Hasta La Gadget!

Only roughly one quarter of eighth and 12th graders are proficient in writing, according to results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress’ first-ever computer-based writing assessment. The new framework represents a move away from the traditional paper-and-pencil format that has dominated the testing scene for nearly four decades.

NAEP’s exams are considered the gold standard measurement of student achievement. In May, results showed that about a third of eighth graders who took its science exam were proficient, a statistic NAEP’s interim director Gerry Wheeler slammed as “unacceptable.” Similarly, only 32 percent of students performed at the proficient level on NAEP’s math exam in 2007, ranking the U.S. 32nd out of 65 countries that were tested on the 2009 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), NAEP’s international equivalent. This trend also appears to hold true for writing, though the format may have changed.

Drawing from a sample of 24,100 eighth graders and 28,100 12th graders representing both public and private schools, the 2011 writing assessment asked students to complete two 30-minute tasks, each of which was designed to measure one of three communicative purposes: to persuade, explain or convey experience. The prompts were presented in multimedia formats that included video or audio segments, newspaper articles, real-world data and other materials around which students could formulate a response. They recorded their answers on a laptop that featured commonly used word-processing tools such as spell check and a thesaurus.

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