U.S. Students Lack Write Stuff

About three-fourths of the nation's school children demonstrated only partial mastery of the knowledge and skills needed to write proficiently for their grade level, the Education Department reported Tuesday.

The tests and score levels were determined by the National Assessment Governing Board, a quasi-governmental body created by Congress to act as an independent judge of education standards, and the testing itself was undertaken by the Education Department.

Overall, more than three-fourths of the students showed at least a basic level of writing - or partial mastery of the prerequisite knowledge and skills fundamental to proficient work at their grade level - and roughly one-fourth of the students in each grade level were at least proficient.

"These findings are important, because how well students write at the end of the 20th century is an indicator of how well they will be able to communicate and reason in the beginning of the 21st century," Gary Phillips, acting commissioner for the Education Department's National Center for Education Statistics, said in remarks prepared for the test results' release.

Only 23 percent of fourth-graders wrote at the proficient level or above, which meant - in the testers' terms - that they could deliver a solid academic performance and competently write about challenging subject matter. Eighty-four percent wrote at the basic level or above, and 16 percent were below the basic level.

For eighth-graders, 27 percent were at least proficient, 84 percent were at least basic, and 16 percent were below basic. For 12th-graders, 22 percent were proficient, 78 percent were basic and 22 percent were below basic.

And in each grade group, 1 percent of students wrote at an advanced level, which signified a superior performance.

The testing, which took place in 1998, included students at both public and private schools.

It was the first national test of students' writing skills since 1992, but the Board said the results could not be compared because the tests used a new methodology.

For example, fourth-graders were asked to write about their favorite object and what they would find in a magic castle, eighth-graders about the arrival of a space ship and what they would like to see on public television, and 12th-graders a story related to a poem by Walt Whitman and their opinion about voter registration.

Not surprisingly, students who wrote better were used to writing several drafts, had teachers who talked to them about writing and required them to use computers with their writig.

Thirty-five states, the District of Colombia and the Virgin Islands also tested an additional 100,000 eighth-grade public school students.

Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Texas and Wisconsin had the highest percentages of students writing at the proficient level. Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, South Carolina and Hawaii had the lowest percentages of students writing at the proficient level.

By Joseph Schuman