Writing 2011

NATIONAL ASSESSMENT OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS AT GRADES 8 AND 12

U.S. Department of Education

NCES 2012-470
Contents

1 Executive Summary

4 Introduction

10 Grade 8

28 Grade 12

46 Technical Notes

What Is The Nation’s Report CardTM? 

Since 1969, NAEP assessments have been conducted periodically in reading, mathematics, science, writing, U.S. 

history, civics, geography, and other subjects. NAEP collects and reports information on student performance at 

the national and state levels, making the assessment an integral part of our nation’s evaluation of the condition and 

progress of education. Only academic achievement data and related background information are collected. The 

privacy of individual students and their families is protected.

NAEP is a congressionally authorized project of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) within the Institute 

of Education Sciences of the U.S. Department of Education. The Commissioner of Education Statistics is responsible 

for carrying out the NAEP project. The National Assessment Governing Board oversees and sets policy for NAEP.The 

Nation’s Report CardTM informs the public about the academic achievement of elementary and secondary students 

in the United States. Report cards communicate the findings of the National Assessment of Educational Progress 

(NAEP), a continuing and nationally representative measure of achievement in various subjects over time.
Executive

Summary

New computer-based assessment of students’ writing skills

Writing in the 21st century is defined by its frequency and its efficiency. It is clear that the 

ability to use written language to communicate with others—and the corresponding need for 

effective writing instruction and assessment—is more relevant than ever. Reflecting current 

practice and recognizing the impact of communication technologies on the way students 

compose their writing, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) administered 

the first computer-based assessment in writing in 2011. 

In this new national writing assessment sample, 24,100 eighth-graders and 28,100 twelfthgraders engaged with writing tasks and composed their responses on computer. The 

assessment tasks reflected writing situations common to both academic and workplace 

settings and asked students to write for several purposes and communicate to different audiences. The results of the 2011 writing assessment offer a new opportunity to understand the 

ability of eighth- and twelfth-grade students to make effective choices in their writing and allow 

for insight into the role and impact of technology on writing education and performance. 

For the first year of this computer-based writing assessment, new scales and achievement 

levels were established. The scales for grades 8 and 12 were developed separately and range 

from 0 to 300 with a mean set at 150 for each grade. Additional results are reported based on 

students’ demographic characteristics, educational experiences, and the frequency of engaging 

in actions available to them in word-processing software.

About one-quarter of students perform at the 

Proficient level in writing

Twenty-four percent of students at both grades 8 and 12 performed at the Proficient level in 

writing in 2011 (figure A). The NAEP Proficient level represents solid academic performance 

for each grade assessed. Students performing at this level have clearly demonstrated the 

ability to accomplish the communicative purpose of their writing. 

Figure A. Achievement-level results in eighth- and twelfth-grade NAEP writing: 2011

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals 

because of rounding.

WRITING 2011 1

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2011 Writing Assessment.
Fifty-four percent of eighth-graders and 52 percent of twelfth-graders performed at the Basic

level in writing in 2011. The Basic level denotes partial mastery of the prerequisite knowledge 

and skills that are fundamental for proficient work at each grade. 

Three percent of eighth- and twelfth-graders in 2011 performed at the Advanced level.

This level represents superior performance.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 

2011 Writing Assessment.

2 THE NATION’S REPORT CARD 

Students’ performance varies by race/ethnicity, gender, 

and school location

At grade 8, average writing 

scores were

•	

•	

•	

higher for Asian students

than for other racial/ethnic 

groups (table A);

higher for female

students than for male 

students; and

higher for students

attending schools in 

suburban locations than 

for students in cities, 

towns, and rural locations.

At grade 12, average writing 

scores were

•	

•	

•	

higher for White students,

Asian students, and 

students of two or more 

races than for Black, 

Hispanic, and American 

Indian/Alaska Native 

students (table B);

higher for female students

than for male students; and

higher for students in

suburban schools than 

for students in cities and 

rural locations.

Table A. Average scores in eighth-grade NAEP writing, by 

selected student and school characteristics: 2011

Characteristic Scale score

Race/ethnicity

White 158

Black 132

Hispanic 136

Asian 165

Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander 141

American Indian/Alaska Native 145

Two or more races 155

Gender

Male 140

Female 160

School location

City 144

Suburb 155

Town 148

Rural 150

NOTE: Black includes African American, and Hispanic includes Latino. Race categories exclude 

Hispanic origin.

Table B. Average scores in twelfth-grade NAEP writing, by 

selected student and school characteristics: 2011

Characteristic Scale score

Race/ethnicity

White 159

Black 130

Hispanic 134

Asian 158

Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander 144

American Indian/Alaska Native 145

Two or more races 158

Gender

Male 143

Female 157

School location

City 146

Suburb 154

Town 149

Rural 149

NOTE: Black includes African American, and Hispanic includes Latino. Race categories exclude 

Hispanic origin.
Computer-based assessment provides information on 

students’ use of word-processing actions

Data collected from the computer-based writing assessment provided information about the extent 

to which students engaged in certain actions on the computer as they responded to the writing tasks. 

Information is reported for 23 unique actions students performed as they either viewed the writing 

prompts or wrote and edited their responses.

Results for the student actions are reported as the percentages of students engaging in the action with 

varying frequency, and the average writing score for those students. For example, at both grades 8 and 

12, students who used the thesaurus tool more frequently scored higher on average than students who 

engaged in this action less frequently. Twelve percent of eighth-graders and 15 percent of twelfth-graders 

used the thesaurus two or more times during the assessment.

Writing Assessment Interface and Select Student Actions

Below is a snapshot of the interface students used as well as data on some of the actions they 

engaged in while viewing the prompts or editing their responses. 

80% or more of twelfth-graders

did not use the cut, copy, and 

paste features.

74% of twelfth-graders

right-clicked to access the 

spell-check option 1 or 

more times.

WRITING 2011 3

29% of eighth-graders used 

the thesaurus 1 or more times.

71% of eighth-graders

used the text-to-speech 

function 1 or more times.
Introduction

The 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) writing 

assessment was developed under a new framework that recognizes the 

significant role that computers play in the writing process, as well as the 

prevalence of computer technology in the lives of students and the 

increasing role of computers in learning activities. Assessment results 

provide information on what eighth- and twelfth-grade students can 

accomplish when writing for a specific communicative purpose and for 

a specified audience. 

The New Writing Framework

The National Assessment Governing Board oversees the development of NAEP frameworks that 

describe the specific knowledge and skills to be assessed. The Writing Framework for the 2011 National 

Assessment of Educational Progress guided all aspects of assessment development. Major aspects of 

the assessment are anchored in the definition of writing provided by the 2011 framework:

Writing is a complex, multifaceted, and purposeful act of communication that is 

accomplished in a variety of environments, under various constraints of time, and 

with a variety of language resources and technological tools.

With this definition as the foundation, all assessment tasks specify both a definite purpose for 

the writing and a specific audience the writing should address. In addition, the computer-based 

tasks provided students with typical language resources such as a thesaurus and common 

computer tools such as spell-check, cut, copy, and paste.

The movement to a computer-based assessment reflects the important social and educational 

changes in the use of technology since the former writing framework was developed for the 

1998, 2002, and 2007 assessments. The innovations in the new computer-based writing 

assessment prescribed by the new framework preclude the possibility of reporting trend 

results. Future NAEP writing assessment results will be compared to the 2011 results.

Writing for different purposes and audiences

Students participating in the 2011 NAEP writing assessment responded to tasks designed to 

measure one of three communicative purposes common to many typical writing situations:

• To persuade, in order to change the reader’s point of view or affect the reader’s action.

• To explain, in order to expand the reader’s understanding.

• To convey experience (real or imagined), in order to communicate individual and imagined 

experience to others.

4 THE NATION’S REPORT CARD 
The proportion of the assessment tasks devoted to each of the three purposes varies by 

grade, with more of an emphasis on writing to persuade and to explain at grade 12 than at 

grade 8 (table 1).

Table 1. Target percentage distribution of NAEP writing tasks, by grade and communicative purpose: 2011

Communicative purpose Grade 8 Grade 12

To persuade 35 40

To explain 35 40

To convey experience 30 20

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Assessment Governing Board, Writing Framework for the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2010.

WRITING 2011 5

Each task in the writing assessment clearly specifies or implies an audience that corresponds in 

some way to the purpose of the task. The kinds of audiences may vary by grade and broaden 

from grade 8 to grade 12. For example, eighth-graders may be asked to write to a principal, 

local newspaper editor, or online community, and twelfth-graders may be asked to write to a 

government official or community leader.

Assessment Design

The 2011 writing assessment included 22 writing tasks at grade 8 and 22 tasks at grade 12. 

Writing tasks were presented to students in a variety of ways, including text, audio, photographs, 

video, or animation on the computer. One example of a writing task and sample student responses 

from the assessment for each grade is presented in this report. 

Students were randomly assigned two writing tasks and had 30 minutes to complete each of 

the tasks. Before being presented with the first task, students were shown a tutorial to familiarize 

them with the way material is presented on the computer screen and show them how to use 

the custom-developed software program provided in the assessment. Students completed their 

writing tasks on laptop computers provided by NAEP, using software similar to common wordprocessing programs. They were able to use some standard tools for editing, formatting, and 

viewing text, but did not have access to potentially irrelevant or distracting tools such as clip 

art, font type and color, or the Internet.

Survey questionnaires were completed by students, their teachers (at grade 8 only), and 

school administrators. The data obtained from these questionnaires help to provide additional 

information about students’ educational experiences and a context for understanding the 

assessment results.
Scoring Students’ Writing

Students’ written responses to each task were evaluated based on a holistic approach that considered 

the response in its entirety rather than focusing on its specific parts. Individual scoring guides for each 

of the communicative purposes were used to evaluate students’ writing. Grade-specific guides were 

used to rate students’ responses to the persuade and explain tasks; however, as students’ responses 

at grades 8 and 12 did not reflect strong differences for the convey experience task, the same scoring 

guide was used to rate this writing purpose. The scoring guides were used to train teams of human 

scorers to rate responses for each of the writing tasks. Due to the on-demand nature of writing tasks 

in the NAEP 2011 assessment, students’ responses were evaluated as first drafts and not as polished 

pieces of writing.

Responses were scored on a 6-point scale (effective skill, competent skill, adequate skill, developing 

skill, marginal skill, and little or no skill) across three broad features of writing:

•

•

•

	Development	of	ideas

	Organization	of	ideas

	Language	facility	and	conventions

Scoring guides are available at http://nationsreportcard.gov/writing_2011/sample_quest.asp.

Reporting NAEP Results

The 2011 writing assessment results are based on nationally representative samples of 24,100 

eighth-graders from 950 schools, and 28,100 twelfth-graders from 1,220 schools. The sample 

design for the first computer-based writing assessment was not intended to report results for 

individual states or large urban districts.

Scale scores 

The NAEP writing scale was developed in 2011 to facilitate the reporting of NAEP writing results 

and to establish the baseline for future writing assessment results. The scale at each grade 

ranged from 0 to 300 with a mean of 150 and a standard deviation of 35. That is, the average 

overall performance for each grade corresponds to a score of 150. Because NAEP scales are 

developed independently for each subject, scores cannot be compared across subjects. Similarly, 

although the scales are identical for grades 8 and 12, the scale scores were derived separately; 

therefore, scores cannot be compared across grades. More information about the NAEP writing 

scale can be found at http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/writing/scale.asp.

