Defining Writing Assessment Practices for California Community Colleges

Whereas, Writing assessment, from placement in appropriate courses to certifying proficiency in a single course or a series of courses, involves high stakes for students and has a profound impact on their educational journeys and success;

Whereas, Best placement practice is informed by pedagogical and curricular goals and is, therefore, continually under review and subject to change by well-informed faculty and experienced instructors or evaluators; and

Whereas, The decontextualized assessment of students’ rhetorical choices may disadvantage students whose home language or formative cultural experience reflects the diversity of California Community Colleges’ student population;

Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges recommend that the Common Assessment Initiative include writing samples as a required component of the common assessment and that the writing samples are scored by human readers whose participation will inform assessment procedures that promote the growth of students across the composition sequence; and

Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges urge the Common Assessment Initiative steering committee to ensure that English and ESL instructors with knowledge and experience as to how integrated assessment programs inform curriculum and pedagogy participate in the design and evaluation of writing samples to ensure that the assessment test is grounded in the latest research on language learning and assessment practices.

MSC