The Direct Writing Assessment (DWA) is a criterion-referenced test that is designed to assess the writing skills of Utah students who are enrolled in grades six and nine. This untimed writing test is an element of the Utah Performance Assessment System for Students (U-PASS). It was first administered statewide in the spring of 2002. The DWA will be administered in grades 6 and 9 fourteen weeks before the last week of school, in order to return scores before the end of the school year.

The DWA is scored using an analytic rather than a holistic scoring method. That is, student responses are scored for each of the six writing traits. The scoring rubric, which is aligned with the Utah Core Curriculum for language arts, focuses on six components of writing: ideas & content, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions.

Utah teachers are employed to score the students' responses using an electronic rather than a paper-based scoring system. This innovative scoring process, distributed scoring, is web-based on a secure site. The scorers are employed by Pearson, which provides professional test scoring services.

Student responses will be scored by Utah educators and professional scorers. All scoring will be done on-line using a system developed by Pearson. This electronic scoring system provides a means for essay tests to be scored from home on a PC

Professional/Staff Development Credit for Utah Direct Writing Assessment Scoring Training

All licensed teachers in good standing with the Utah State Department of Education have the opportunity to become certified Six Traits online scorers for the sixth and ninth grade DWA and to receive recertification points for completing the 16-hour online tutorial. Applications will be accepted through February 13, 2008. Training will begin on April 2, 2008. Teachers may work from a home or office computer to learn the Six Traits of Writing Assessment in-depth. IBM compatible PC must meet minimum requirements (detailed list at website). Qualified scores will be financially compensated $150 for completing the training, and may earn $10-13 per hour for time spent scoring the DWA. If qualified to score, scoring period will be approximately April 2 - May 2 (may end sooner). Scorers become temporary employees of Pearson and are expected to score a minimum of 20 hours per week. Register by February 13th at Flexible Scoring.