Placing data in the hands of discipline-specific decision makers: Campus-wide writing program assessment

Abstract

► ACT's CAAP Writing Skills test was used together with an internally-developed writing rubric. ► We provide and display both rubric data and CAAP Writing Skills data per student major. ► Correlations between CAAP Writing Skills data and data from internal rubric use are presented. ► This model informs both the university and departments. ► We argue that best practices in writing assessment use multiple measures. Writing is complex, and assessment of writing is equally complex, particularly when considering the need to measure outcomes at the institutional level while providing meaningful data that informs curriculum reform and supports learning at the discipline-level. Using a multi-layered assessment that incorporates standardized measures of writing assessment, such as two writing subtests of the Collegiate Assessment of Academic Proficiency (CAAP) published by ACT, as well as locally-developed rubric ratings, data from the assessment process can provide useful information to departmental faculty, assisting them in understanding students’ skills in their given content areas. The data generated in this system provides unique perspectives on discipline-specific writing expectations and outcomes.