Michael Russell and Tom Plati's Does it Matter With What I Write? Comparing Performance On Paper, Computer and Portable Writing Devices

Abstract: "This study builds on three previous studies (Russell, 1999; Russell & Haney, 1997; Russell & Plati, 2001) to examine the effect of administering extended composition test items on paper, on computer, or on a portable writing device has on student performance. This study employs writing items from the 1999 Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) to examine the mode of administration effect in grades four and eight. Similar to previous studies, this article finds that open-ended Language Arts items that require students to generate responses using paper and pencil, severely underestimate the achievement of fourth grade students accustomed to writing using a computer. This study also finds that open-ended tests administered on paper underestimate the achievement of eighth grade students accustomed to writing with an eMate (a portable writing device). Combining the effects found in this study with those found in Russell's 1999 study, this article estimates that the MCAS Language Arts test underestimates the performance of students accustomed to writing using a computer by four to eight points on an eighty point scale. This article concludes by recommending that state testing programs that employ open-ended items in Language Arts provide students with the option of composing responses using the writing tools with which they are accustomed to working."