Relationship Between Student Writing Ability and Student Characteristics at a Texas Four-Year University

• In Event: Innovative Approaches for Developing and Assessing Student Learning Outcomes in Higher Education

Abstract

Student written communication is an important learning objective for colleges and universities as more students enter the workforce lacking effective written communication skills. This importance was magnified for Texas’s public colleges and universities with that State’s adoption of written communication as a core learning objective. Highlighted within this study are the efforts of one 4-year Texas university to assess student writing using a locally-developed writing rubric. Data regarding student performance upon an end-of-experience writing assessment were compared to student GPA, student performance in introductory English courses, and whether students transferred in their introductory English courses or took them locally. In doing so, the assessment methodology presented within this study may serve as a model for other institutions seeking to evaluate student writing.

Author

• Jeff Roberts, Sam Houston State University