From assessing to teaching writing: What teachers prioritize

In order to improve writing instruction teachers must be able to identify students’ challenges with writing and to specify instruction that will address those challenges. This study examines the instructional priorities that U.S. high school teachers set based on both their typical methods of writing assessment and a think-aloud protocol (TAP) assessment that we designed. Five 9th and 10th grade teachers were interviewed twice about the writing performance of three of their students, the first time following their typical assessments and the second time following the TAP Assessment. After the initial assessment, teachers’ instructional priorities were more product- than process-focused. After the TAP Assessment the teachers’ instructional priorities included more aspects of the writing process although they still overlooked certain important processes such as analysis of source text. An implication of this finding is that professional development for teachers of writing should provide instructional strategies that enable teachers to act on writing assessment data in a way that addresses all facets of composing.