Writing Proficiency

Overview MUSWA PowerPoint A Practical Guide to Writing Proficiency Scoring Rubric

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2012 MUSWA Testing Window: February 1-24

Montana’s high schools registered for the 2012 MUSWA by using the website: https://www.muswa.com/.  Schools need to revisit that website to make certain their data is accurate.  Before testing begins, teachers should read the Test Administration Manual.  Prompts and test booklets will be mailed to schools during the week of January 23.

The online testing website: www.muswa.com  will be open for experimentation January 16 through January 20 to practice uploading class lists, etc.  Anything uploaded or submitted during that week will be erased.  On January 25, teachers may begin registering classes and uploading class lists for the actual test. This data will be saved. 

Register Now for 2012 MUSWA Workshops

MUSWA provides several opportunities for professional development.  First, Training of Trainers is limited to experienced scorers who want to become leaders at one of the eight workshops scheduled throughout the state beginning March 6 and ending March 29.  Training of Trainers is scheduled for February 16-17 in Helena at the Holiday Inn. (TOT Registration Form)
Writing Assessment Workshops consist of roughly one day of training and one day of scoring.  Scoring is an integral part of the professional development because of the important interactions among teachers, counselors, administrators, and college faculty who participate.  These workshops are free and include lunches, OPI renewal units or college credit.  See Writing Workshop Registration Form for dates and places.  Widespread participation in these workshops is one of the factors that has contributed to Montana’s declining remediation rate for freshman composition, from 14.6% in 2005 to 8.4% in 2011.

MUSWA Entering Twelfth Year

The Montana University System Writing Assessment has evolved from a field test managed by ACT, to an integral part of the culture of many of Montana’s high schools.  The proficiency of student writing has increased substantially and the remediation rates in college composition have declined.  Students, who were in the first grade in 2001 when 73 high schools began the MUSWA journey, were tested in 2011 as juniors.  Some had been looking forward to demonstrating their writing skills to anonymous scorers and some had dreaded the day that they would be on their own with a prompt and a blank screen.   And, in 2011, 75% of Montana’s participating high school students proved their writing was “proficient.”  The Evolution of MUSWA describes this journey, including eleven years of data. 

MUSWA is now housed at University of Montana Helena, under the direction of Dr. Jan Clinard.  With this seamless transition, MUSWA continues to provide Montana’s high schools with a college-readiness measure whose approach to professional development has proven to be a powerful tool in improving student achievement.  For a quick overview, click here.

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 from 15% in 2005 to 10% in 2010.*

*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 10% in developmental composition represents a significant reduction. (If 150 students took developmental composition in 2005 and 110 students did so in 2010, 50 fewer students means 33% fewer.) For more detail, go to: http://mus.edu/data/briefs/Remediation-One-pager.pdf.

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 (Part I.C. of Policy 301.1):

• 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.

For more information on the Montana Writing Proficiency Admissions Standards, please contact Jan Clinard, Ed.D.