Assessing writing: practices to support young writers

This chapter explores effective assessment practices for early writing, emphasising the need for the close scrutiny of multiple skills, situated within the context of purposeful, meaningful writing tasks, and also considers the way this information can be shared with young writers. The complexity of early writing requires that teachers assess the integrated aspects of early writing, drawing on authentic practices that reflect and measure what the child is learning. A checklist for early writing developed by Marie Clay was based on her close observations on young children's explorations with writing. The teachers' use of the Writing Analysis Tool raises a number of key points that can be considered useful to guide and inform the assessment of writing more generally. The tool encourages teachers to examine children's writing using a broad framework and to take into account the integrated nature of aspects of writing processes.