6 THE NATION’S REPORT CARD 
Achievement levels

Based on recommendations from policymakers, educators, and members of the general public, 

the Governing Board sets specific achievement levels for each subject area and grade assessed. 

Achievement levels are performance standards showing what students should know and be 

able to do. NAEP results are reported as percentages of students performing at the Basic, 

Proficient, and Advanced levels.

Basic denotes partial mastery of prerequisite knowledge and skills that are fundamental 

for proficient work at each grade.

Proficient represents solid academic performance. Students reaching this level have 

demonstrated competency over challenging subject matter.

Advanced represents superior performance.

More specific definitions of the achievement levels that outline what students should know and 

be able to do in writing at each level are presented in the Assessment Content sections of this 

report for grades 8 and 12. Each content section also includes information on the relationship 

between the writing scores on the NAEP scale and the achievement levels. 

As provided by law, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), upon review of 

congressionally mandated evaluations of NAEP, has determined that achievement levels are 

to be used on a trial basis and should be interpreted with caution. The NAEP achievement 

levels have been widely used by national and state officials.

Student actions

Administering the NAEP writing assessment on computer provided students access to many of 

the same word-processing tools that have become a common part of their writing experiences 

in and out of school. Also, computer delivery of the assessment allowed for universal design 

features that remove barriers and make the assessment accessible to a wider population of 

students. 

In addition to the number of key presses students made in the process of completing their 

responses to the writing tasks, data were collected on how often they engaged in 23 other 

actions related to editing, formatting, viewing, and reviewing text. While exploratory in nature, 

the collection of data on the frequency with which students used various word-processing tools 

during the assessment offers new insight into how students interact with technology during a 

timed assessment, and the possible relationship between that interaction and performance.

WRITING 2011 7
Accommodations and Exclusions in NAEP

It is important to assess all selected students from the population, including students with 

disabilities (SD) and English language learners (ELL). To accomplish this goal, many of the

same accommodations that students use on other tests are provided for SD and ELL students

participating in NAEP. Some of the testing accommodations that are provided to SD/ELL students

in NAEP paper-and-pencil assessments are part of the universal design of the computer-based 

assessment, which seeks to make the assessment available to all students. For example, the 

font size adjustment feature available to all students taking the computer-based assessment is 

comparable to the large-print assessment book accommodation in the paper-and-pencil assessment, and the digital text-to-speech component takes the place of the read-aloud accommodation 

for paper-and-pencil assessments. However, there were still some accommodations available to SD 

and ELL students taking the computer-based writing assessment that were not available to other

students, such as extended time and breaks.

Even with the availability of accommodations, some students may be excluded. The national 

exclusion rates for the 2011 writing assessment were 2 percent at both grades 8 and 12. 

More information about NAEP’s policy on the inclusion of special-needs students is available at

http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/about/inclusion.asp.

Interpreting the Results

The results from the 2011 writing assessment provide the public, policymakers, and educators 

with important new information about students’ writing achievement and the nature of their 

performance in different communicative situations. There are, however, limitations to the range 

and scope of skills that NAEP can assess because, like most standardized assessments, NAEP 

is an on-demand assessment with limited time and resources. Therefore, the assessment 

results should not be interpreted as a complete representation of student writing performance.

NAEP reports results using widely accepted statistical standards; findings are reported 

based on a statistical significance level set at .05 with appropriate adjustments for multiple 

comparisons (see the Technical Notes for more information). Only those differences that are 

found to be statistically significant are discussed as higher or lower.

Although comparisons are made in students’ performance based on demographic 

characteristics and educational experiences, the results cannot be used to establish 

a cause-and-effect relationship between student characteristics and achievement. 

Many factors may influence student achievement, including educational policies and 

practices, available resources, and the demographic characteristics of the student 

body. These factors may vary among student groups.

8 THE NATION’S REPORT CARD 
Learn more. See more. Do more online.

Find writing assessment results, analyze data, view sample questions, 

and more with these helpful online resources. 

NAEP 2011 Writing Framework

Learn how the NAEP writing assessment is designed to measure students’ 

writing at grades 4, 8, and 12.

http://www.nagb.org/publications/frameworks/writing-2011.pdf

NAEP Writing Assessment Questions

Access all released questions and scoring guides from the 2011 assessment.

http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/itmrlsx/search.aspx?subject=writing

Assessment Interface Examples

View a sample of the computer-based environment.

http://nationsreportcard.gov/writing_2011/writing_tools.asp

Writing Highlights from NAEP

Receive an in-depth overview of results and scores. 

http://nationsreportcard.gov/writing_2011/

The NAEP Data Explorer

Generate customized tables from the NAEP writing data.

http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/naepdata/

Explore more 

 online today.

WRITING 2011 9
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center 

for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 

2011 Writi

10 THE NATION’S REPORT CARD 

ng Assessment.

GRADE 

8

Twenty-seven percent of 

eighth-graders perform 

at or above Proficient

The average eighth-grade writing score of 150 on the 0–300 scale establishes 

the benchmark against which students’ performance on future NAEP writing 

assessments can be compared.

The percentages of students performing at each of the three achievement levels 

in 2011 provides information on the proportion of students demonstrating varying levels of writing skills and knowledge. Fifty-four percent of eighth-graders 

performed at the Basic level and 80 percent1

 performed at or above the Basic level 

in writing in 2011 (figure 1). Twenty-four percent performed at the Proficient level 

and 3 percent performed at the Advanced level.

1

 The percentage is based on the sum of the unrounded percentages as opposed to the rounded percentages 

shown in the figure.

Figure 1. Achievement-level results in eighth-grade NAEP writing: 2011

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.
GRADE 

8

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 

2011 Writing Assessment.

WRITING 2011 11

Asian students score higher than other racial/ethnic groups

In 2011, NAEP results were available for seven racial/ethnic groups: White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, 

Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander, American Indian/Alaska Native, and students categorized 

as two or more races (multiracial). The average writing score for Asian students was higher than 

the scores for the other six racial/ethnic groups (figure 2). 

A lower percentage of Asian students than White, Black, Hispanic, and multiracial students 

performed at the Basic level in 2011 (figure 3). The percentages of Asian students at Proficient

and at Advanced were higher than the percentages of White, Black, Hispanic, and multiracial 

students. Higher percentages of White students than Black and Hispanic students performed at 

the Proficient and Advanced levels. 

Figure 2. Percentage of students and average scores in eighth-grade NAEP writing, by race/ethnicity: 2011

# Rounds to zero.

NOTE: Black includes African American, and Hispanic includes Latino. Race categories exclude Hispanic origin. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

Figure 3. Achievement-level results in eighth-grade NAEP writing, by race/ethnicity: 2011

NOTE: Black includes African American, and Hispanic includes Latino. Race categories exclude Hispanic origin. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.
GRADE 

8

Female students perform higher than male students

Female students scored 19 points2 higher on average than male students in 2011 at grade 8 

(figure 4). Differences in the performance of male and female students were also reflected 

in the achievement-level results, with a lower percentage of female than male students performing at the Basic level and higher percentages of female than male students at Proficient 

and at Advanced (figure 5). 

2

 The score-point difference is based on the difference between the unrounded scores as opposed to the rounded scores shown 

in the figure.

Figure 4. Percentage of students and average scores in eighth-grade 

NAEP writing, by gender: 2011

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

Figure 5. Achievement-level results in eighth-grade NAEP writing, by gender: 2011

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 

2011 Writing Assessment.

12 THE NATION’S REPORT CARD 
GRADE 

8

Public school students score lower than private 

school students 

Ninety-two percent of eighth-graders attended public schools in 2011 (figure 6). The average 

writing score for students attending public schools was 16 points3

 lower than the score for 

students attending private schools and 18 points lower than the score for private school 

students in Catholic schools only.

The percentages of students performing at the Basic level did not differ significantly by the type 

of school they attended (figure 7). Lower percentages of public school students than private 

school students performed at the Proficient level and at Advanced. While the percentage of 

public school students at Proficient was also lower than the percentage of Catholic school 

students at Proficient, there was no significant difference in the percentages of public and 

Catholic school students at Advanced.

3

 The score-point difference is based on the difference between the unrounded scores as opposed to the rounded scores shown 

in the figure.

Figure 6. Percentage of students and average scores in eighth-grade 

NAEP writing, by type of school: 2011

NOTE: Private schools include Catholic, other religious, and nonsectarian private schools. Detail may not sum to totals 

because of rounding.

Figure 7. Achievement-level results in eighth-grade NAEP writing, by type of school: 2011

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 

2011 Writing Assessment.

WRITING 2011 13

NOTE: Private schools include Catholic, other religious, and nonsectarian private schools. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.
GRADE 

8

Student performance varies by family income

Students’ eligibility for the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is used in NAEP as an 

indicator of family income. Students from lower-income families are eligible for either free 

or reduced-price school lunch, while students from higher-income families are not (see the 

Technical Notes for eligibility criteria).

Forty-two percent of eighth-graders were eligible for NSLP in 2011 (figure 8). Eighth-graders 

who were not eligible for NSLP scored higher on average than those who were eligible. In comparison to students who were not eligible for NSLP, a larger percentage of eligible students 

performed at the Basic level in 2011, and smaller percentages of eligible students performed 

at Proficient and at Advanced (figure 9).

Figure 8. Percentage of students and average scores in eighth-grade 

NAEP writing, by eligibility for National School Lunch 

Program: 2011

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because results are not shown for the “Information not available” category.

Figure 9. Achievement-level results in eighth-grade NAEP writing, by eligibility for 

National School Lunch Program: 2011

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 

2011 Writing Assessment.

14 THE NATION’S REPORT CARD 
GRADE 

8

Students in suburban schools score higher than students in 

other locations

Student performance on the 2011 writing assessment varied based on the location of the 

schools they attended (see the Technical Notes for more information on how school location 

categories were defined). Students attending schools in suburban locations had a higher average 

score than students attending schools in other locations (figure 10). Scores for students who 

attended schools in rural and town locations were not significantly different from each other, 

and students in both locations had higher scores than students in cities.

The percentages of eighth-graders performing at the Basic level in city and suburban schools 

were smaller than the percentages at Basic in town and rural locations (figure 11). Students 

attending suburban schools had higher percentages at Proficient and at Advanced than 

students attending schools in the other three locations.

Figure 10. Percentage of students and average scores in eighth-grade 

NAEP writing, by school location: 2011

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

Figure 11. Achievement-level results in eighth-grade NAEP writing, by school location: 2011

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 

2011 Writing Assessment.

WRITING 2011 15
GRADE 

8

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 

2011 Writing Assessment.

16 THE NATION’S REPORT CARD 

About two-thirds of eighth-graders spend more than 

15 minutes a day writing for English class

Students were asked how much time they spent in a typical school day writing a paragraph or 

more for their English/language arts (ELA) class. The writing could be on paper or on computer. 

Forty percent of students reported spending between 15 and 30 minutes on writing for their 

ELA class, while 21 percent reported spending between 30 and 60 minutes, and 4 percent 

reported spending more than 60 minutes (figure 12). 

In 2011, eighth-graders who reported spending between 30 and 60 minutes on writing in their 

ELA class scored higher on average than students who wrote more or less frequently.

