What's with the GWR?

Crossing off all the course requirements prior to graduation – somewhere between the upper division electives and the General Education Area C – all Cal Poly students know they have to deal with those three little letters: GWR. The GWR, Graduate Writing Requirement, applies to all majors and all students at California State University campuses.

Since 1976, the CSU system has imposed a test to demonstrate a student’s proficiency in writing prior to graduation. The GWR allows two options for students looking to meet the requirement. Students can either pass a one-time Writing Proficiency Exam (WPE) offered once a quarter or enroll in a GWR approved course, where they will need to write a proficient in-class essay and receive a C grade or better for the duration of the course.

“Generally speaking, pass rate for the Writing Proficiency Exam is about 70 percent at Cal Poly,” said Mary Kay Harrington, director of the Writing Skills Center. “Although there are some fluctuations, the pass rate has been about the same every quarter for the 15 years I have worked here; the bulk of those that pass the test pass with a score of eight.”

An eight on the 12 point system is the lowest passing score. Failing essays are deemed inadequate in one or more of the criteria: comprehension, organization, development and expression.

Cal Poly students are split down the middle with roughly half fulfilling their requirement with the WPE and the other with the course option.

The CSU Board of Trustees implemented the GWR in response to a complaint by the professional world that most graduates were not displaying a satisfactory level when it came to writing in the work force.

“Our feedback currently is still that we have poor writers graduating Cal Poly; we need to have writing across the curriculum, (and) every discipline has different writing needs” Harrington said.

Each year the GWR coordinators from the CSU system get together to discuss how to help their students improve their writing.

“The CSU system could do more to encourage better writing with more classes dedicated to it, that is usually a discussion we have at our meetings,” Harrington said. “Often, the responsibility falls onto the English teachers when it should be on all of us to teach it within all fields.”

Students who fail their WPE are offered a free 30-minute counseling session with someone in the Writing Skills Center to review their essay; many students do not take the opportunity for the extra help, Harrington said. Students receive the notification about the counseling sessions along with their score sheet in the mail.

“I think that this requirement is fair; if you cannot pass the test you shouldn’t be able to graduate,” civil engineering senior Ian Johnson said.

“If you take all the classes you need to graduate and pass them, that should be enough; there should not be an extra requirement,” animal science senior Mae Richie said.

Although there are many GWR approved courses that also count for general education, students who fill the Area C4 requirement in other ways, either through transfer or study abroad, may find themselves having to take an extra test or class. Campus policy will not allow course work from a non-CSU campus to fulfill the GWR at Cal Poly.

“There is no writing requirement after freshman year; it is important to make sure students are exiting with the necessary writing skills because there is a big gap between freshman year and graduation,” said Emily Greenslate, an English graduate currently working towards obtaining her teaching credential. “A lot of students have trouble with the test. It’s not just the technical people, it makes sense to test the writing proficiency of a student regardless of what their major is.”

“I think that some students will be able to pass the WPE without being all-around adequate writers,” said mechanical engineering senior Paul Telford, who took the WPE this quarter.

The WPE is graded holistically by two faculty members from any department on campus on terms of how well a student was able to convey and express their ideas effectively.

“Just about every dean on campus has been a reader for the GWR. I have a math faculty who are some of my most consistent readers, doing it every quarter for years,” Harrington said.

The Writing Skills Center offers student review writing workshops several times a quarter and in the days prior to the WPE each quarter for students to review grammar and writing structures that will help them pass the test.

“The review workshops only gets someone so far; there are so many resources available in the Writing Skills Center, like practice prompts, if you go over these you may not feel as stressed to take the WPE,” said Dennis Brand, an English graduate student and Writing Skills Center tutor.

Students who take the second option and enroll in a GWR certified course may have more than one chance to write a proficient in-class essay throughout the quarter. The majority of GWR classes are in accordance with the Area C4 requirement and several can also count for the United States Cultural Pluralism (USCP) course.

The Writing Skills Center has an extensive Web site with sample graded essays and tips to help students prepare for the WPE or the in-class essays. The WPE is not available summer quarter, the next time to take it is early in the fall.