High Stakes vs. Low Stakes Writing

Writing comes in various forms and is used throughout all college courses.   According to Wilbert J. McKeachie and Marilla Svinicki, authors ofMcKeachie’s Teaching Tips, high-stakes writing is a graded writing assignment that is required of students. In type of writing, students showcase their understanding of what they are learning.   Alternatively, McKeachie and Svinicki state that low-stakes writing is not graded, and its purpose is to explore content students are learning.  Since students already experience high-stakes writing in college, McKeachie and Svinicki encourage low-stakes writing because:

  • It involves students in what they are learning.
  • Multiple opportunities for low-stakes writing increases writing skills.
  • It helps student assign their own language and understanding to the content they are learning.
  • Low-stakes writing helps the professor learn students’ perspective, questions students have, and what the students understood.