On a Scale: A Social History of Writing Assessment in America

by Norbert Elliot

Fear and Trembling? Shock and Awe? Which set of statements best describes the emotions surrounding the assessment of writing ability in educational settings? This book – the first historical study of its kind – begins with Harvard University’s 1874 requirement that first-year student applicants submit a short composition as part of the admissions process; the book concludes with the College Board’s 2005 requirement for an essay to be submitted as part of the new SAT®: Reasoning Test. Intended for teachers who must prepare students to submit their writing for formal assessment, administrators who must make critical decisions based on test scores, and policy makers who must allocate resources based on evaluation systems, On a Scale provides a much-needed historical and conceptual background to questions arising from national attention to student writing ability.

432 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2005

Reviews

[Danny Graham · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was another textbook for a class. It's not bad, but it is dense. The fact that so much of the history of our assessments is connected to eugenics and racism is disappointing, but not surprising. If anything, reading this just made me hate standardized testing even more.

[Andrea]

I got this book thinking I'd use it in my thesis, but really I think it covers such a huge scope that I doubt it will end up in there, especially given how much other stuff I have that I have not gotten to. It looks really interesting though, and of all the stuff I have for this research, it looks like it might be an interesting read for people who are not academics in composition/assessment. (I know 'assessment' *sounds* like water torture, but it is really much more interesting than it seems on the surface--I promise!)

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is not supposed to be read for fun, unless something like this might be your idea of fun. It covers the history of writing assessment. Definitely interesting information if you ever want to learn about standardized testing and the history of composition in English.