Verrinda's response to "Looking Back as We Look Forward"

Yancey's article, "Looking Back as We Look Forward: Historicizing Writing Assessment as a Rhetorical Act", raised many concerns for me. Yancey discussed the earlier trends of assessment writing which were: objective test (1950 - 1970), holistically scored essays (1970 - 1986) and portfolio / programmatic assessment (1986 - present). She pointed out how writing assessments came into play because of the changing demographics of the student body and with these changes questions were raised concerning the diverse student climate. Questions such as: "(1) where to put students, (2) how and what to teach them, and (3) how to be sure that they learned what they needed." (pg 485 Yancey) These questions were left to the educators to decide. I do not feel that this was a wise choice. If educators did not come together as a team to collaborate about the criteria they are using to educate students on writing, then there will be discrepancies during assessments. There should be uniformity in all the English classes when it comes to writing. It appears that Yancey's greatest concern in this article was how to evaluate writing. Yancey stated: "What roles have validity and reliability in writing assessment? Who is authorized and who has the appropriate expertise to make the best judgment about writing assessment issues? Who is best suited to orchestrate these questions, design an assessment based on the answers, and implement that design? In other words, who will wield this power? What, after all, is the overall purpose of writing assessment in an educational situation?" (pg 487 Yancey) These questions raise some very great concerns. Currently, a vast majority of high schools are patterning their writing curriculum after college entrance exams commonly known as the ACT and SAT. Many school districts believe that since this is what students need to pass in order to be admitted into college, then this must be the basis of a high school writing curriculum. However, if you take a careful look at the scoring rubric for the ACT and the SAT, they are looking for more of a structured piece of writing that follows persuasive format. Points are not deducted for incorrect grammar usage and spelling. So, it is little to no wonder that many college professors are baffled by an incoming freshman's usage of grammar. If a student is not held accountable for these mistakes on a college entrance exam, many teachers are not going to concentrate on that area.