University-wide Program-level Writing Assessment
The University-wide Program-level Writing Assessment (UPWA) assesses student writing from Writing Across the Curriculum Courses at Ñý¼§Ö±²¥’s Mountain Campus, Missoula College, and Bitterroot College. Writing Across the Curriculum Courses are part of the General Education Writing Requirement. Writing Across the Curriculum Course status is awarded by the ASCRC Writing Committee based upon a course application; the proposed course must meet the required Writing Across the Curriculum Course Guidelines.
The UPWA was approved by the Faculty Senate in Fall 2013 and replaced the Upper-division Writing Proficiency Assessment on the UM-Missoula campus. The current assessment provides relevant information about student writing proficiency by assessing and scoring student-revised papers from Writing Across the Curriculum Courses using a Holistic Scoring Rubric that was developed locally by faculty members. All sampled papers have come from courses that have Writing Across the Curriculum Course status and because Writing Across the Curriculum Courses are a General Education Writing Requirement, the UPWA offers insight into academic work happening at the heart of Ñý¼§Ö±²¥’ overall education at UM.
The annual UPWA cycle consists of three core overlapping elements that allow us to collect and observe timely data. Over the course of each academic year, there are two submission periods for student work (the end of fall and spring semester), a Spring Writing Assessment Workshop, and a Fall Writing Symposium.
At the end of each Fall and Spring semester, all Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ in Writing Across the Curriculum Courses take part in the UPWA. The assessment process offers professional development opportunities for faculty and staff that are committed to improving student writing proficiency at UM.
How are papers selected for assessment?
Papers are submitted by Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ in Writing Across the Curriculum Courses. The papers are then selected randomly for assessment at the Spring UPWA Writing Assessment Workshop. All papers are de-identified prior to assessment at the Assessment Workshop (i.e. all information that can be used to identify the student and instructor is removed from the papers).
How are the papers assessed? Who assesses the papers?
The random sample of de-identified papers are assessed by volunteer faculty, staff, and graduate Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ at The Ñý¼§Ö±²¥. The volunteer scorers are from multiple disciplines across the University. The papers are evaluated with a based on the learning outcomes of Writing Across the Curriculum Courses. The volunteer scorers read and evaluate the papers, then discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the papers.
What are the results from the UPWA?
Results from the UPWA can be accessed from the links below.