Writing Proficiency
Schedule for 2011 Test Administration and Scoring Set
All Montana high schools, public and private, are invited to participate in the 2011 Montana University System Writing Assessment. (See Invitation to Participate.) Simply complete and submit the Pre-Registration Form.)
The testing window is set for February 1-25, with Training of Trainers February 17-18 in Helena.
Scoring sites and dates are scheduled for: March 7-8 Kalispell; March 9-10 Missoula; March 14-15 Helena; March 21-22 Billings; March 22-23 Miles City; March 24-25 Bozeman; March 28-29 Glasgow; and March 30-31 Great Falls.
Remediation Rates in Composition Show Dramatic Decline
While the rest of the country frets over remediation rates, the preparation levels of Montana's recent high school graduates have been improving. Over the past ten years, the MUSWA has worked with hundreds of high school teachers to improve readiness for college English, resulting in a decline in remediation rates in college composition of 26% between 2005 and 2009.*
*Remediation rates in composition are lower than those in mathematics (15% took developmental composition in 2005 and 31% took developmental math). The drop to only 11% in developmental composition represents a significant reduction. (If 150 students took developmental composition in 2005 and 110 students did so in 2009, 40 fewer students means 26% fewer.) For more detail, go to: http://mus.edu/data/briefs/Remediation-One-pager.pdf.Tenth Administration of MUSWA Yields Positive Results
Scores, Letters of Recognition for students with scores of 5.5 and 6, Awards of Merit Schools, and other data were returned in Montana's participating schools in April and May. June and May 2010 Newsletters, on the left side of this webpage, include graphs and charts to describe results and participation in detail. Briefly:
- 135 high schools tested 7,581 students, which represents over 75% of Montana's high school juniors. The average score, on a six-point scale, was 3.8.
- 369 teachers, college instructors, adult basic education teachers, and pre-service teachers received training and scored tests at eight sites in Montana (Glasgow, Great Falls, Billings, Miles City, Helena, Bozeman, Missoula, and Kalispell) March 8-30.
- 130 students who earned scores of 6.0 and 262 students who earned scores of 5.5 received Letters of Recognition from the Montana Board of Regents.
- Awards of Merit for the exemplary performance of their students went to the top high schools from each size category (AA, A, B, and C). See newsletter for listing.
- 61% of the tests were submitted online, cutting printing costs and streamlining the data-gathering process. Only 3% of the tests were handwritten.
- The Board of Regents adopted the Montana University System Writing Assessment (MUSWA) as one measure of Writing Proficiency to gain full admission to the four-year degree programs of the Montana University System and for placement into college-level composition at all MUS campuses. Participation in the MUSWA is voluntary. It was administered for the tenth time in February of 2010.
- To gain full admission to the four-year degree programs of the Montana University System, students must earn a minimum score of 3.5 on the MUSWA or the equivalent score (7.0) on the ACT or SAT essays.
POLICY
Montana’s two-year and four-year campuses use the highest writing score from the MUSWA, ACT Optional Writing Test, or SAT Essay to determine if students have demonstrated writing proficiency for placement into college-level composition and full admission to the four-year campuses. Students who meet the proficiency threshold for admission are exempted from taking a placement exam on campus during freshman orientation. Students who score below 3.5 on the MUSWA are provisionally admitted and placed into developmental courses unless they challenge their placement by taking another placement test. See policies on the sidebar.
The Writing Proficiency Policy:
- Informs high school juniors if they are on target to enter a freshman composition course that is developmental or a composition course that will count toward core or degree requirements;
- Ensures that students take the developmental course they need during their first year in college; and
- Identifies students who need more intensive writing instruction as high school seniors in order to graduate at the “proficient” level in writing.
In November, 2007, the Board of Regents passed a Composition Placement Policy, which brings consistency to the placement practices on the MUS campuses and allows students to use their score on the MUSWA, ACT, or SAT to be placed into credit-bearing, college-level composition courses. See Policy 301.17 for details.
The National Scene
Writing Proficiency has become a national issue, as described in The Neglected "R", The Need for a Writing Revolution. To address this issue and help schools improve their writing programs, the Montana University System has studied this issue in depth by administering the Montana University System Writing Assessment. An alignment document describes how the scoring rubric was developed to reflect Montana's Writing Content Standards. More recently, governors and state school superintendents have developed a common core of state standards in English-language arts and mathematics. These Common Core State Standards are closely matched to the purpose and scoring rubric of the MUS Writing Assessment.
Many colleges and universities require that students submit a writing assessment score for admission. The following campuses, frequently chosen by Montana graduates, now require either the ACT with writing or the SAT: University of Washington, Washington State University, Oregon State University, Stanford University, University of Puget Sound, Harvard University, Portland State University, University of Southern California, Willamette University, Whitman College, New York University, Boston University, University of California, Princeton University, Yale University, Northwestern University, and Dickinson State University.
The newsletter archive contains tables, graphs, and charts with statistical analysis of MUS Writing Assessment results since 2001. It is noteworthy that inter-rater reliability has been high throughout the project, calculated at .86 (Cronbach's alpha). Intensive training and consistent application of the scoring rubric helps achieve this inter-rater reliability rate.
Student Assistance
WEBwriters, funded by the Student Assistance Foundation of Montana, supports the development of writing skills by helping students prepare for and improve their scores on the Montana University System Writing Assessment. The website, hosted at Montana State University Great Falls College of Technology can be found at http://webwriters.msugf.edu. Trained scorers are invited to sign contracts describing their duties and stipends as webscorers. Webwriters accepts practice essays from Montana students throughout the school year.
ACT's website also provides assistance in teaching the persuasive essay. See http://www.act.org/aap/writing/highschool/download.html (click on "ACT Assessment at a Glance").
Teachers from Helena High School have developed a website with resources and ideas for teaching the persuasive essay, http://www.hhs.helena.k12.mt.us/Teacherlinks/Oconnorj/persuasion.html.
To oversee implementation of these recommendations on admissions, a
Steering Committee on Writing Proficiency Admissions Standards meets periodically.
For more information on the Montana Writing Proficiency Admissions Standards, please contact:
Jan Clinard, Ed.D.
Director, Academic Initiatives,Commissioner of Higher Education
2500 Broadway, Helena, Montana 59620-3201
Tel: (406) 444-0652 Fax: (406) 444-1469
