The Impact of Writing on Student Achievement
Caitlyn Chabot
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In 2007, a student at the University of North Carolina Wilmington conducted a study to evaluate the impact of writing on student achievement. This was done by measuring the increases in standardized test scores between two groups of North Carolina eighth-grade students. Regardless of the subject, students placed in the experimental group were given an increase in writing instruction and the amount of writing they were assigned. These very students were shown to have improved upon their test scores, as opposed to the students who did not receive the increase in writing assignments or instruction.
While the researcher chose to focus the experiment on eighth-grade students, she also made note of student test scores from both sixth and seventh grade. When comparing these scores, it was noticed that sixth and eighth grade appeared to struggle the most when taking the standardized tests, while seventh-grade students tested extremely well. This was primarily due to the grade’s focus on writing, as it was preparing the students for the state writing test.
As technology has evolved, many students in this age claim to prefer taking notes on their laptops as they can type faster and keep up with the professor easier in lectures. That being said, simply because the notes can be taken faster, it doesn’t mean the notes are being taken all that more effectively. In fact, it’s quite popular to hear educators pushing for notes to be handwritten; paper and pencil. This is because the information is proven to be retained better and more efficiently when the information is written by hand. Is typing far easier? Yes. But will you be able to remember and recall the information as well? No, according to science. This was further enforced by the teachers in North Carolina who claimed they found an overlapping of success in topics as writing in different subjects allowed the students to better grasp the content material.
At the end of the experiment, the 75 students in the experimental group had shown higher levels of proficiency than the 41 students in the control group. Almost 95% of the experimental group’s students scored proficient on the End-of-Grade test, as opposed to the 85% in the control group. Developmental scales were also shown to have increased in the experimental group whereas the control group remained average. These developmental scale scores remained higher than the control group’s through all three years in middle school (sixth-eighth grade).
Works Cited
“4 Reasons Writing Things down on Paper Still Reigns Supreme | Psychology Today.” Www.psychologytoday.com, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-athletes-way/202103/4-reasons-writing-things-down-paper-still-reigns-supreme#:~:text=In%20addition%20to%20being%20faster.
Waring, Jennifer W. The Impact of Writing on Student Achievement ... - UNCW Randall Library.
2007, http://dl.uncw.edu/Etd/2007-2/waringj/jenniferwaring.pdf.
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