Evaluating College Writing Programs

To establish the issues that must be con­sidered by evaluators of college writing programs, Witte and Faigley review major evaluation studies conducted at the Uni­versity of Northern Iowa, the University of California San Diego, Miami Univer­sity, and the University of Texas.

For each study the authors devise a series of questions that probe every as­pect of theory, pedagogy, and research: What do we presently know? What as­sumptions are we making and how do those assumptions limit our knowledge? Are those limitations necessary or de­sirable? What do we still need to know?

Such questions demand much of pro­gram evaluators, who also must face additional difficult questions as they evalu­ate a writing program. Do the instructors conducting the writing classes share common assumptions that are reflected in their assignments, evaluative pro­cedures, teaching procedures, and course content? How stable will the program prove to be over time? Will the writing program have a lasting effect? Do stu­dents leave the program with increased confidence in their ability to write?

As Witte and Faigley urge program evaluators to pose these questions, they also bring to the problem a new compre­hensive conceptual framework that both necessitates such queries and provides an opportunity to answer them.

To establish the issues that must be con­sidered by evaluators of college writing programs, Witte and Faigley review major evaluation studies conducted at the Uni­versity of Northern Iowa, the University of California San Diego, Miami Univer­sity, and the University of Texas.

For each study the authors devise a series of questions that probe every as­pect of theory, pedagogy, and research: What do we presently know? What as­sumptions are we making and how do those assumptions limit our knowledge? Are those limitations necessary or de­sirable? What do we still need to know?

Such questions demand much of pro­gram evaluators, who also must face additional difficult questions as they evalu­ate a writing program. Do the instructors conducting the writing classes share common assumptions that are reflected in their assignments, evaluative pro­cedures, teaching procedures, and course content? How stable will the program prove to be over time? Will the writing program have a lasting effect? Do stu­dents leave the program with increased confidence in their ability to write?

As Witte and Faigley urge program evaluators to pose these questions, they also bring to the problem a new compre­hensive conceptual framework that both necessitates such queries and provides an opportunity to answer them.

Stephen P. Witte and Lester Faigley teach in the Department of English at the University of Texas, Austin. Both have published extensively on discourse features, composing, writing pedagogy, writ­ing evaluation, and literature.