Abstract: Students who are engaged writers are likely to produce better writing and to enjoy writing more than students who are disengaged writers. Yet, we are unaware of any existing tool that validly and reliably measures writing engagement. In this article, we describe what writing engagement is and why it is important. Then, we present the Writing Engagement Scale, a valid and reliable tool for measuring writing engagement, and outline how teachers can use this tool to better inform writing instruction in their classrooms.

This article reports on the implementation of a formative assessment tool (the Writing Engagement Scale, or WES) in grades 3–5 in schools in the United States. We used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to collect validity evidence for the WES for our population. Results demonstrated acceptable validity and reliability. In addition, survey results indicated that teachers perceived the WES to be useful as a formative writing assessment. We make the case that the WES provides an opportunity to inform teachers’ practice and help researchers understand the dimensions of students’ engagement in writing.