Linda Adler-Kassner

Susanmarie Harrington

This is an empirical study of basic writing in the contemporary academy from the perspective of students as two urban institutions, and from basic writing courses and programs from a variety of colleges and universities. The authors examine perceptions of in-school writing and how basic writing programs have been created and maintained b drawing on basic writing syllabi and program information from a variety of colleges and universities. They look at ways the institution of basic writing an make better pedagogical and political use of students' entering perceptions of their courses, and students' past experiences.

Public Conversations about Writing and Literacies

Basic Writing as a Political Act

Bob Broad

Barry Alford

Jane Detweiler

Heidi Estrem

Maureen McBride

Eric Stalions

Scott Weeden

Educators strive to create “assessment cultures” in which they integrate evaluation into teaching and learning and match assessment methods with best instructional practice. But how do teachers and administrators discover and negotiate the values that underlie their evaluations? Bob Broad’s 2003 volume, What We Really Value, introduced dynamic criteria mapping (DCM) as a method for eliciting locally-informed, context-sensitive criteria for writing assessments. The impact of DCM on assessment practice is beginning to emerge as more and more writing departments and programs adopt, adapt, or experiment with DCM approaches. For the authors of Organic Writing Assessment, the DCM experience provided not only an authentic assessment of their own programs, but a nuanced language through which they can converse in the always vexing, potentially divisive realm of assessment theory and practice. Of equal interest are the adaptations these writers invented for Broad’s original process, to make DCM even more responsive to local needs and exigencies. Organic Writing Assessment represents an important step in the evolution of writing assessment in higher education. This volume documents the second generation of an assessment model that is regarded as scrupulously consistent with current theory; it shows DCM’s flexibility, and presents an informed discussion of its limits and its potentials.

Dynamic Criteria Mapping in Action

Organic Writing Assessment

Susanmarie Harrington

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