Writing: A Powerful Message From State Government - In this report, the National Commission on Writing analyzes the importance of writing in a large part of the public sector — the state government. Survey results from 49 of 50 state human resource offices managers indicate that writing is considered an even more important job requirement than it is for the private-sector employees studies in the Commission's previous report, Writing: A Ticket to Work . . . Or a Ticket Out – A Survey of Business Leaders. Despite this, a significant number of state employees do not meet states expectations, a deficiency that costs taxpayers a quarter of a billion dollars annually. (The National Commission on Writing for America’s Families, Schools, and Colleges, July 2005)...

E-rater as a Quality Control on Human Scores - Among the objections raised by critics of the use of automated systems to evaluate essays are such systems lack the intrinsic capacity to recognize good writing from bad, can be fooled and may not recognize brilliant writing written in a nonconformist manner. The authors argue such skepticism is healthy and advocate for the use of the e-rate automated system as a quality control check on humans rating essays. They also report on one study that found scores checked by one human and the e-rate system were slightly more in agreement than those evaluated by two humans. A brief explanation of the e-rate system can be found on page 4. (William Monaghan and Brent Bridgeman, R&D Connections, Educational Testing Service, April 2005)...

Writing: A Ticket to Work . . . Or a Ticket Out – A Survey of Business Leaders - According to this business survey, corporations spend several billion dollars annually to improve writing among employees. This report, which surveyed 120 human resource directors in companies affiliated with Business Roundtable, concludes that the ability to write opens doors to professional employment. The survey results indicate that businesses believe that people who cannot write and communicate clearly will not be hired and are unlikely to last long enough to be considered for promotion. Also, more than 40 percent of responding firms offer or require training for salaried employees with writing deficiencies. (The National Commission on Writing for America’s Families, Schools, and Colleges, September 2004)...

The Neglected 'R': The Need for a Writing Revolution - This report argues that, given the importance of writing for economic, educational and personal growth, American students' writing skills are currently at an unacceptable level. It offers recommendations to policymakers, state and local education agencies, the business community and testing companies to remove these roadblocks to better writing instruction and assessment. (The National Commission on Writing in America's Schools and Colleges, April 2003) ...

Why Writing Matters - This excerpt summarizes the main points of Because Writing Matters: Improving Student Writing in Our Schools. The authors observe that, while American educators have long bemoaned the poor quality of student writing, the standards for quality writing have risen, and the importance of the craft in the classroom and beyond has taken unprecedented importance. Because Writing Matters proposes that students write more in all subject areas, as well as in a greater variety of writing tasks. (An excerpt from the introduction of Because Writing Matters: Improving Student Writing in Our Schools, National Writing Project and Carl Nagin, Jossey-Bass, 2003)...