Figure 12. Percentage of students and average scores in eighth-grade NAEP writing, by student-reported 

time spent on writing assignments of a paragraph or more during English/language arts class 

in a typical school day: 2011

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.
Students who use computers more frequently to draft and revise 

their writing score higher

As part of the 2011 eighth-grade writing assessment, questionnaires were completed by the teachers of participating students. One of the questions asked teachers to report on how often they asked students to use computers to 

draft and revise their writing. A total of 44 percent4 of students had teachers who reported that they asked students 

to use computers for drafting and revising very often or always.

Students whose teachers more frequently asked them to use the computer to draft and revise their writing scored 

higher than those whose teachers did so less frequently (figure 13). Students whose teachers never asked them to 

draft and revise their writing on a computer scored the lowest. 

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2011 Writing Assessment.

WRITING 2011 17

4 The percentage is based on the sum of the unrounded percentages as opposed to the rounded percentages shown in the figure.

Figure 13. Percentage of students and average scores in eighth-grade NAEP writing, by teacher-reported frequency with 

which they ask their students to use a computer for drafting and revising writing assignments: 2011

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

The frequency with which students’ teachers had them use computers to draft and revise their writing differed by 

students’ eligibility for NSLP and whether they attended public or private schools (table 2). In 2011, larger percentages of students who were eligible for school lunch than those who were not eligible had teachers who reported 

never or sometimes asking students to use computers to draft and revise their writing. On the other hand, higher 

percentages of students who were not eligible had teachers who reported always or very often asking them to use 

computers for drafting and revising. A larger percentage of students attending public schools than private schools 

had teachers who reported never or hardly ever asking students to use computers to draft or revise their writing.

Table 2. Percentage of students assessed in eighth-grade NAEP writing, by teacher-reported frequency with which they ask 

their students to use a computer for drafting and revising writing assignments and selected characteristics: 2011

Characteristic

Frequency of computer use for writing assignments

Never or hardly ever Sometimes Very often Always or almost always

Eligibility for National 

School Lunch Program

 Eligible 25 40 23 12

 Not eligible 15 34 30 21

Type of school

 Public 20 37 26 17

 Private 12 29 32 28

 Catholic 6 34 32 28

NOTE: Private schools include Catholic, other religious, and nonsectarian private schools. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

GRADE 

8
GRADE 

8

New era of computer-based testing provides insight into 

how students use word-processing tools

The computer-based delivery of the NAEP writing assessment provided the opportunity to 

collect data on the extent to which students engaged in specific actions available to them in 

the word-processing software. Results for the student actions are reported as the percentages 

of students engaging in the action with varying frequency, and the average writing score for 

those students. For example, students who used the text-to-speech tool more frequently scored 

lower on average than those who engaged in the action less frequently (figure 14). A total of 

71 percent of eighth-grade students used the text-to-speech tool for the writing prompt one or more 

times (the tool was not available to use for their responses), and 29 percent did not use it at all. 

Although not shown here, a higher percentage of students identified with a disability (39 percent) 

than those not identified with a disability (30 percent) used the text-to-speech tool three or 

more times. Further information about student actions is available at http://nationsreportcard 

.gov/writing_2011/writing_tools.asp.

Figure 14. Percentage of students and average scores in eighth-grade NAEP writing, by 

number of times text-to-speech tool was used during assessment: 2011

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

Students also had the option of using an online thesaurus tool to enhance or improve their 

writing. Students who used the thesaurus scored higher, on average, than students who did 

not use it, and students who used it two or more times scored higher than students who used 

it only once (figure 15). Seventy-one percent of eighth-grade students did not use the thesaurus tool and 29 percent used the tool one or more times during the assessment. Although not 

shown here, a lower percentage of students identified as English language learners (6 percent) 

than non-English language learners (12 percent) used the thesaurus tool two or more times.

Figure 15. Percentage of students and average scores in eighth-grade NAEP writing, by number of 

times thesaurus tool was used during assessment: 2011

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 

2011 Writing Assessment.

18 THE NATION’S REPORT CARD 
GRADE 

8

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 

2011 Writing Assessment.

WRITING 2011 19

In addition to the number of key presses students made in the process of completing their 

responses to the writing tasks, data were collected on how often they engaged in 23 other actions 

related to editing, formatting, viewing, and reviewing text. The extent to which students made 

use of each of the tools that were available to them varied. For example, almost all eighth-graders 

used the backspace key at least one time, while 20 percent or less used the copy, cut, or 

paste tools (figure 16).

Figure 16. Percentage of eighth-graders who used various student actions at least once 

during the NAEP writing assessment: 2011

Other results for student actions, including the percentages of students engaging

in specific actions with varying frequency and the average writing scores for those 

students, are available on the NAEP website at http://nationsreportcard.gov/

writing_2011/student_action_results.asp and in the NAEP Data Explorer at 

http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/naepdata/ within the Student Factors category.
GRADE 

8

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 

2011 Writing Assessment.

20 THE NATION’S REPORT CARD 

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A closer look at lower- and higher-performing students

The summary of results presented below shows how students performing at the lower end of the scale 

(below the 25th percentile) and those scoring at the higher end (above the 75th percentile) differed in 

terms of their demographics, educational experiences, and use of word-processing tools available to them.

Among eighth-graders who 

scored below the 25th percentile

(i.e., below a score of 127) in 2011

Among eighth-graders who 

scored above the 75th percentile

(i.e., above a score of 175) in 2011

Student demographic 

characteristics

39% were White 

25% were Black 

31% were Hispanic 

3% were Asian

67% were eligible for free/ 

reduced-price school lunch

86% had computers in the home

73% were White 

6% were Black 

10% were Hispanic 

8% were Asian

18% were eligible for free/ 

reduced-price school lunch

99% had computers in the home

Student educational 

experiences and 

attitude toward 

writing

15% reported always using the 

computer to make changes to 

something they wrote for school

24% never use a computer to 

write for school assignments

24% had teachers who 

always have them use wordprocessing tools

34% agreed or strongly agreed 

that writing is one of their 

favorite activities

49% reported always using the 

computer to make changes to 

something they wrote for school

5% never use a computer to 

write for school assignments

38% had teachers who 

always have them use wordprocessing tools

58% agreed or strongly agreed 

that writing is one of their 

favorite activities

Students’ use of 

word-processing 

tools

5% used the backspace key 

more than 500 times

31% right-clicked to access 

spell-check 1–10 times

45% accessed the text-to-speech 

function 3 or more times

41% used the backspace key 

more than 500 times

57% right-clicked to access 

spell-check 1–10 times

18% accessed the text-to-speech 

function 3 or more times
Assessment

Content

Additional insight into students’ performance on the NAEP writing 

assessment can be obtained by examining what eighth-graders are expected 

to know and be able to do in relation to how they performed on one of the 

assessment tasks designed to measure their writing skills. This section 

presents the achievement-level descriptions for writing at grade 8 and 

examples of student performance in response to a grade 8 task.

Writing Achievement-Level Descriptions for Grade 8

The specific descriptions of what eighth-graders should know and be able to do at the Basic, 

Proficient, and Advanced writing achievement levels are presented below. NAEP achievement 

levels are cumulative; therefore, student performance at the Proficient level includes the competencies associated with the Basic level, and the Advanced level also includes the skills and 

knowledge associated with both the Basic and the Proficient levels. The cut score indicating 

the lower end of the score range for each level is noted in parentheses.

Basic (120)

Eighth-grade students writing at the Basic level should be able to address the tasks appropriately 

and mostly accomplish their communicative purposes. Their texts should be coherent and 

effectively structured. Many of the ideas in their texts should be developed effectively. Supporting 

details and examples should be relevant to the main ideas they support. Voice should align with 

the topic, purpose, and audience. Texts should include appropriately varied uses of simple, 

compound, and complex sentences. Words and phrases should be relevant to the topics, 

purposes, and audiences. Knowledge of spelling, grammar, usage, capitalization, and punctuation 

should be made evident; however, there may be some errors in the texts that impede meaning.

Proficient (173)

Eighth-grade students writing at the Proficient level should be able to develop 

responses that clearly accomplish their communicative purposes. Their texts 

should be coherent and well structured, and they should include appropriate 

connections and transitions. Most of the ideas in the texts should be developed logically, coherently, and effectively. Supporting details and examples 

should be relevant to the main ideas they support, and contribute to overall 

communicative effectiveness. Voice should be relevant to the tasks 

and support communicative effectiveness. Texts should include a 

variety of simple, compound, and complex sentence types combined 

effectively. Words and phrases should be chosen 

thoughtfully and used in ways that contribute to 

communicative effectiveness. Solid knowledge of 

spelling, grammar, usage, capitalization, and 

punctuation should be evident throughout the 

texts. There may be some errors, but these errors 

should not impede meaning.

WRITING 2011 21

GRADE 

8
Advanced (211)

Eighth-grade students writing at the Advanced level should be able to construct skillful responses that 

accomplish their communicative purposes effectively. Their texts should be coherent and well structured 

throughout, and they should include effective connections and transitions. Ideas in the texts should be 

developed logically, coherently, and effectively. Supporting details and examples should skillfully and effectively support and extend the main ideas in the texts. Voice should be distinct and enhance communicative 

effectiveness. Texts should include a well-chosen variety of sentence types, and the sentence structure 

variations should enhance communicative effectiveness. Words and phrases should be chosen strategically, 

with precision, and in ways that enhance communicative effectiveness. An extensive knowledge of spelling, 

grammar, usage, capitalization, and punctuation should be evident throughout the texts. Appropriate use 

of these features should enhance communicative effectiveness. There may be a few errors, but these errors 

should not impede meaning.

Sample Task: Writing to Convey Experience

Whether writing to convey a real or an imaginary experience, the task of the writer is to wield the language in such 

a way that the experience becomes vivid to the reader. When writing to convey experience, the writer employs 

description, voice, and style to evoke a sense of an event or of emotions associated with the events described. 

One of the writing tasks from the eighth-grade assessment asked students to immerse themselves in an 

imaginary situation and to write about it as if from personal experience. In the Lost Island task, students 

listened to an audio recording of atmospheric sounds while reading a few sentences from an imaginary journal. 

The audio provided the sound of waves lapping on the shore, the squawking of birds, as well as the sound 

of footsteps in the sand to create a sense of the island world that the students were to imagine exploring. 

Students’ responses to this task included both journal-style narratives as well as stories told in the third 

person. Responses were rated with a six-level scoring guide ranging from “Little or no skill” to “Effective.” 

LoST ISLAnD TASK SCREEnSHoT

Task includes an audio clip of 

a journal entry about people 

exploring an island.

22 THE NATION’S REPORT CARD 

GRADE 

8
WRITING 2011 23

211

173

120

Range of eighth-grade skills when writing to convey experience

The item map below illustrates the range of writing skills demonstrated by students when writing to the 

Lost Island task. The responses for each of the credited score categories5

 are mapped at different points on 

the NAEP writing scale and fall within the achievement level ranges Basic, Proficient, and Advanced, or in the 

range below Basic. The cut score at the lower end of the range for each achievement level is boxed. The criteria 

for specific score levels reflect the skills demonstrated by eighth-graders when writing to convey experience. 

In reading the map, it is important to remember that the score levels do not have a direct correspondence to 

the achievement level ranges, but indicate where performance mapped for this particular writing task. For 

example, for this task, students performing at the Basic level with a score of 155 were likely to compose a 

coherent story using some relevant details. Students performing within the Proficient range with a score of 195 

were likely to produce mostly well-controlled stories using more variety of sentence structure and thoughtful 

word choices. Students performing at the Advanced level with a score of 225 were likely to develop a story that 

consistently displayed a skillful use of language and technique to fully accomplish the purpose of the task.

