The 2003 writing

assessment is a test that requires fifth grade students to write a paper

of no more than two pages on an assigned topic. It is read and evaluated

independently by a minimum of two graders who place each paper into six

developmental stages- The Emerging Writer, The Developing Writer, The

Focusing Writer, The Experimenting Writer, The Engaging Writer, and The

Extending Writer.

Each category

evaluates the strength of the writing, with "Emerging" - the

lowest stage of the six categories - denoting writing that needs the most

improvement and "Engaging" and "Extending" - the top

two categories - denoting writing that shows the highest skill.

Fulton County

increased the percent of students in the Engaging Writer or Extending

Writer category by more than 10 percent over last year and more than 17

percent since 1999. Twenty-six of Fulton County's schools showed more

than a 10 percent increase in the percent of students in these top two

stages and 10 schools showed more than a 20 percent increase.

The release

of the fifth grade scores follows earlier news from the Georgia Department

of Education showing that Fulton eighth graders also excel in writing.

Results from the 2003 Middle Grades Writing Assessment test show 95 percent

of Fulton eighth graders on or exceeding targets set by the state. As

with the fifth grade scores, there was a significant increase in the number

of eighth graders scoring in the upper ranges of the test.