Center for Research, Evaluation, and Assessment
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Experimental Study on the Impact
of the 6+1 Trait® Writing Model on Student Achievement in Writing
By Michael Kozlow and Peter Bellamy
This report presents the results of a study that examined the efficacy of professional development for teachers using
the 6+1 Trait Writing model with respect to improving student writing skills. To achieve this purpose, a randomized
experimental study was conducted in 2003-2004 in grades 4 to 6 to determine the extent to which a two-day workshop
on the 6+1 Trait Writing model affected teacher practices and student achievement in writing. The study examined fidelity
of implementation through a teacher survey on classroom practices to determine the extent to which teachers implemented the
desired strategies and to describe differences between classroom practices of teachers in the treatment group and those of
teachers in the control group. Student achievement in writing was measured by having students write on assigned prompts to
produce narrative, descriptive, or persuasive pieces of writing.
Research
on Writing with the 6+1 Traits
By Peter C. Bellamy
The notion is widespread that children must learn to read before they can write. However, Bissex (1980), Chomsky (1971) and
Graves (1983) found that young children begin writing as or even before they learn to read, because they have a need to
communicate ideas and concepts that have been discovered by experience rather than in books. And this communication
serves not only to share thoughts, but also to help organize them into coherent categories.
Study Findings on the Integration of Writing Assessment & Instruction
Would it make a difference in analytic writing testing results to purposefully weave assessment
strategies into the writing curriculum? In other words, can we document differences in writing performance between
two groups of students-one group that was systematically taught how to use the six-trait analytic assessment
scoring criteria as a tool for revision, while the other group participated in traditional writing process instruction
without using an assessment component as a strategy for revision?
Six-Trait Writing Model Improves Scores at Jennie Wilson Elementary
Journal of School Improvement, Fall/Winter 2000, vol 1 issue 2
By Deb Jarmer, Maurine Kozol, Sheri Nelson, Trudy Salsberry
"Anecdotal data are supported by more systematic research studies like the one conducted in 1992-1993 in Portland, Oregon (NWREL, 1992-1993). Six fifth-grade classrooms were selected to study the effect of teaching the six analytic traits to students. The classrooms represented diverse student populations (rural/urban, native/non-native English speakers, and a range of ethnicities). Three of the classrooms received traditional instruction while the other three were taught the six-trait method. The results from pre and post tests revealed large differences in writing performance between the two groups. "