However, student performance varies by task, and ratings for different tasks may map at different points of 

the writing scale. For other tasks, responses rated as “Adequate” may fall within the Proficient range, or a 

“Developing” response might fall within the Basic range. 

5

 The lowest rating, “Little or no skill,” receives 0 credit and is not scaled.

GRADE 8 NAEP WRITING ITEM MAP

Scale

score

Advanced

300

250

240

230

Rating of responses to Lost Island task

225 “Effective” story about an experience on a remote island

Rating criteria

//

Students writing at the Effective level consistently conveyed an 

experience using well-chosen detail, appropriate organizational 

220 structures, precise word choices, and varied sentence structure.

Proficient

211

210

200 195 “Competent” story about an experience on a remote island

Students writing at the Competent level conveyed an experience 

using some well-chosen detail, mostly appropriate organizational 

190 structures, some precise word choices, and some varied sentences.

180

Basic

173

170

160 155 “Adequate” story about an experience on a remote island

Students writing at the Adequate level used some detail, but detail 

did not always convey an experience, while organization was somewhat loose, word choices clear rather than precise, and sentence 

structure relatively unvaried.

150

140

130

120

GRADE 

8

116 “Developing” story about an experience on a remote island Students’ responses at the Developing level showed deficits in 

development, organization, and/or language; the experience was 

thus unevenly conveyed.

110

100

90

80 79 “Marginal” story about an experience on a remote island Students’ responses at the Marginal level showed severe deficits in 

development, organization, and/or language; little experience was 

thus conveyed.

70

//

0

NOTE: The sample grade 8 writing task in the 2011 writing assessment was mapped onto the NAEP 0–300 writing scale. The map shows, for each level on the scoring guide from “Marginal” through “Effective,” the scale 

score attained by students who had a 65 percent probability of attaining that level or higher for the selected task. Scale score ranges for writing achievement levels are referenced on the map.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2011 Writing Assessment.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2011 Writing Assessment.

24 THE NATION’S REPORT CARD 

GRADE 

8

The table below shows the percentage of students within each achievement level whose responses to the 

Lost Island task were rated as “Adequate” or higher. For example, among eighth-graders performing at the 

Basic level, 53 percent provided responses that were rated “Adequate” or higher and among students at the 

Proficient level, 95 percent wrote responses to the task that were rated “Adequate” or higher.

Five percent of eighth-graders provided responses to the Lost Island task that were rated “Effective” and 

14 percent provided responses rated “Competent.” Three percent of eighth-graders received a rating of 

“Little or no skill” on this task.

Percentage of eighth-grade students, by response rating for Lost Island task: 2011

Effective Competent Adequate Developing Marginal

Little or

no skill

5 14 37 30 11 3

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

Below Basic At Basic At Proficient At Advanced

4 53 95 100

Percentage of eighth-grade student responses to Lost Island task rated “Adequate” or 

higher, by achievement level: 2011

Example of a “Developing” response

The sample student response shown here was rated as demonstrating “Developing” skill in responding to the 

writing task. It begins with a rather flat explanation of what happened to bring them to the island and continues the narrative with a list-like focus on action but no discussion of plot elements. Apart from the “ferocious 

monkeys” and the sudden “loud buzzing noise,” the response incorporates no descriptive vocabulary to evoke 

what it felt like to have the experience or what the island was like. The narrative voice is not controlled as it 

switches from first person to third person. Errors in mechanics and verb tenses are frequent enough to be 

distracting. This response demonstrates skills associated with performance below the Basic level. Eighth-grade 

students performing in the range below Basic respond to the topic but do not sufficiently develop ideas to 

convey the experience. 

The reason we are on this island is because our plane crashed offshore about one hundred feet. Then 

we drifted here. The plane has three days worth of food and 2 days worth of water. We could probably 

use some of the things on the plane to build shelter and a fire. There was a total of 10 people on the plane, 

nobody died when it crashed thinks to the pilot. We are college students on a vacation to Hawaii, but we 

hit a bad storm and drifted way off course. The pilot saw the island and crash landed near it. There is five 

guys and five girls, the girls will get to sleep inside the plane so they don’t get to cold or scared. The guys 

will sleep outside near the plane next to the fire because the plane is now not big enough to hold 10 people.

The next day, the guys ventured further inland for some fruit to eat for breakfast. All of the sudden they 

were attacked by monkeys, so they ran back and squeezed in the plane until the ferocious monkeys left. 

They ate what fruit they were able to grab and then went to the ocean to catch some fish. While the guys 

were outside fishing, the girls built a sign out of logs that said “HELP”. If they saw a boat or airplane, they 

would light it on fire so that they could be rescued. Two days past, then suddenly a loud buzzing noise 

came from overhead, it was an airplane. They were saved! The plane had saw the smoke from their fire. It 

landed safely near the shore and picked them up.
Example of an “Adequate” response

The sample student response shown here was rated as demonstrating “Adequate” skill in responding to the 

writing task. It takes elements from the journal excerpt—the animal, the mountains—and incorporates them 

into a short narrative using both description and action. While simple sentences predominate, there is some 

variety in sentence structure. Ideas are presented clearly and in a logical progression, but without any stylistic 

transition between them. The use of such words as “exotic,” “apex,” and “magnificent” contribute to a sense of 

voice that aligns with the experience the student has been asked to convey. This response demonstrates skills 

associated with performance at the Basic level. Eighth-grade students at this level are able to mostly accomplish the communicative purpose of a task clearly and coherently.

The animal looked like a brontosaurus, but bigger and more muscular. There were many more animals 

on the island also. there were strange animals that looked like moneys, but they had two tails and four 

arms. Another animal looked like a rhinosaurus, but had four eyes and five horns on his head and back. As 

we watched the creatures, we decided to explore the rest of the island. We cut through fields where wonderful foods grew. We had never seen these types of foods before. They food was huge and exotic looking, 

but they were ripe and delicious. Then we made our way to the mountains, they were so big and beautiful. We thought it would be exciting to climb up these mountains and get a better view of the island. The 

mountain was steep and had a lot of the same strange trees and colorful flowers. When we made it to the 

apex of the mountain, the scenery was magnificent! There were many trees and animal life, the island had 

warm beaches and clear lakes and a clear blue sky. The island was a sight to see, it looked as if had been 

untouched by the pollution and the oil spill. The island was full of beauty.

Example of a “Competent” response

The following sample student response was rated as “Competent” in responding to the writing task. Despite 

some awkward moments, the response demonstrates a control of language in a sustained and descriptive 

narrative. A variety of sentence types are used effectively to create both scene and character. In parts of the response, sentence length is used to emphasize meaning, as in the fourth paragraph, where the second sentence 

effectively communicates a sense of suspense. Transitions between most of the sentences and paragraphs 

contribute to the narrative flow. Although the ending is somewhat abrupt, it does create a sense of conclusion. 

This response demonstrates skills associated with performance at the Proficient level. Eighth-grade students at 

this level are able to develop thoughtful responses that accomplish the communicative purpose.

It was a creature none of us has ever seen before. We were awed by its beauty with its purple furry 

body and head like a cat. When this creature saw us it was not mean, it was not harsh, it simply bent 

down and purred. We were welcomed.

As we explored the island on the back of the creature we call Bila, we saw more diverse creatures and 

we wanted to captivate this experience. We had a camera with us and with this camera we took pictures 

of Bila and her friend Shia, who looked just like her only orange. We took pictures of the trees, which were 

enormously tall—only not quite as tall as Bila—and blue! they had strange fruits such as these things that 

were yellow like lemons, but were in the shape of a box. 

That was just the first night though. We camped out where Bila stayed and set up a campfire. Bila 

and Shia’s reaction made it seemed as though they never saw a fire before. There were terrified and 

intrigued at the same time. As we were talking Bila said something about the Shigrutan, who didn’t like 

new creatures. They talked about them as though they were demons. They told us to never cross the line 

of invisibility, where the Shigrutan would be waiting.

(continued on next page)

WRITING 2011 25

GRADE 

8
However, one day, about a week into our adventure, one of our followers, Mike, accidentally 

stepped over the line while getting picking some tias—a green fruit shaped like a triangle. As promised, the Shigrutan were waiting. They started poking him with sticks and throwing some strange 

looking vegetables at him. Bila and Shia rushed over to get him and started towards the line again. 

They looked mad and afraid that he didn’t listen.

As Bila and Shia were re-explaining the dangers of crossing the line, my curiosity got the better 

of me. I started towards the line and as Bila started to realize, I was already running. I got to the line 

and started hearing the brushing of bushes and leaves. I started to get nervous, but I wasn’t afraid. I 

crossed the line and everything happened in a rush. There were sticks and vegetables flying and then 

all of a sudden an ear-piercing scream.

What I took to be the leader of the Shigrutan stepped out signaling his followers to cease fire. He 

wore a yellow wrap around his body, which was blue. He had long black hair that went to the middle 

of his back in a ponytail. His eyebrows looked like they were made out of gems. He was a beautiful 

creature and I felt like I was being pulled to him. I walked towards him and could hear the sharp intake 

of breath from behind me.

As I got to him, he wrapped me up in a red cloth and threw me on his back. He carried me away 

to his dungeon as I could hear Bila and Shia yelling from behind me. I didn’t care though. Some how 

I felt safe with him. When we got to his dungeon he sat me down and told me about his life. He told 

me that his life was just like mine, except he was always an outcast with his blue skin. His mother told 

him about this place, and he always imagined that one day he would find it. His mother passed away 

when he was seventeen and he went on a mission to find the place his mother was from. He set off on 

the journey when he was nineteen.

When he got here, he saw creatures, strangely unique creatures. He was pulled in and felt like he 

knew this place just from what his mother would tell him. He had found his home and quickly became 

the king of his loyal followers, the Shigrutan. When he was done telling the story that I became 

captivated in, he asked me about myself. I told him that I was from America and had come all the way 

down here for an adventure. To go where no other has gone before. Even now, after I’ve found what I 

was looking for, there was no way that I was leaving. He got down on one knee and proposed. I said 

even though I don’t know you, I feel strangely connected. I answered yes but with one condition. After 

he asked me what that one condition was, I told him that he had to let my friends come with me.

We got married and I never had to leave the island. This was where I was staying whether or not 

my friends were.

Writing tasks available online

More NAEP writing tasks are available online at http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/

itmrlsx/search.aspx?subject=writing and include:

•

•

•

•

 One released task for each writing purpose at grade 8, including audio and video

 A scoring rubric for each task

 Samples of responses at each scoring level 

 Student performance data

Explore the interface for the writing tasks at http://nationsreportcard.gov/

writing_2011/writing_tools.asp.

26 THE NATION’S REPORT CARD 

GRADE 

8
Example of an “Effective” response

The sample student response shown below was rated as showing “Effective” skill in responding to the writing 

task. Well-chosen details are used throughout the response, often in complex sentences to modify or elaborate on the idea. The consistently high level of word choice strategically enhances what the author wants to 

communicate; for example, “We slowly trudged through the dense sand back to our boat...” conveys the mood 

of the group that just witnessed the fight described in the first paragraph. Although it has a few confusing 

moments, the narrative coheres by virtue of a distinct voice and overall structure. This response demonstrates 

skills associated with performance at the Advanced level. Eighth-grade students at this level establish a distinct 

voice and employ an overall structure to effectively accomplish the communicative purpose.

