Nevada eighth graders get low marks in national writing test

Thursday, Sept. 30, 1999 | 10:04 a.m.

About 84 percent of the eight-graders who took the National Assessment of Education Progress in writing test last year were writing below their grade level.

The national average was 150 out of a possible 300 points. Nevada averaged 140. Only five states, the Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia scored worse.

Not all Nevada students participated in the assessment. In Washoe County, about 350 of the county's 3,876 eighth-graders took the test in 1998, or about 9 percent.

State superintendent Mary Peterson said even though a small sampling of Nevada students took the exam, the results are a good indicator of performance.

The national assessment's standards are higher than what's required on Nevada's writing tests for fourth- and eighth-graders, she said.

Although the poor results have set off alarm bells with some educators, Peterson said she sees some good news. Black and American Indian students in Nevada outscored their national counterparts, while Hispanic and Asian students were only a few points below the national average.

"Our minority students scored slightly higher, but otherwise we still have a ways to go," Peterson said.

Nevada is one of the few states with its own writing test for students and requires students pass a writing test to graduate.

Carol Harriman, curriculum coordinator for Washoe County, said writing scores started going down several years ago. To address the decline, the district began massive teacher-development programs to show teachers how to do more writing activities in the classroom.

"We really focused on helping teachers understand how to teach these four writing traits and how to incorporate writing into their classroom," she said.

"No matter what subject area, the more students write the more clearly they're thinking about what they're learning. We've shown teachers how to incorporate writing into their curriculum no matter what subject they teach."