) (TOWL-3) (Hammill & Larsen, 1996) assesses written English-language proficiency of individuals or groups of students. According to the authors, the TOWL-3 was developed to help professionals identify students who have difficulty with written expression/record students' strengths and weaknesses, and monitor improvement and growth in writing abilities (Collum & Yarger, 1996). .
The TOWL-3 is divided into eight subsets. It is a norm-referenced battery of test designed to be used with children ages 7 to 17 years 11 months. There are two formats spontaneous and contrived. Each format has three components, conceptual, linguistic and cognitive. There are 18 to 28 items on the contrived subtests and 11 to 14 items on the spontaneous story-writing portions. Testing materials that are included are an examiner's manual, profile / story scoring forms, and two sets of response booklets, forms A and B. The examiner's manual outlines former editions of the TOWL published in 1978, 1983, and 1988. It comprehensively describes the foundations of written-language evaluation and procedures for administering, scoring, and interpreting the TOWL-3 (Collum & Yarger, 1996). It also explains reliability, validity and norming information.
The TOWL-3 can be administered in groups or individually. When a person makes three consecutive errors a ceiling has been reached. When administered to a group of students, the examiner begins with item one and ends the test when a majority of students attain the ceiling (Collum & Yarger, 1996). Reliability is difficult to establish when assessing student-created essays (Collum & Yarger, 1996). Yet, seven of the eight subtests met the recommended coefficient alpha for reliability at 8.0 or above (Collum & Yarger, 1996) with the subtest "contextual conventions" averaging 7.0 (Collum & Yarger, 1996). The authors strongly recommended that scorers create ample opportunities for practice and clearly understand the guidelines provided in the examiner's manual before actually administering and scoring the TOWL-3 (Collum & Yarger, 1996).