Differential Performance on a Direct Measure of Writing Skills for Black and White College Freshmen. ACT Research Report Series 89-8.

The differential performance of black and white college freshmen on a direct measure of writing skills, the essay portion of the American College Testing Program's Collegiate Assessment of Academic Proficiency (CAAP), was studied. The data consisted of responses of a sample of 998 black and 3,727 white examinees to two individual prompts for essays, each requiring 20 minutes of testing time. Each essay was scored by two independent raters. Analysis of the data indicated that black examinees did not perform as well as did white examinees on the essay test. The differences between the populations on the essay were similar in magnitude to differences found on a multiple-choice test of writing skills that also formed part of the CAAP. Results must be interpreted cautiously as the samples, particularly the black sample, were probably atypical. Seven tables present data from the study. An interpretation of the CAAP Writing (Essay) Test Scores is appended. (Author/SLD)