We were nervous. What a tall animal it was! It stood on four legs and slowly munched on the leaves 

contentedly. None of our group had ever seen an animal this large, so we sat down to try to think about 

what it could be. Just then, a smaller animal with two legs and tiny little arms came galloping upon the first 

animal and tore off one of its legs. The fight was bloody, but quickly ended with the second animal enjoying 

his victory and savoring the taste of the first animal. That’s when I knew. We were in an island with a bunch 

of dinosaurs.

Our group started to panic. So I tried to calm them down by simply telling them that we could get far, 

far away with just the boat that we had traveled on. Most of them seemed to agree. We slowly trudged 

through the dense sand back to our boat, which was now in sight. But it seemed that time stopped and the 

next thing I saw was a gigantic foot on top of our ruined boat. A dinosaur’s face 20 feet above leered down 

at us and growled. I could tell by popular knowledge that it was a tyrannosaurus rex, one of the most fearsome creatures ever to walk the earth.

It was a mean sight to see. It was terrifying, with its huge claws and teeth and the fact that it was much 

larger than us. The only thing that reassured me was its tiny little arms. They kind of ruin the whole bad guy 

look for him. But I still am terrified. It’s pandemonium, with everybody running and screaming and the t-rex 

behind us, picking us off one by one. I see many of my closest friends disappear behind the gigantic white 

teeth. And just as quickly as he appeared, he disappeared. Our group was stunned. Where could he have 

gone? We thought silently, worried looks behind our faces. When we couldn’t get anything out of thinking, we 

started to make camp, since it was getting dark by then. We didn’t have any materials and it was beautiful 

weather, with the temperature hanging around 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Se we just grabbed some leaves and 

branches off of what looked like a palm tree and tried to get to sleep, although I don’t think anyone slept that 

night. I kept thinking to myself over and over, “We’re doomed.”

When we woke up in the morning we started to gather materials to make a new boat to get onto some 

nearby islands that looked small and didn’t have any dinosaurs on them. We made great time, even working 

from dawn to sunset. We made around fifteen rafts that could carry our whole group. We made plans to get 

off the island by tomorrow morning. That’s when I started to feel optimistic about our chances of survival.

The next morning, we took the rafts one by one down to the beach. I started to lead the group into a good 

rowing formation, since we had made oars also. I could see some dinosaurs cawing in the distance. Seemed 

normal enough to me. Then I thought that only flying things cawed. And that’s when I saw an enormous 

pterodactyl swoop down onto me and lift me up into the air.

Flying was terrifying. The pterodactyl seemed to have every intention of dropping me into the ocean. I 

looked up at its orange skin and hated it for all the hope it had taken away from my life. Then I felt it lowering. It flew lower and lower until we were five feet off one of those nearby islands I wrote about earlier. Then 

it dropped me. It was a hard landing on the island, but I shook it off and came up O.K. I looked up and the 

last thing I saw was the pterodactyl swooping low over the horizon. I thanked it in my mind for what it had 

given me.

By the time the next morning came, the rest of my group was in the rafts on the shore of the island. I was 

so happy to see them all and to learn that one of the group mate’s cell phones had picked up a signal, and 

help was coming. I finally had some hope.

WRITING 2011 27

GRADE 

8
Twenty-seven percent of 

twelfth-graders perform

at or above Proficient

The average twelfth-grade writing score of 150 on the 0–300 scale establishes the 

baseline for comparing students’ performance on future writing assessments.

The percentages of students performing at each of the three achievement levels in 

2011 provides information on the proportion of students demonstrating varying levels 

of writing skills and knowledge. Fifty-two percent of twelfth-graders performed at 

the Basic level and 79 percent performed at or above the Basic level in writing in 2011 

(figure 17). Twenty-four percent performed at the Proficient level and 3 percent 

performed at the Advanced level.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center 

for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 

2011 Writing Assessment.

28 THE NATION’S REPORT CARD 

Figure 17. Achievement-level results in twelfth-grade NAEP writing: 2011

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

GRADE 

12
White, Asian, and multiracial students perform 

comparably at grade 12

Average writing scores for White students, Asian students, and students of two or more races 

(multiracial) did not differ significantly from each other in 2011, and all three groups scored higher 

on average than Black, Hispanic, and American Indian/Alaska Native students (figure 18). There 

were no significant differences among the racial/ethnic groups in the percentages of twelfthgraders performing at the Basic level in 2011 (figure 19). The percentages of students at Proficient

and at Advanced did not differ significantly for White, Asian, and multiracial students, and the 

percentages for all three groups were higher than the percentages of Black and Hispanic students 

at Proficient and at Advanced.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 

2011 Writing Assessment.

WRITING 2011 29

Figure 19. Achievement-level results in twelfth-grade NAEP writing, by race/ethnicity: 2011

# Rounds to zero.

NOTE: Black includes African American, and Hispanic includes Latino. Race categories exclude Hispanic origin. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

Figure 18. Percentage of students and average scores in twelfth-grade NAEP writing, by race/ethnicity: 2011

# Rounds to zero.

NOTE: Black includes African American, and Hispanic includes Latino. Race categories exclude Hispanic origin. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

GRADE 

12
Female students score higher than male students

In 2011, female students scored 14 points higher on average than male students at grade 12 

(figure 20). The percentages of students performing at the Basic level did not differ significantly by gender (figure 21). Higher percentages of female than male students performed at 

the Proficient level and at Advanced.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 

2011 Writing Assessment.

30 THE NATION’S REPORT CARD 

Figure 20. Percentage of students and average scores in twelfth-grade NAEP 

writing, by gender: 2011

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

Figure 21. Achievement-level results in twelfth-grade NAEP writing, by gender: 2011

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

GRADE 

12
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 

2011 Writing Assessment.

WRITING 2011 31

Students whose parents have higher levels of education 

score higher

Twelfth-graders were asked to report the highest level of education completed by each parent. 

Students selected one of five response options: “did not finish high school,” “graduated from high 

school,” “some education after high school,” “graduated from college,” and “I don’t know.” Results 

are reported for the highest level of education for either parent. 

In 2011, twelfth-graders who reported higher levels of parental education had higher average 

writing scores than those who reported lower levels (figure 22). For example, students whose 

parents graduated from college scored higher on average than those whose parents had some 

education after high school, and they, in turn, scored higher than students whose parents’ highest 

level of education was high school. 

A similar pattern was observed in the achievement-level results—students who reported higher 

levels of parental education had higher percentages at Proficient and at Advanced in comparison to 

the percentages for students who reported lower levels of parental education (figure 23). 

Figure 22. Percentage of students and average scores in twelfth-grade NAEP 

writing, by highest level of parental education: 2011

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because results are not shown for students who reported that they did not know the highest education 

level for either of their parents.

Figure 23. Achievement-level results in twelfth-grade NAEP writing, by highest level of 

parental education: 2011

# Rounds to zero.

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

GRADE 

12
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 

2011 Writing Assessment.

32 THE NATION’S REPORT CARD 

Students in suburban schools score higher than students 

in cities and rural locations

There were some differences in student performance on the 2011 writing assessment based 

on the location of the schools students attended. The average score for students who attended 

schools in suburban locations was higher than the scores for students who attended schools in 

cities or rural locations, but did not differ significantly from the score for students in town locations (figure 24). Average scores for students attending schools in town, city, and rural locations 

did not differ significantly from each other. 

The percentages of twelfth-graders in city and suburban schools performing at the Basic level 

were smaller than the percentage of students at Basic in rural locations (figure 25). Students 

attending schools in suburban locations had a higher percentage at Proficient than students 

attending schools in the other three locations. The percentages of students at the Advanced 

level did not differ significantly by school location.

Figure 24. Percentage of students and average scores in twelfth-grade NAEP 

writing, by school location: 2011

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

Figure 25. Achievement-level results in twelfth-grade NAEP writing, by school location: 2011

GRADE 

12
Students who write four to five pages a week for 

English/language arts homework score higher than 

those who write fewer pages

Twelfth-graders were asked how many pages they wrote in a typical week for homework in their 

English/language arts (ELA) class. In 2011, the average writing score for twelfth-graders who 

reported writing between four and five pages for ELA homework did not differ significantly from 

the score for students who wrote more than five pages, and was higher than the scores for students who wrote fewer than four pages (figure 26). Students who reported not writing any pages 

for homework scored lower than those selecting any of the other responses. Sixty-eight percent6

of twelfth-graders reported writing up to three pages for their ELA homework in a typical week.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 

2011 Writing Assessment.

WRITING 2011 33

6

 The percentage is based on the sum of the unrounded percentages as opposed to the rounded percentages shown in the figure.

Figure 26. Percentage of students and average scores in twelfth-grade NAEP writing, 

by student-reported number of pages written for English/language arts 

homework in a typical week: 2011

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

GRADE 

12
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 

2011 Writing Assessment.

34 THE NATION’S REPORT CARD 

Students who use a computer more frequently to edit 

their writing score higher

Twelfth-graders were asked how often during the school year they use a computer to make 

changes to a paper or report (e.g., spell-check or cut and paste). Fifty-six percent of twelfthgraders reported always or almost always using a computer to make changes to their writing, 

and 4 percent reported never or hardly ever using one (figure 27). In 2011, twelfth-graders who 

reported more frequent use of a computer to edit their writing had higher average writing scores 

than those who reported less frequent use. For example, students who always or almost always 

used a computer to edit their writing scored higher on average than students who reported doing 

so very often, sometimes, or never or hardly ever. 

Figure 27. Percentage of students and average scores in twelfth-grade NAEP writing, by 

student-reported frequency with which they use a computer to make changes 

to writing assignments: 2011

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

The frequency with which students used a computer to make changes to a paper or report varied 

by level of parental education (table 3). In 2011, a higher percentage of students whose parents 

graduated from college than students whose parents had lower levels of education reported 

always or almost always using a computer to make changes.

Table 3. Percentage of students assessed in twelfth-grade NAEP writing, by student-reported frequency 

with which they use a computer to make changes to writing assignments and highest level of 

parental education: 2011

Frequency of computer use to make changes to writing assignments

Parental education level

Never or 

hardly ever Sometimes Very often

Always or 

almost always

Did not finish high school 7 24 29 39

Graduated from high school 6 19 29 46

Some education after high school 4 14 27 54

Graduated from college 3 10 22 65

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

GRADE 

12
About 44 percent of students report writing 

is a favorite activity

Twelfth-grade students were asked about the extent to which they agreed or disagreed with the 

statement, “writing is one of my favorite activities.” Thirty-three percent of students agreed that 

writing was one of their favorite activities in 2011 and 11 percent strongly agreed (figure 28).

Students who strongly agreed with the statement scored higher on average than students who 

simply agreed, and scores for both groups were higher than the scores for students who disagreed 

or strongly disagreed.

The proportion of students indicating that writing was one of their favorite activities varied by 

gender. Larger percentages of female than male students agreed or strongly agreed with the 

statement (table 4).

