Official Board of English Professors

Standardized Testing for Students

Hello colleagues,
I am an English professor and the chair of the English and Comparative Literature department at the University of Irvine. I am currently doing
extensive research on the accuracy of standardized tests as a predictor of student’s success, as it has become an increasingly controversial issue.
During my research, it has been brought to my attention that there has been a nation-wide "decline" in writing skills. In response to this
phenomenon, teachers all over the U.S. have become suspicious of the validity of standardized tests and have created their own tests to assess
the writing skills of students. These tests reveal that real literacy is a specific response to a concrete situation and never a generalized
touchstone for personal development, social respectability, or pedagogical success. It is also safe to assume there is no way to accurately
evaluate all of the influences that determine a student's success or failure in college. Hence, these findings have prompted me to publish an
article on this issue and I would like to incorporate ideas and personal experiences from other teachers and professors on the use of
standardized testing. I look forward to hearing any feedback you may have pertaining to this topic.

Best,

Michael Clark
michealclark@uci.edu
English Composition Board | University of Irvine
Official Board of English Professors

Standardized Testing for Students

Greetings Dr. Clark,

I'm also doing comprehensive research on this subject and have a few points I'd like to address. I agree with your assertion
that standardized writing tests fail to measure what they claim to measure. The emphasis on writing, in my opinion, should be
on structured observation of writers performing various types of tasks. Perhaps the test should also include information on the
stages of maturation in a specific type of writing, as well as writing and rewriting procedures.However, I must say that your
point about students' declining writing skills is dubious. Personally, I don't presume there is enough research on this claim to
make such a statement. Nonetheless, I hope you can consider my ideas as you write your article.

Best,

Della-Piana
dpiana@uu.edu
Professor of English | University of Utah
 Official Board of English Professors

Standardized Testing for Students

Dear Dr. Piana,

Thank you for your comment. I do realize that the statement I made was a little far-fetched and I apologize. Although in doing
this, I don’t want to dismiss the significance of the fact that students' writing skills all across the country are dramatically being
affected by the continued use of standardized tests. You do make some great points about alternative ways of testing students
and I will definitely include them into my paper.

Best,

Michael Clark
michealclark@uci.edu
English Composition Board | University of Irvine
 Official Board of English Professors

Standardized Testing for Students

Hello Dr. Clark,

I enjoyed reading the remarks, and I agree with you on how standardized placement examinations create erroneous distinctions
between prepared and underprepared students.
Fortunately, I've noticed that colleges and universities across the country have made significant changes to course placement
and sequencing in recent years. Although this is a unique approach to the subject. I'd like to make some recommendations about
how to frame discussions around corequisite models. I believe that a proper discussion on placement reform can take place, and
that reactionary attempts to revert to inequitable placement and curricular practices may indeed be avoided. Please contact me if
you'd like to learn more about my perspective on this topic.

Sincerely,
Erik Armstrong
erikarmstrong@seqouias.edu
English department | College of the Sequoias
Official Board of English Professors

Standardized Testing for Students

Dear Dr. Clark,

I absolutely agree with your assertion that standardized tests are ineffective in predicting student progress. I'd like to continue
the discussion on discovering new ways to test students and the benefits of doing so. I believe finding alternatives to
standardized tests is critical, because better placement could lead to more adequate instruction. This would allow English
teachers to concentrate on educating students with similar writing abilities and needs, rather than having to meet the demands of
writers whose abilities range from severely underprepared to prepared for college writing. Prior research has demonstrated that
direct assessment of writing is more accurate at predicting student achievement than existing standardized writing assessments,
which supports my assertions. I’d also like to point out that minority students do disproportionately well on standardized tests,
further suggesting that the existing testing system is flawed. I've included a link to an essay I helped author that further explores
this issue. Thank you for your consideration and time, and best wishes with your article.

Sincerely,
Richard N. Matzen
rmatzen@woodbury.edu
Professor of Writing | Woodbury University

Link: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ718690.pdf
Official Board of English Professors

Standardized Testing for Students

Hello Dr. Clark,

I'm thrilled to hear that you're working on an article about this topic. I believe it will draw much-needed attention to the issue of
standardized test reliability. If the purpose of measuring writing abilities is to study how writing abilities develop and how
education affects writing abilities, I believe holistic evaluation and standardized testing are suspect in forecasting one's writing
expertise. I think alternative methods would be beneficial and provide a more dependable source for evaluating students' work.
If you'd like to hear my case in greater depth, I have an article that my colleagues and I wrote in response to this issue that I can
give you access to.

Regards,
Lester Faigley
faigley@utexas.edu
University of Washington | Law Professor in Humanities
Link: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED225149.pdf
Official Board of English Professors

Standardized Testing for Students

Hello all,

I appreciate your comments, and I believe you all make excellent points. I'm delighted you all understand that even the most
valid exam is useless without a reliable scoring mechanism. The University of Michigan is an excellent example of a successful
effort to develop a more dependable testing procedure. Its placement exam has been found to be as accurate as primary trait
scoring and to be faster than holistic methods that rely on less concrete principles. I strongly advise everyone to read my
publications on this matter because it provides a concrete example of alternate testing procedures.
Nonetheless, I am looking forward to incorporating all of your suggestions into my article and wish you all the best in your
studies.

Best,

Michael Clark
michealclark@umichigan.edu
English Composition Board | University of Michigan
 Works Cited

Clark, Michael. (1983). Evaluating writing in an academic setting. A Newsletter of the English
Composition Board, University of Michigan 04.2, 170-186

Armstrong, Erik; Megan Baptista Geist; Joshua Geist. (2020). Withstanding the Backlash:
Conceptualizing and Preparing for Coercive Reactions to Placement Reform and Corequisite Support
Models in California. Composition Studies 48.2, 74-92.

Matzen, Richard N.; Jeff E. Hoyt. (2004). Basic writing placement with holistically scored essays:
Research evidence. Journal of Developmental Education 28.1, 2-34.

Faigley, Lester; Roger D. Cherry; David A. Jolliffe; Anna M. Skinner. (1985). Assessing writers'
knowledge and processes of composing. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.

Della-Piana, Gabriel; Lee Odell; Charles Cooper; George Endo. (1977). The writing skills decline: So
what? In Lipsitz, Lawrence (Ed.), The test score decline: Meaning and issues; Englewood Cliffs, NJ:
Educational Technology Publications (pp. 163-186).

Clark, Michael. (1980). Contests and contexts: Writing and testing in school. College English 42.3,
217-227.