This past summer, a committee implemented an online writing assessment for the Class of 2015, to replace the in-class assessment that was previously administered on the first day of all University Writing Seminar classes.

The members of the committee that worked to revise the writing assessment were Kim Godsoe, the dean of Academic Services; Mark Hewitt, the registrar; Elaine Wong, senior associate dean of Arts and Sciences; Chrishon Blackwell, interim director of the Gateway scholars program; Kimberly Sizelove, interim director of the English as a Second Language program at Brandeis; and Prof. John Burt (ENG).

According to an email from Burt, Assistant Registrar Shohreh Harris also "did a lot of the work and ironed out a lot of the problems." Director of University Writing Dawn Skorczewski was on sabbatical for the 2010-11 academic year and was therefore not officially on the committee.

Skorczewski said in an interview with the Justice that the writing department wanted to change the timeline of evaluating first-years' writing ability so that the new students could be "accurately placed, for the most part," before the beginning of the fall semester. She said "It seemed like we could do it sooner—we were doing it their first day of the UWS class and so we had a lot of moving back and forth [between the UWS and composition classes]."

Burt, who was the interim director of University Writing while Skorczewski was on sabbatical, said in an interview with the Justice that the online assessment "gave us a snapshot of the incoming class … [that was] a little more reliable than the [first-day-of-class assessment]."

Burt said that the assessment consisted of "a few demographic questions" in addition to a short and long question. He said the short question asked what the incoming first-year was looking forward to at Brandeis, and Skorczewski said the long question tested their capacity to "interpret a text and make an argument about it." All students received the same passage for the long passage.

The placement tests were judged in accordance with a rubric, and Burt graded the assessments with a group of about 12 experienced UWS and composition instructors. "We graded them in panels of three and regularly compared notes to make sure that we were applying the rubrics in the same way," Burt wrote in an email to the Justice.

According to Skorczewski, there are 11 sections of composition classes and three instructors. Like the UWS classes, the topics for each class are different while the syllabus remains the same in terms of how many papers are assigned and how long the papers are. She described the composition classes as "a course that focuses on critical thinking, style and grammar and techniques of writing in different rhetorical styles."

According to the University writing program website, "Composition is intended to be an entry to college-level writing for those who need more time to build their writing skills.  As part of the writing progression at Brandeis, composition courses are built around the same three essay assignments which exist in the University Writing Seminar."

Burt wrote, "Under the old system, typically a very small number (maybe a dozen) students had their assignments changed on the basis of the first-day assessment. So the old ... assessment system was less systematic but it didn't produce terribly flawed results. The new system is much more labor intensive, but it also makes sure to dot all the ‘i's and cross all the ‘t's."

The registrar's office was "very cooperative, very creative and very efficient," said Burt. He also mentioned that the "administration had pushed for [the change]."

In a Facebook message to the Justice, Kiera Sarril '15 said, "I think it was a good idea to hold the assessment online because we were allowed to take the test in a comfortable, familiar environment. … It also seems convenient to write the essay and have it be assessed before we go to class."

Skorczewski said that she "feel[s] like the system is a success. … I'm very happy with it so far, although it is too early to evaluate the assessment program before we collect more evidence." Burt also said, "It's likely we're going to keep using [this new system]."

Skorczewski added her approval of the availability of both composition and UWS classes for the first-years: "To my mind, it is of great value for students to have the opportunity to take two writing classes in order to prepare for the rigorous demands of writing in the disciplines at Brandeis."

—Sara Dejene contributed reporting.