

Spearman-Brown formula

Average across-score scale combined with average across-grade score = 0.73-0.76

• Score reliability

Derived from a portion of the national standardization sample

Responded in same mode of writing

Average across-score scale combined with average across-grade score = 0.43-0.52….LOW

Qualitative scores lower due to subject matter, writing modes, and small number of tasks

Validity

• Technical manual mentions content - related evidence

• No mention of criterion-related evidence

• No mention of construct related evidence

Mental Measurement Yearbook

After careful research, no mention of the Iowa Writing Assessment was found.

Strengths of the Assessment• Performance based

• Product based• Meets the target• Clearly defines:

– Grade levels– Traits of writing

• Well written prompts• Illustrations for primary

levels• Relevant to classroom

instruction

Weaknesses of Assessment

• Time for completion

• Reliability of reader-raters

• Criterion & construct related evidence not provided

Recommendation

Use scores with caution– Subjectivity of reader/raters– Weakness of reliability of test

Do Not interpret scores as a summative score of student achievement

Do use as a broad reflection of student achievement