When used as a diagnostic tool, assessments provide a window into students' patterns of thinking and processing information, allowing teachers to target and differentiate their instruction to address weaknesses. Susan Koehler gives teachers of grades three through eight the convenient tools they need to conduct purposeful writing assessment based on multiple-choice practice within the three major areas of writing: focus and organization, style and composition, and conventions and mechanics. Each of the 15 skill sets has one assessment for pre-testing and one for determining student mastery of the specific skill. This valuable supplemental tool is complete with answer keys, re-teaching strategies, a bibliography of professional resources that address each skill set, and a complete cross-index of literature models. Use Purposeful Writing Assessment to: Inform, target, and differentiate your instruction before and after you explicitly teach writing; Choose literature models that demonstrate the effective application of writing-craft skills that students can apply to their own writing; Provide practice with test-taking strategies and prepare for standardized, multiple-choice assessments; and Improve students' knowledge of writing, reading comprehension, and literary skills. Purposeful Writing Assessment moves teachers one step closer toward the ultimate goal in the teaching of writing: to produce students who can think critically, comprehend written language, and communicate effectively through writing.