Standards for Writing Assessment

NCTE and IRA have created these standards for writing assessment.  For a complete description of each standard, see the full text.

1. The interests of the student are paramount in assessment.

2. The primary purpose of assessment is to improve teaching and learning.

3. Assessment must reflect and allow for critical inquiry into curriculum and instruction.

4. Assessments must recognize and reflect the intellectually and socially complex nature of reading and writing and the important roles of school, home, and society in literacy development.

5. Assessment must be fair and equitable.

6. The consequences of an assessment procedure are the first, and most important, consideration in establishing the validity of the assessment.

7. The teacher is the most important agent of assessment.

8. The assessment process should involve multiple perspectives and sources of data.

9. Assessment must be based in the community.

10. All members of the educational community -- students, parents, teachers, administrators, policymakers, and the public -- must have a voice in the development, interpretation, and reporting of assessment.

11. Parents must be involved as active, essential participants in the assessment process.

Writing Assessment Standards Full Text