Figure 28. Percentage of students and average scores in twelfth-grade NAEP writing, by 

student-reported level of agreement with the statement, “writing is one of my 

favorite activities”: 2011

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 

2011 Writing Assessment.

WRITING 2011 35

Table 4. Percentage of students in twelfth-grade NAEP writing, by student-reported level of agreement with 

the statement, “writing is one of my favorite activities,” and gender: 2011

Gender

Level of agreement with statement

Strongly disagree Disagree Agree Strongly agree

Male 23 42 27 8

Female 12 36 39 14

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

GRADE 

12
New era of computer-based testing provides insight into 

how students use word-processing tools

The computer-based delivery of the NAEP writing assessment provided the opportunity to 

collect data on the extent to which students engaged in specific actions available to them in the 

word-processing software. Results for the student actions are reported as the percentages of 

students engaging in the action with varying frequency, and the average writing score for those 

students. For example, students who used the text-to-speech tool more frequently scored lower 

on average than those who engaged in the action less frequently (figure 29). A total of 52 percent 

of twelfth-grade students used the text-to-speech tool for the writing prompt one or more times (the 

tool was not available to use for their responses), and 48 percent did not use it at all. Although 

not shown here, a higher percentage of students identified with a disability (26 percent) than 

those not identified with a disability (16 percent) used the text-to-speech tool three or more 

times. Further information about student actions is available at http://nationsreportcard.gov/

writing_2011/writing_tools.asp.

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

Figure 29. Percentage of students and average scores in twelfth-grade NAEP writing, by 

number of times text-to-speech tool was used during assessment: 2011

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 

2011 Writing Assessment.

36 THE NATION’S REPORT CARD 

Students also had the option of using an online thesaurus tool to enhance or improve their 

writing. Students who used the thesaurus more frequently scored higher on average than those 

who engaged in this action less frequently (figure 30). Sixty-nine percent of twelfth-grade students did not use the thesaurus tool at all and 15 percent used the tool two or more times during 

the assessment. Although not shown here, a smaller percentage of English language learners 

(6 percent) than non-English language learners (16 percent) used the thesaurus tool two or 

more times.

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

Figure 30. Percentage of students and average scores in twelfth-grade NAEP writing, by 

number of times thesaurus tool was used during assessment: 2011

GRADE 

12
In addition to the number of key presses students made in the process of completing their 

responses to the writing tasks, data were collected on how often they engaged in 23 other actions 

related to editing, formatting, viewing, and reviewing text. The extent to which students made use 

of each of the tools that were available to them varied. For example, almost all twelfth-graders 

used the backspace key at least one time, while 20 percent or less used the copy, cut, or 

paste tools (figure 31).

Figure 31. Percentage of twelfth-graders who used various student actions at least once 

during the NAEP writing assessment: 2011

Other results for student actions, including the percentages of students engaging

in specific actions with varying frequency and the average writing scores for those 

students, are available on the NAEP website at http://nationsreportcard.gov/

writing_2011/student_action_results.asp and in the NAEP Data Explorer at 

http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/naepdata/ within the Student Factors category.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 

2011 Writing Assessment.

WRITING 2011 37

GRADE 

12
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 

2011 Writing Assessment.

38 THE NATION’S REPORT CARD 

A closer look at lower- and higher-performing students

The summary of results presented below shows how students performing at the lower end of the scale 

(below the 25th percentile) and those scoring at the higher end (above the 75th percentile) differed in 

terms of their demographics, educational experiences, and use of word-processing tools available to them.

Among twelfth-graders who scored 

below the 25th percentile (i.e., below 

a score of 127) in 2011

Among twelfth-graders who scored 

above the 75th percentile (i.e., above 

a score of 175) in 2011

Student demographic 

characteristics

40% were White

25% were Black

29% were Hispanic 

32% had at least one parent who 

graduated from college 

87% had computers in the home

78% were White

5% were Black

7% were Hispanic 

69% had at least one parent who 

graduated from college

99% had computers in the home 

Student educational 

experiences and 

attitude toward 

writing

33% reported always using a computer to make changes to a paper or 

report (e.g., cut and paste, spellcheck) 

18% used a computer daily to write 

for school assignments 

34% agreed or strongly agreed 

that writing is one of their 

favorite activities 

77% reported always using a computer to make changes to a paper or 

report (e.g., cut and paste, spellcheck)

39% used a computer daily to write 

for school assignments 

55% agreed or strongly agreed 

that writing is one of their 

favorite activities

Students’ use of

word-processing 

tools

10% used the backspace key 

more than 500 times

49% right-clicked to access 

spell-check 1–10 times

67% used the backspace key 

more than 500 times

68% right-clicked to access 

spell-check 1–10 times

GRADE 

12
Writing Achievement-Level Descriptions for Grade 12

The specific descriptions of what twelfth-graders are expected to be able to do at the Basic, 

Proficient, and Advanced writing achievement levels are presented below. As the NAEP achievement 

levels are cumulative, the expectations of student performance at the Proficient level include 

writing skills expected at the Basic level. Likewise, skills expected at the Advanced level of writing 

assume those specified for performance at the Basic and Proficient levels. The cut score indicating 

the lower end of the score range for each achievement level is noted in parentheses.

Basic (122)

Twelfth-grade students writing at the Basic level should be able to respond effectively to the 

tasks and accomplish their communicative purposes. Their texts should be coherent and well 

structured. Most of the ideas in their texts should be developed effectively. Relevant details and 

examples should be used to support and extend the main ideas in the texts. Voice should support the communicative purposes of the texts. Texts should include appropriately varied simple, 

compound, and complex sentence types. Words and phrases should be suitable for the topics, 

purposes, and audiences. Substantial knowledge of spelling, grammar, usage, capitalization, and 

punctuation should be clearly evident. There may be some errors in the texts, but these errors 

should not generally impede meaning.

Proficient (173)

Twelfth-grade students writing at the Proficient level should address the tasks 

effectively and fully accomplish their communicative purposes. Their texts should 

be coherent and well structured with respect to these purposes, and they 

should include well-crafted and effective connections and transitions. Their 

ideas should be developed in a logical, clear, and effective manner. Relevant 

details and examples should support and extend the main ideas of the texts 

and contribute to their overall communicative effectiveness. Voice should be 

relevant to the tasks and contribute to overall communicative effectiveness. 

Texts should include a variety of simple, compound, and complex sentence 

types that contribute to overall communicative effectiveness. Words 

and phrases should be chosen purposefully and used skillfully to 

enhance the effectiveness of the texts. A solid knowledge of spelling, 

grammar, usage, capitalization, and punctuation should be evident 

throughout the texts. There may be some errors in the texts, but 

they should not impede meaning.

Assessment

Content

Additional insight into students’ performance on the NAEP writing assessment 

can be obtained by examining what twelfth-graders are expected to know and 

be able to do in relation to how they performed on one of the assessment tasks 

designed to measure their writing skills. This section presents the achievementlevel descriptions for writing at grade 12 and examples of student performance 

in response to a grade 12 task.

WRITING 2011 39

GRADE 

12
Advanced (210)

Twelfth-grade students writing at the Advanced level should be able to address the tasks strategically, fully 

accomplish their communicative purposes, and demonstrate a skillful and creative approach to constructing 

and delivering their messages. Their texts should be coherent and well structured; they should include skillfully constructed and effective connections and transitions; and they should be rhetorically powerful. All of 

the ideas in their texts should be developed clearly, logically, effectively, and in focused and sophisticated 

ways. Supporting details and examples should be well crafted; they should skillfully support and extend the 

main ideas; and they should strengthen both communicative effectiveness and rhetorical power of the texts. 

A distinct voice that enhances the communicative effectiveness and rhetorical power of the texts should be 

evident. Texts should include a variety of sentence structures and types that are skillfully crafted and enhance 

communicative effectiveness and rhetorical power. Words and phrases should be chosen purposefully, with 

precision, and in ways that enhance communicative effectiveness and rhetorical power. A highly developed 

knowledge of spelling, grammar, usage, capitalization, and punctuation should be evident throughout the texts 

and function in ways that enhance communicative effectiveness and rhetorical power. There may be a few 

errors in the texts, but they should not impede meaning.

Task includes an animated 

video presentation about young 

people’s use of technology.

VALue of TechnoLoGy TASK ScReenShoT

Sample Task: Writing to explain

When writing to explain, the task of the writer is to bring together relevant information and to present this 

information with focus and clarity so that the topic becomes understandable to a reader. The sequence of 

ideas, and how ideas are arranged, must cohere and contribute to the communicative purpose. 

One of the writing tasks from the twelfth-grade assessment asked students to write about a type of technology 

that they use in their lives and why they value that technology. The Value of Technology task began with a short 

video about young people’s use of technology. This video included animation and statistics about technology 

use. The written part of the task then specified an audience for students to address in explaining the value of a 

particular technology. Responses were rated using a scoring guide ranging from “Little or no skill” to “Effective.”

40 THE NATION’S REPORT CARD 

GRADE 

12
Range of twelfth-grade skills when writing to explain

The item map below illustrates the range of writing skills demonstrated by students when writing to the 

Value of Technology task. The responses for each of the credited score categories7

 are mapped at different 

points on the NAEP writing scale and fall within the achievement level ranges Basic, Proficient, and Advanced, 

or in the range below Basic. The cut score at the lower end of the range for each achievement level is boxed. 

The criteria for specific score levels reflect the skills demonstrated by twelfth-graders when writing to this 

purpose (i.e., writing to explain). In reading the map, it is important to remember that the score levels do 

not have a direct correspondence to the achievement level ranges, but indicate where performance mapped 

for this particular writing task. For example, for this task, students performing at the Basic level with a score 

of 150 were likely to focus ideas clearly enough to provide some explanation. Students performing within 

the Proficient range with a score of 187 were likely to provide well-developed explanations with some ideas 

strengthening the clarity and progression. Students performing at the Advanced level with a score of 231 were 

likely to provide consistently controlled explanations enhanced by precise word choice and clearly focused 

ideas expressed in such a way that not only are the ideas clear, but also the relationships among them.

However, student performance varies by task, and ratings for different tasks may map at different points of 

the writing scale. For other tasks, responses rated as “Adequate” may fall within the Proficient range, or a 

“Developing” response might fall within the Basic range.

7

 The lowest rating, “Little or no skill,” receives 0 credit and is not scaled.

GRADE 12 NAEP WRITING ITEM MAP

Scale

score Rating of responses to Value of Technology task Rating criteria

Proficient Advanced

300

//

250

240 231 “Effective” explanation of the value of technology

Students writing at the Effective level developed explanations with 

well-chosen details that enhance meaning, a clear progression of ideas, 

precise word choices, and well-controlled sentences.

Students writing at the Competent level developed explanations with 

well-chosen details in parts of the response and an overall control of the 

progression of ideas and sentence structure. 187 “Competent” explanation of the value of technology 180

170

160

150 150 “Adequate” explanation of the value of technology Students writing at the Adequate level developed explanations using 

some details that do not enhance the clarity or progression of ideas, while 

organization was somewhat loose and sentence structure simple overall.

140

130

120 115 “Developing” explanation of the value of technology Students’ responses at the Developing level showed deficits in development, organization, and/or language; their explanations were thus uneven 

in clarity and quality.

110

100

90

80 78 “Marginal” explanation of the value of technology Students’ responses at the Marginal level showed severe deficits in 

development, organization, and/or language; their explanations were thus 

marginal in clarity and quality.

70

//

0

Basic

173

122

WRITING 2011 41

GRADE 

12

230

220

200

190

210

NOTE: The sample grade 12 writing task in the 2011 writing assessment was mapped onto the NAEP 0–300 writing scale. The map shows, for each level on the scoring guide from “Marginal” through “Effective,” the scale score 

attained by students who had a 65 percent probability of attaining that level or higher for the selected task. Scale score ranges for writing achievement levels are referenced on the map.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2011 Writing Assessment.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2011 Writing Assessment.

