ASSESSMENT

It is important to establish ways of assessing

handwriting at several levels:
whole school assessment
class assessment
individual assessment
self-assessment.

Whole-school and class

assessment
From time to time it is useful to confirm that the
school or class handwriting policy is effective.
A regular survey of childrens writing allows
for a general, impressionistic assessment and
may indicate the need for a more detailed
investigation. This kind of monitoring of schoolwide standards is most likely to occur if one
member of staff is responsible for starting the
process at regular intervals and ensuring that any
weaknesses or problems are followed up. Criteria
might include:

Each Pupil Book contains Check-Ups to assess the

individual progress of each child.
Each Resources and Assessment Book contains an
assessment section with resource sheets designed
to be used as placement tests, general assessment
and self-assessment.
The Getting Ready to Write flap at the front
of each Pupil Book is intended to remind pupils
about how to prepare themselves for writing.
The checklist on the reverse of this gives a list of
criteria to help pupils focus on, and check critically,
particular aspects of the writing they have
done. Throughout the Pupil Books, children are
frequently reminded to assess their own writing
and this checklist will help them. The checklist
may also be used as a basis for pairs of pupils
to discuss each others writing, or as a basis for
a handwriting conference between teacher
and child.

Is the writing generally legible and pleasant?

Are the letters correctly shaped and
proportioned?
Are the joins made correctly?
Are the spaces between letters, words and lines
appropriate?
Is the size of the writing appropriate?
Is the writing properly aligned?
Are the writing standards achieved by
the majority of pupils in line with the
statutory curricula?
(see pages 2431)
Appropriate assessment materials are provided
in the Resources and Assessment Books, which
are designed to accompany the Pupil Books and
Starter Workbooks.

Individual assessment
To assess the progress of individual children it is
necessary to observe them as they write, as well
as studying their finished writing. Criteria for
individual assessments include:
Does the child adopt the correct posture?
Does the child hold the pen/pencil correctly?
Does the child use the correct movement when
forming and/or joining letters?
Does the child reverse or invert any letters?
Does the child write fluently and rhythmically?
Is the writing easily legible?
Is the writing appropriate?
Is the pupils handwriting development
in line with the statutory curricula?
(see pages 2431)

Nelson Handwriting Oxford University Press 2016. No sharing, copying or

adaptation of materials permitted except by subscribers to Oxford Owl