The authors used multiple-group structural equation modeling to analyze structural relationships between latent factors underlying separate measures of handwriting, spelling, and composing in Grades 1-6. For compositional fluency, the paths from both handwriting and spelling were significant in the primary grades, but only the path from handwriting was significant in the intermediate grades. For compositional quality, only the path from handwriting was significant at the primary and intermediate grades. The contribution of spelling to compositional quality was indirect through its correlation with handwriting. Handwriting and spelling accounted for a sizable proportion of the variance in compositional fluency (41 % to 66%) and compositional quality (25% to 42%). These findings show that the mechanical skills of writing may exert constraints on amount and quality of composing. Theoretical and educational implications of the findings are discussed.Mechanical requirements for producing text have been hypothesized to contribute to individual differences in writing performance in several important ways (Berninger et al., 1992;Graham, 1990;Scardamalia, Bereiter, & Goleman, 1982). For persons who have not yet mastered the mechanics of writing, having to attend to the lower level skills of getting language onto paper may "tax" a writer's processing capacity in working memory, interfering with higher order skills such as planning and content generation. Having to switch attention during composing to mechanical demands, such as figuring out how to spell a word, may lead the writer to forget already developed ideas and plans. Simultaneously allocating attention to mechanical concerns while trying to plan the next unit of text may further interfere with the planning process, affecting the complexity and coherence of content integration. If attention is occupied with mechanical concerns, the writer may also have less opportunity to make expressions more precisely fit intentions at the point of translation. Finally, the writer's fluency with handwriting (or typing) may not be fast enough to keep up with his or her thoughts, interfering with content generation and recall of ideas or text already planned and held in working memory. However, the empirical research on the relationship between the mechanics of production and the composing process has yielded mixed results, depending on age and

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Process assessment, which is directed toward identifying why a child's writing achievement is discrepant from IQ, is contrasted with product assessment, which is directed toward measuring the amount of discrepancy between writing achievement and IQ. Whereas process assessment is theory based, product assessment is not. The theoretical model underlying a research program designed to validate process measures for writing assessment is described. An overview of the findings of that research, in which 300 primary grade, 300 intermediate grade, and 288 junior high students participated, is provided. The implications of the findings for the model and for the assessment of writing disabilities by school psychologists are discussed.