42 THE NATION’S REPORT CARD 

Five percent of twelfth-graders provided responses to the Value of Technology task that were rated “Effective” 

and 21 percent provided responses rated “Competent.” Three percent of twelfth-graders received a rating of 

“Little or no skill” on this task.

Percentage of twelfth-grade students, by response rating for Value of Technology task: 2011

Effective Competent Adequate Developing Marginal

Little or

no skill

5 21 34 25 11 3

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

The table below shows the percentage of students within each achievement level whose responses to 

the Value of Technology task were rated as “Adequate” or higher. For example, among twelfth-graders performing at the Basic level, 61 percent provided responses that were rated “Adequate” or higher and among 

students at the Proficient level, 97 percent wrote responses to the task that were rated “Adequate” or higher.

Percentage of twelfth-grade student responses to Value of Technology task rated 

“Adequate” or higher, by achievement level: 2011

Below Basic At Basic At Proficient At Advanced

6 61 97 100

example of a “Developing” response

The sample response shown here was rated as demonstrating “Developing” skill in responding to the writing 

task. While this response provides clear statements related to the topic, the presentation of ideas is list-like. 

With the exception of the one-sentence explanation for why the writer uses the computer to do research 

for homework, no ideas are developed. Statistics from the video are referred to but not integrated into the 

response. The response never progresses in its organization beyond a listing based on “I use,” “I like,” or “I 

don’t use”; ideas are related to the overall topic more than to one another. This response demonstrates performance associated with the range below the Basic level. Twelfth-grade students performing in this range 

may provide ideas relevant to the topic, but do not control or develop the ideas to fully explain it.

A type of technology I use in my daily life is my laptop.

I use my laptop daily because it’s fast and simple to use. I use it to play games and use 

social networking sites such as facebook. I also use it to listen to music with iTunes. I can use it to sync 

music to put more songs on my ipod. Statistics state that 27% of young teens used video or music downloads. Doing research for homework is also something I use my laptop for. Using my computer makes it 

faster and easier to look things up. My laptop is important to me because it helps me stay connected with 

friends and family through social networking sights such as facebook. The internet somehow keeps me 

entertained knowing that I have everything i need to know right at my fingertips even though it might 

not always be true. I like to stay updated on what my favorite celebrities are doing through twitter. I don’t 

use twitter as much as I use facebook because i feel that facebook has more things you can do on the site 

rather than just telling people what you are doing. The statistics in the video state that 55% of young 

people use social websites and probably for the same reasons I do. These are some of the many reasons 

why i like to use my laptop and why it is important to me.

GRADE 

12
GRADE 

12

Example of an “Adequate” response

The sample student response shown here was rated as demonstrating “Adequate” skill in responding to the 

writing task. In explaining the value of the technology, the response presents ideas clearly and simply. The 

three middle paragraphs explain different aspects of why the technology is valuable, with some examples 

that support the main idea. The connection between ideas in each paragraph is smooth and contributes to 

a sense of overall cohesion. While some phrasings are unclear, e.g., “fast engulfing” or “a reliant lifestyles,” 

this response demonstrates skills associated with performance at the Basic level. Twelfth-grade students at 

this level demonstrate a control of language to accomplish the communicative purpose.

To College Admissions Committee:

Technology is an ongoing factor that will continue to grow each year. I, along with others, can admit 

that without it today’s experiences would not be the same. Facebook, a popular blogging site, is a source 

that I rely on for communication, news, and entertainment.

Facebook, created by Mark Zukerberg, was originally made as a site to communicate with fellow 

college students. The fast engulfing site has become just this for myself and many million other “friends.” 

Acquaintances are able to update me on what is new with their lives. I am able to communicate with long 

distance family. My school has even taken advantage of the popular site by posting assignments and study 

groups.

News sweeps across Facebook faster than a hurricane. Although I do watch and read news elsewhere, 

the website makes it easy and convenient. Because most people own a computer, the news can be 

accessed as desired. Television, in comparison, plays news once and your absence can determine if you’re 

informed or not.

Music, videos and chatting are available on Facebook. Although distracting, the entertainment that the 

website provides is popular. You can even join groups that have the same interests and receive updates 

on events. Whether I want to look up a new hit song, or watch a movie trailer that I know of, I can rely on 

Facebook to have it.

The most modern form on keeping in touch with people, discovering news, and entertaining yourself is 

found on Facebook. It is easy to look down on such a reliant lifestyles, but earlier generations can’t ignore 

how convenient the website is. Regardless of how your life was yesterday, technology will change tomorrow 

and the day after. Inventions like Facebook make it hard to believe life without such advanced technologies.

Writing tasks available online

More NAEP writing tasks are available online at http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/

itmrlsx/search.aspx?subject=writing and include:

•

•

•

•

One released task for each writing purpose at grade 12, including audio and video

A scoring rubric for each task

Samples of responses at each scoring level 

Student performance data

Explore the interface for the writing tasks at http://nationsreportcard.gov/

writing_2011/writing_tools.asp.

WRITING 2011 43
The following sample student response was rated as “Competent” in writing to explain. From the strong 

opening sentence and throughout, the response demonstrates a control of language in developing logical 

and clear ideas that contribute to explaining the value of a particular technology. Specific advantages are 

presented, and then the value of the technology is illustrated with a personal example. Overall cohesiveness 

is achieved by relatively smooth transitions. Logically cohesive complex sentences, such as the final one in 

the response, enhance the ideas being expressed. This response demonstrates skills associated with the 

Proficient level. Twelfth-grade students at this level are able to produce well-structured responses that fully 

accomplish the communicative purpose.

In recent history, people had no means to communicate with each other instantaneously over long 

distances, but within the past ten years social networking has completely altered our ways of communication. Mark Zuckerburg’s creation of Facebook truly revolutionized how we interact with one another, for 

he created a relatively safe online environment where people can keep in close contact with friends with 

having to travel to visit them personally. People no longer need to wait days or weeks for the Pony Express 

to transport messages, because now at the mere click of a button we can write and send lengthy messages, 

pictures, memos, videos, and greetings to our peers. Facebook is the form of current technology that has 

most affected my life as a high school student.

Facebook is a novel innovation that has completely altered how people, especially teenagers, communicate. Originally intended for college networking, Facebook lets you “friend” your acquaintances and keep in 

closer contact with them by automatically updating them about your life. Facebook has practically limitless 

entertainment and communications options, including instant messaging, status updating, game playing, 

and picture sharing. With this, one can choose to share as much about herself as she wishes, but someone 

like me can also choose to be more reserved and write to people in private inbox messages instead of public 

updates.

Ever since I created a Facebook account in the beginning of my sophomore year in high school, it has 

allowed me to keep in contact with friends that I would otherwise never see again and share in what is 

happening in their lives. Going to a private school from a public middle school was a difficult decision for

me because I did not want to leave the close friends I had made in middle school, but Facebook has 

allowed me to be as close to them as ever; for although I no longer see them on a regular basis, I can always 

write a quick “Hello” or “Happy Birthday” on their Facebook wall, and I am constantly updated on events in 

their lives. I can easily invite people to my plays and concerts at my school without spending great quantities of time or having to hurt the environment by sending paper invitations. Facebook also helps me keep 

in contact with close friends that I make while in Winds of Change theater camp in Canada. Though I only 

visit Canada for this camp once a year, I can stay connected to my Canadian friends because of Facebook. 

One year I was unable to stay for the entire two weeks of the camp, but thanks to Facebook I was able to see 

pictures from the show I helped prepare that was performed at the end of the second week.

Although my parents and grandparents kept in minimal contact with some of their high school and 

college friends through telephone and snail mail, I feel that I will stay much closer to friends all throughout 

my childhood because I can see recent pictures of them and read about what is occurring in their lives 

much more easily. I limit my Facebook friends to people that I care about and truly want to keep in contact 

with, and thus whenever I log into Facebook, I am receiving updates even about friends on exchange in 

foreign countries, and I feel much more connected to the world around me.

44 THE NATION’S REPORT CARD 

GRADE 

12
The sample student response shown below was rated as “Effective” in responding to the task about the 

value of technology. After an opening paragraph that defines video games and introduces the ideas to be 

developed throughout, the writer constructs the explanation primarily through use of personal experience. 

This approach skillfully communicates the value of video games through the use of detailed descriptions 

of specific games and what the writer has learned from them. Ideas are fully developed, and the rich use of 

explanatory details establishes a distinct voice speaking intelligently from experience. This response demonstrates skills associated with performance at the Advanced level. Twelfth-grade students at this level are 

able to craft responses that strategically accomplish the communicative purpose.

Videogames are a primary source of entertainment for people of all ages. Videogames are discs or cartridges 

that hold data; once a disc or cartridege is inserted into a gaming console, the data is read and displayed on the 

screen along with prompts that allow the game to be played. Games have many genres ranging from fighting to 

educational and can be used for than just mere entertainment. I personally have been experiencing what videogames have to offer for over five years now. Gaming is not just something that people do for fun, people can play 

videogames for many reasons. Videogames are an important factor in many peoples lives including mine and 

are a valuable type of technology.

I have been playing videogames from a very young age. Mario was the first game I was ever introduced to 

and it was not through playing; through sheer coincidence my mother realized that the theme music to Mario 

put me to sleep as a baby. Once I was old enough to hold a controller I began playing the game. Ever since that 

moment I have been playing videogames. Games are multi-purposed; to some it is merely a form of entertainment, but to others it could be their job. Some people argue that games are a waste of time and that they are 

not product. I beg to differ; games are important to me because not only do they give me something to do to 

pass time but they are also educational. A prime example of this is a game I was introduced to by my cousins, 

Runescape. When I was about thirteen I had went to see my cousins up state and I saw them playing this 

browser game called Runescape (a browser game is a game that can be played within an internet browser 

without the need to download or upload information from a disc or cartridge). Me being the person I am, I was 

curious as to what it was so I began to ask questions. By the end of the day I learned two things about that 

game, two things that to some gamers, were their favorite word. It was a MMORPG (massive multiplayer online 

role playing game) that was free; in essence it was a free gamethat I didn’t have to download and I could do 

basically whatever I wanted that was allowed in the game. Within the game you could do any of the various 

skills offered, quests, and even fight against other players from around the world with you’re avatar. Once I got 

home, I of course signed up and began to play. Throughout the few years I played that game I realized it was set 

in Medieval times and I learned many things about that age. I learned the process it takes to turn ore into metal, 

what smelting is, how leather is crafted into clothing, how clay is used, and some of the politics of Medieval 

civilizations throughout the quests of the game. Although I would spend hours on this game and it seemed like I 

was doing nothing, I infact was actually learning.

Another game my cousins introduced to me was Age of Mythology. The game was a PC game(which means 

it had to be bought and it contained disc which had to upload the game onto you’re computer or device and 

then the game could be played) and I had played it at my cousins and eventually went on to buy it. If mythology 

was a subject in school, this game could be the teacher. This game focuses around Greek, Egyptian and Norse 

mythology. You follow the antagonists (which you name) through all three civilizations chasing an evil minotaur that is attempting to end the world. You begin in a fictional Greek city and eventually move throughout the 

world. This game teaches any of it’s players not only how armies from all three civilazations worked but those 

civilazations major Gods, minor Gods, demigods and mythological creatures. Stories based on mythology or fact 

are also told and experienced throughout the game; such as the Trojan Horse and Ragnorak. I have never picked 

up a book based on mythology or ancient Gods but because of this game I have an extensive knowledge of the 

mythology of those three cultures. Games are important in society; they give people a hobby and peace of mind. 

