High Stakes and No Takers: The Impact of Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) Writing on Students’ and Teachers’ Perceptions of Writing

This ethnographic case study of ten students and their teachers concludes that the state writing test had a negative impact on students’ and teachers’ perceptions of writing in four categories: strengths and weaknesses in student writing, self-assessment of writing skills, factors impacting test scores, and motivation and attitudes toward writing.