Antiracist Writing Assessment Ecologies

349 Pages·2015·1.85 MB·English

by  Asao B. Inoue

ANTIRACIST WRITING
ASSESSMENT ECOLOGIES
TEACHING AND ASSESSING
WRITING FOR A SOCIALLY
JUST FUTURE
Asao B. Inoue

PERSPECTIVES ON WRITING
Series Editor, Susan H. McLeod
PERSPECTIVES ON WRITING
Series Editors: Susan H. McLeod and Rich Rice
The Perspectives on Writing series addresses writing studies in a broad sense.
Consistent with the wide ranging approaches characteristic of teaching and
scholarship in writing across the curriculum, the series presents works that take
divergent perspectives on working as a writer, teaching writing, administering
writing programs, and studying writing in its various forms.
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And we see that to share the power of writing is to share the means for all to
articulate their needs, interest, and learning into the great experiment of literacy.
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ANTIRACIST WRITING
ASSESSMENT ECOLOGIES:
TEACHING AND ASSESSING
WRITING FOR A SOCIALLY
JUST FUTURE
Asao B. Inoue
The WAC Clearinghouse
wac.colostate.edu
Fort Collins, Colorado
Parlor Press
www.parlorpress.com
Anderson, South Carolina
The WAC Clearinghouse, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523
Parlor Press, 3015 Brackenberry Drive, Anderson, South Carolina 29621
© 2015 by Asao B. Inoue. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attri-
bution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International.
ISBN 9781642150698 (pdf) | 9781642150704 | 9781602357730 (pbk.)
DOI 10.37514/PER-B.2015.0698
Produced in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Inoue, Asao B., author.
Title: Antiracist writing assessment ecologies : teaching and assessing writing for a
socially just future / Asao B. Inoue.
Description: Fort Collins, Colorado : The WAC Clearinghouse, [2015] | Series:
Perspectives on writing | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015037961 | ISBN 978-1-64215-069-8 (pdf) | ISBN 978-1-
64215-070-4 | ISBN 9781602357730 (pbk. : acid-free paper)
Subjects: LCSH: English language--Rhetoric--Study and teaching (Higher)--Unit-
ed States--Evaluation. | English language--Rhetoric--Study and teaching (High-
er)--Social aspects--United States. | Discrimination in higher education--United
States. | Anti-racism--Study and teaching.
Classification: LCC PE1404 .I47 2015 | DDC 808/.0420711--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2015037961
Copyeditor: Don Donahue
Designer: Mike Palmquist
Series Editor: Susan H. McLeod
The WAC Clearinghouse supports teachers of writing across the disciplines. Host-
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
Introduction: Writing Assessment Ecologies as Antiracist Projects . . . . . . 3
Chapter 1: The Function of Race in Writing Assessments . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Chapter 2: Antiracist Writing Assessment Ecologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Chapter 3: The Elements of an Antiracist Writing Assessment Ecology .119
Chapter 4: Approaching Antiracist Work in an Assessment Ecology . . . 177
Chapter 5: Designing Antiracist Writing Assessment Ecologies . . . . . . . 283
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
Appendix A: English 160W’s Grading Contract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
Appendix B: Example Problem Posing Labor Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
v

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book, like all others, is the culmination of more than my efforts. In
many ways, I’m simply the messenger, shouting the news to others. Over the
last five years, I’ve had lots of help thinking, rethinking, conceiving, discussing,
and reading drafts of what would become what you hold in your hands. First, I
thank my wife, Kelly Inoue, without whom I cannot do what I do every day. She
makes me a better teacher, father, husband, scholar, and person just by living her
example of compassionate service. I live in her long shadow and am grateful for
her patience and love. I thank Victor Villanueva, my mentor and friend, who
read parts of Chapter 1, and has been a constant encouragement to me. I learned
much from him and his work about race and racism, and about being cheerful
in the face of so much wrong in the academy. Victor is my surrogate academic
father. I thank Bill Condon, my other mentor, who introduced me to the field
of writing assessment. He was often on my shoulder as I wrote and revised drafts
of this book. His broad smile and his gentle deep voice is always guiding me. I
thank Norbert Elliot, who in subtle ways always gives me things to learn, some
of which ended up in this book. I thank Mya Poe, my PIC, my friend, and from
whom I’ve learned so much. I feel so fortunate to work with her, even though
we are usually on two different coasts. I thank Chris Anderson, my first mentor,
friend, and colleague from Oregon State University, whom I asked to read an
earlier version of the book and who gave me valuable and important ideas. His
kind and careful feedback was instrumental in making this book what it is. He
was also one of my first teacher models in college, one who taught me that cul-
tivating a compassionate ear is always the best pedagogical stance to take. I also
wish to thank the incredible folks at Parlor Press and the WAC Clearinghouse,
Mike Palmquist and his editorial team who made this manuscript sparkle; Sue
McLeod, my editor, who was wonderful, encouraging and helpful.
Thank you to my twin brother, Tadayoshi L. Inoue, who has supported,
loved, helped, and challenged me my entire life. I am always and ever-mindful
of how deeply blessed and fortunate every minute of my life has been (I was
born four minutes after my brother) to be a twin, and know twin-love. He has
been the rock I have always had the privilege and good fortune to stand on and
next to.
And then there are a number of folks who helped me along the way through
conversations and emails: Tom Fox, who read the entire manuscript, gave me
thoughtful and insightful ideas that made the book better in tangible ways; Car-
men Kynard, who always has good things to say and encouragement to offer;
vii
Acknowledgments
Vershawn A. Young, my dear friend whom I can count on to push me and ques-
tion everything; and Chris Gallagher, who offered crucial ideas to the guiding
metaphor of the book (ecology) in a 45-minute meeting we had at Cs in Las
Vegas. That meeting was the tipping point for me in thinking about the book
and what it should ultimately be.
I offer a very special thanks to my graduate students at Fresno State, who
were a constant source of inspiration, ideas, critiques, and joy while I was there.
They taught and gave me more than I feel I ever offered them. And finally, I
thank my undergraduate students at Fresno State, especially the students in my
Fall 2012, English 160W course that make up much of Chapter 4, who often
needed to have a lot of faith in me and what I asked of them. I am grateful for
the labor and trust that each year my students give me and our classes. They are
why I do what I do, and what makes my career, research, and life possible. I learn
how to learn from them every year.
viii