Evaluation

The Writing Competency Requirement

In spring 2024, the faculty of Eckerd College adopted a new writing policy. 

The proposal that the faculty approved includes the following changes:

1. For new students: 

Students who matriculate in Autumn Term 2024 (including those students transferring in as sophomores, juniors, or seniors in Fall 2024) or later will be required to complete two Writing Intensive courses in lieu of the Writing Portfolio. One course must be completed within the student's first four semesters at the College. Writing Intensive courses must be passed with a C- or better. If a student earns less than a C- in a WI course, it will not count toward the completion of the requirement. 

2. For current students who are NOT planning to graduate in May 24:

Current students who matriculated prior to 2024 will be grandfathered under the former policy (if desired). Current students may opt either to submit a Writing Portfolio, or they may opt to take a second WI course. 

• The WP option will remain in place for current students through Spring 2027. 

• The schedule for WP submission will remain the same through Spring 2027 with the WP due on the fifth Friday of the Fall and Spring semesters. 

• Announcements about portfolio information sessions and due dates will be forthcoming at the start of each new term. 

Current students who opt to complete the requirement under the new policy must pass both WI courses with a C- or better. The minimum grade requirement is not waiverable. 

Current students who opt to complete the requirement under the new policy must take at least one of the two WI courses at Eckerd College. No more than one WI course earned via transfer or transient credit will count toward the requirement. "Transfer credit" includes dual enrollment courses. 

Current students who opt to complete the requirement under the new policy may take (or may have taken) their WI courses at any point during their undergraduate career. The stipulation to complete one WI within the first four semesters will not apply to students who matriculated before Autumn Term 2024. 

When to Submit Your Portfolio

Evaluations are conducted twice each year, usually in October and March. Students beginning as freshfolks normally will submit their portfolios in their Junior year. Serious registration problems and delays in graduation can result from failing to submit the portfolio by first semester of the Junior year. Transfer students should confer with the director and submit portfolios as soon as possible after coming to Eckerd (usually second semester of Junior year).

How You are Evaluated

A group of faculty members from all collegia will read the submitted portfolios; every portfolio will be read by at least two evaluators. Each portfolio, taken as a whole, will be rated “competent” or “inadequate.” This overall assessment will be the grade of record. The portfolio will be evaluated for the student’s demonstration of the following learning outcomes:

1. rhetorical awareness by focusing on audience, purpose, context, medium, and message;

2. critical thinking, reading, and writing by interpreting, evaluating, analyzing, and/or synthesizing information;

3. knowledge of composing processes by describing in the annotations prewriting, drafting, revising, and editing, individually and with peers;

4. ability to find, evaluate, and synthesize sources into their own ideas and knowledge of conventions of documentation in one or more formats;

5. composing proficiency through essay focus/coherence, organization, and thorough substantiation of claims;

6. knowledge of conventions of standard written English through use of tone, mechanics, grammar, and punctuation.

Any portfolio rated “inadequate” in the first round will be evaluated by two additional faculty readers and the coordinator. If after these additional readings a portfolio has received a majority of evaluations of “competent,” the student will have successfully fulfilled the writing competency graduation requirement. Students will receive specific recommendations from the composition faculty for action to improve an “inadequate” portfolio.

Writing Excellence Award

Each academic year, a maximum of eight portfolios may be designated as “excellent.” Students so honored will receive a citation and have their official transcript annotated, “Writing Excellence Award, [year].”

Questions?

Please see the Writing Portfolio Coordinator in the Foundations Office, Brown Hall, or stop in the WritingCenter, SE-103.