They can also be used for educational purposes. Toddlers no longer read books to learn how to read, write, and 

spell, they are given toys and games to play. Games hold a high position in society and can be beneficial to those 

who use them if they wish to use them in that way.

WRITING 2011 45

GRADE 

12
Sampling and Weighting

The schools and students participating in NAEP assessments are selected to be representative 

of all schools nationally. The results from the assessed students are combined to provide accurate 

estimates of the overall performance of students in public, private, and other types of schools 

(i.e., Bureau of Indian Education schools and Department of Defense schools) in the nation. More 

information on sampling can be found at http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/about/nathow.asp.

Because each school that participated in the assessment and each student assessed represents a 

portion of the population of interest, the results are weighted to account for the disproportionate 

representation of the selected sample. This includes oversampling of schools with high concentrations of students from certain racial/ethnic groups and the lower sampling rates of students 

who attend very small schools.

School and Student Participation

To ensure unbiased samples, NAEP statistical standards require that participation rates for the 

original school samples be 70 percent or higher to report national results separately for public 

and private schools. In instances where participation rates meet the 70 percent criterion but 

fall below 85 percent, a nonresponse bias analysis is conducted to determine if the responding 

school sample is not representative of the population, thereby introducing the potential for

nonresponse bias. 

The weighted national school participation rates for the 2011 writing assessment were 97 percent 

for grade 8 (100 percent for public schools, 71 percent for private schools, and 96 percent for 

Catholic schools only), and 94 percent for grade 12 (96 percent for public schools, 67 percent for 

private schools, and 77 percent for Catholic schools only). Weighted student participation rates 

were 94 percent at grade 8, and 87 percent at grade 12. Because the participation rate for private 

schools overall fell below 70 percent, results could not be reported for twelfth-graders attending 

private schools in 2011. Results are available for Catholic schools on the NAEP Data Explorer at 

http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/naepdata/.

Nonresponse bias analyses were conducted for the private school samples at both grades 8 and 

12. For grade 8, the results of the nonresponse bias analyses showed no significant bias for any 

school characteristic after substitution and nonresponse adjustments. However, at grade 12, 

some variables examined in the analyses still indicated potential bias after nonresponse adjustments. Specifically, the potential for bias still existed for race after nonresponse adjustments. 

The Asian/Pacific Islander students were slightly underrepresented in the responding private 

school sample.

Interpreting Statistical Significance

Comparisons between groups are based on statistical tests that consider both the size of the 

differences and the standard errors of the two statistics being compared. Standard errors are margins of error, and estimates based on smaller groups are likely to have larger margins of error. The 

size of the standard errors may also be influenced by other factors such as how representative the 

assessed students are of the entire population. 

When an estimate has a large standard error, a numerical difference that seems large may not 

be statistically significant. Differences of the same magnitude may or may not be statistically 

significant depending upon the size of the standard errors of the estimates. For example, at grade 8, 

the 13-point difference in average writing scores for White and American Indian/Alaska Native 

Technical Notes 

46 THE NATION’S REPORT CARD 
students was statistically significant, while the 17-point difference between White and Native 

Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander students was not. Standard errors for the estimates presented 

in this report are available at http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/naepdata/. 

To ensure that significant differences in NAEP data reflect actual differences and not mere 

chance, error rates need to be controlled when making multiple simultaneous comparisons. 

The more comparisons that are made (e.g., comparing the performance of White, Black, Hispanic, 

Asian, Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander, American Indian/Alaska Native, and multiracial 

students), the higher the probability of finding significant differences by chance. In NAEP, the 

Benjamini-Hochberg False Discovery Rate (FDR) procedure is used to control the expected proportion of falsely rejected hypotheses relative to the number of comparisons that are conducted. 

A detailed explanation of this procedure can be found at http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/

tdw/analysis/infer.asp. NAEP employs a number of rules to determine the number of comparisons conducted, which in most cases is simply the number of possible statistical tests.

Race/Ethnicity

In compliance with new standards from the U.S. Office of Management and Budget for collecting 

and reporting data on race/ethnicity, information was collected in 2011 to report results for the 

following seven racial/ethnic categories:

• White • Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander

• Black • American Indian/Alaska Native

• Hispanic • Two or more races

• Asian

Students identified as Hispanic were classified as Hispanic even if they were also identified with 

another racial/ethnic group. Students identified with two or more of the other racial/ethnic groups 

(e.g., White and Black) were classified as “two or more races.”

National School Lunch Program

NAEP collects data on student eligibility for the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) as an 

indicator of family income. Under the guidelines of NSLP, children from families with incomes 

at or below 130 percent of the poverty level are eligible for free meals. Those from families with 

incomes between 130 and 185 percent of the poverty level are eligible for reduced-price meals. 

(For the period July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2012, for a family of four, 130 percent of the 

poverty level was $29,055, and 185 percent was $41,348.) Some schools provide free meals 

to all students regardless of individual eligibility, using their own funds to cover the costs of 

noneligible students. Under special provisions of the National School Lunch Act intended to 

reduce the administrative burden of determining student eligibility every year, schools can be 

reimbursed based on eligibility data for a single base year. For more information on NSLP, visit 

http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/lunch/.

School Location

NAEP results are reported for four mutually exclusive categories of school location: city, suburb, 

town, and rural. The categories are based on standard definitions established by the Federal 

Office of Management and Budget using population and geographic information from the 

U.S. Census Bureau. Schools are assigned to these categories in the NCES Common Core of Data 

(CCD) “locale codes” based on their physical address. The locale codes are based on a school’s 

proximity to an urbanized area (a densely settled core with densely settled surrounding areas). 

More detail on the locale codes is available at http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/rural_locales.asp.

WRITING 2011 47
Photo Credits:

© Bill Denison Photography; © Zhang Bo/iStockphoto #16029216; © Atanas Bezov/iStockphoto #8523449; © Andrew Rich/iStockphoto #15355670; 

© LuminaStock/iStockphoto #20119357; © MeshaPhoto\iStockphoto #20569944; © Benoit Chartron/iStockphoto #18681497; © Anatoly Vartanov/

iStockphoto #14428786; © Christopher Futcher/iStockphoto #15350658; © Nina Shannon/iStockphoto #7168584; © Christopher Futcher/iStockphoto 

#18998338; © Tetra Images/Alamy #BMJ59R; © Alloy Photography/Veer #AYP1225397; © Baran Özdemir/iStockphoto #17218601; © Abel Mitja Varela/

iStockphoto #17757341; © Christopher Futcher/iStockphoto #15653336; © Kemter/iStockphoto #15747755; © Chris Schmidt/iStockphoto #11294967; 

© Aldo Murillo/iStockphoto #19902167; © Steve Debenport/iStockphoto #20684546

MORE INFORMATION

The report release site is 

http://nationsreportcard.gov.

The NCES Publications and Products 

address is http://nces.ed.gov/

pubsearch.

For ordering information, write to

ED Pubs

U.S. Department of Education

P.O. Box 22207

Alexandria, VA 22304

or call toll free 1-877-4-ED-Pubs

or order online at 

http://www.edpubs.gov.

THE NATION’S 

REPORT CARD

Writing 

2011

SEPTEMBER 2012

SUGGESTED CITATION

National Center for Education

Statistics (2012).

The Nation’s Report Card: 

Writing 2011

(NCES 2012–470). 

Institute of Education Sciences, 

U.S. Department of Education, 

Washington, D.C.

CONTENT CONTACT

Angela Glymph

202-219-7127

angela.glymph@ed.gov

This report was prepared for the National 

Center for Education Statistics under Contract 

No. ED-07-CO-0107 with Educational Testing 

Service. Mention of trade names, commercial 

products, or organizations does not imply 

endorsement by the U.S. Government.

U.S. Department of Education

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is a congressionally authorized project sponsored by the 

U.S. Department of Education. The National Center for Education Statistics, within the Institute of Education Sciences, 

administers NAEP. The Commissioner of Education Statistics is responsible by law for carrying out the NAEP project.

Arne Duncan

Secretary

U.S. Department 

of Education

John Q. Easton

Director

Institute of 

Education Sciences

Jack Buckley

Commissioner

National Center for 

Education Statistics

Peggy G. Carr

Associate Commissioner 

for Assessment

National Center for 

Education Statistics

The National Assessment Governing Board

In 1988, Congress created the National Assessment Governing Board to set policy for the National Assessment of 

Educational Progress, commonly known as The Nation's Report CardTM. The Governing Board is an independent, 

bipartisan group whose members include governors, state legislators, local and state school officials, educators, 

business representatives, and members of the general public.

Honorable David P. Driscoll, Chair

Former Commissioner of Education

Melrose, Massachusetts

Mary Frances Taymans,

Vice Chair

Nonpublic School Representative

Bethesda, Maryland

Andrés Alonso

Chief Executive Officer

Baltimore City Public Schools

Baltimore, Maryland

David J. Alukonis

Former Chairman

Hudson School Board

Hudson, New Hampshire

Louis M. Fabrizio

Data, Research and Federal Policy Director

North Carolina Department of Public 

Instruction

Raleigh, North Carolina

Honorable Anitere Flores

Senator

Florida State Senate

Miami, Florida

Alan J. Friedman

Consultant

Museum Development and Science 

Communication

New York, New York

Shannon Garrison

Fourth-Grade Teacher

Solano Avenue Elementary School

Los Angeles, California

Doris R. Hicks

Principal and Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Charter School 

for Science and Technology

New Orleans, Louisiana

Honorable Terry Holliday

Commissioner of Education

Kentucky Department of Education

Lexington, Kentucky

Richard Brent Houston

Principal

Shawnee Middle School

Shawnee, Oklahoma

Hector Ibarra

Middle School Science Teacher

Belin-Blank International Center

and Talent Development

Iowa City, Iowa

Honorable Tom Luna

Idaho Superintendent of Public 

Instruction

Boise, Idaho

Honorable Jack Markell

Governor of Delaware

Wilmington, Delaware

Tonya Miles

General Public Representative

Mitchellville, Maryland

Dale Nowlin

Twelfth-Grade Teacher

Columbus North High School

Columbus, Indiana

Susan Pimentel

Educational Consultant

Hanover, New Hampshire

W. James Popham

Professor Emeritus 

Graduate School of Education and 

Information Studies

University of California, Los Angeles

Wilsonville, Oregon

Andrew C. Porter

Dean

Graduate School of Education

University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

B. Fielding Rolston

Chairman

Tennessee State Board of Education

Kingsport, Tennessee

Cary Sneider

Associate Research Professor

Portland State University

Portland, Oregon

Blair Taylor

Chief Community Officer

Starbucks Coffee Company

Seattle, Washington

Honorable Leticia Van de Putte

Senator

Texas State Senate

San Antonio, Texas

Eileen L. Weiser

General Public Representative

Ann Arbor, Michigan

John Q. Easton (Ex officio)

Director 

Institute of Education Sciences

U.S. Department of Education

Washington, D.C.

Cornelia S. Orr

Executive Director 

National Assessment Governing Board

Washington, D.C.

“The Depar tment of Education’s mission is to promote student 

achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by 

fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access.”

www.ed.gov