Writing Assessment Services

Student, Parent, and Professional Reviews

I know there are a lot of comments below, but I am proud of every one of them, the fruit of almost a decade of serving clients online. The first section includes reviews from the past four years, the second section comments from clients over my first six years online.

Comments 2002 – 2005

From Tutors and Other Professionals

Please see this link for a nice review by Heidi Shaw in The Old Schoolhouse: The Magazine for Homeschool Families : http://www.thehomeschoolmagazine.com/reviews/reviews.php?rid=1097

“Thank you for your fine work! You really fill a crucial niche for the online tutorials. I'll keep sending people your direction! All I hear is radiant rounds of applause and appreciation. Keep up the good work!” Norm Lund, Oxford Tutorials

“Your material is the best I’ve seen so far.” “Thank you for your cutting edge work in this area. “ Headmasters of two different Classical Christian schools

From Students

“Y'all, I just finished the Mid-term exam a few minutes ago, and I just wanted to say this Progym stuff really is so helpful. While answering the . . . essay questions I noticed that things were going smoother, faster, and my writing quality was better. I realised that it was because I had all the stuff I have learned in this class to help me! I was unconsciously using Progym essay patterns, and it was making the end result so so so much better. Has anybody else experienced this? Thanks Mrs. Marsch! <G>” Student commenting on the message board for my Great Books Writing Workshop

“The evaluations have been wonderful. They’ve helped me very much.” Student whose older brother had the “whoops of joy”(see far below) in an earlier year’s evaluations

From Parents

“The Progymnasmata: Preliminary Rhetoric Exercises Part One was enlightening, fun to read and made the whole idea of classical composition less intimidating for me. At last I understand why students need to know what a metaphor is or how to write an anecdote . . .[U]ntil reading your handbook didn't see them as a means to enhance one's persuasive writing. You helped me see The Point and for that, I am so grateful. Thank you! . . . That you do this for a ministry shines through your work in its quality and in the generous quantity of practical help and insight you share with those of us who are trying to teach our children to write effectively.” Homeschooling Mom

“I wanted you to know that my daughter H. just received her PSAT scores. . . In writing skills she scored in the 99th percentile. . . Hope told me that your correcting her writing was a big help. . . [S]he remembered many of the things in question were areas you had addressed in her writing. . . . We are very grateful for the services you provide.” Homeschooling Mom

“I cannot thank you enough for your instruction and your assessment. I believe that your class was just the bridge between "mom" and "college professor" that R. needed. I believe that you forced B. to see that composition cannot always be writing about what you feel like writing about, and that there are literary rules. My kids are better off for having had this semester with you.” Mom of students in a local writing class

“All of these [lectures—“Use of Imitation in Writing,” “The Progymnasmata,” and “Evaluating Composition”] are really helpful. Cindy knows her stuff. Everyone teaching writing would do well to listen to these three. . . . I highly recommend these three tapes.” Homeschooling Mom on the Well Trained Mind message board, commenting on tapes of my talks at the CiRCE Conference 2002

“Thank you so much for your reply and for your evaluation of S’s first paper. I really appreciate your positive and often funny comments mixed in with all the helpful, concrete advice. I was worried your evaluation would be rough on an eighth grader, but you had the perfect touch with S. and keyed into right where she was at in her ability somehow. You’re a great evaluator and I thank you for your care.” Homeschooling Mom

“Thank you for your honest comments which are always unarguably correct; we appreciate the time you take to make constructive criticisms. Of course, the compliments make for even better reading! :)” Homeschooling mom who organizes a local writing class to order evaluations of their work together

Comments 1996 – 2002

From Tutors and Other Professionals

"Your work with my Great Books students this year has been invaluable! You've provided the depth in your critiques of the student papers and in your careful comments that makes all the difference for those who are looking for serious writing guidance. Your service is a wonderful complement to the discussion focus of the Great Books Tutorials, and I very much appreciate you making your service available to my students and their families. Thank you so much for your work with them this year!" Wes Callihan, Schola Tutorials

"Thank you for your good work- it is a great help to me!" Fritz Hinrichs, Escondido Tutorial Service

"Thanks so much for your balanced and helpful remarks on the IEW and Writing Strands programs. Would it be all right for me to post them on our bulletin board? I do think IEW could be a great tool for co-ops, and I'd like to make that known." Susan Wise Bauer, co-author of The Well Trained Mind

"Cindy Marsch's Writing Assessment Services provides a wonderful service -- in-depth critique of student papers at an affordable rate." Favorite Links page of www.welltrainedmind.com (Susan Wise Bauer)

"I reviewed your samples and I must say that you are *very* good at what you do! I am impressed. I would like to offer my students your services." Paul Herrick, Classical E Academy

Great Books and Other Tutorials Paper Evaluations

From Parents
"I can't thank you enough for your constructive comments in evaluating L and B's work. You are helping them progress from superficial to more thoughtful writing..."

"Thanks for your evaluation of T's paper. Once again, you reinforced (sometimes in the exact words I had used) what I thought of his paper. You really are wonderful! ;-)" (And regarding another student in that family, whose paper is among those in Noteworthy Papers from 2001-2002 Students ...) "I must tell you that your evaluation (a grade of 'A') was met by leaps of joy (literally) and whoops of 'Wow! Wow!' Such is the esteem with which your opinion is held around here. :-) "

"I just wanted to thank you for correcting Francis's paper and for your valuable input. It's so very much appreciated. I thank Fritz (and) Christy (Hinrichs, of Escondido Tutorial Service), and you for helping Francis achieve excellence in writing."

Most valuable part of the evaluations service? "Your concise comments provide another wording, with better precision, than I can, and reinforces the skills I am trying to teach.
Least valuable? "Everything we have received has been valuable. Thank you for your work on B! You are helping to train up a godly, articulate generation. Don't grow weary in this wonderful work!"

"The most valuable part of this service to this mom is stress relief!!! :-] You are encouraging C toward excellence in an area in which I am ill equipped! Thank you for your excellent services!"

"By far, the most value we've received from your service has been a professional view of T's writing. As a homeschooler with one child, I tend to get myself into a box...where I can't see the forest for the trees and have no idea how we are really doing. I now know more about T's writing, my abilities, and what needs to happen. Thanks."

"You do a really good job and are very thorough. Your use of examples or your own reworking of problem areas was excellent. So overall I give you an A+ :-) "

"Your evaluations of D's papers have been VERY helpful. At fifteen, D is not fond of receiving comments on his work from me. Yours, however, are hitting the mark. He told me...that he needed to thank you for helping him. He feels like your comments give him something he can work on."

"My turn to say thanks for your kind words and encouragement. It has been a pleasure to work with you. Right now J is slowly working his way through the History of the Peloponnesian War. He is just about finished and soon will be tackling another paper. How do you feel about doing assessments for the Great Books II assignments? I'm counting on your services."

From Students
"Thank you so much for grading my papers these past few years. I have learned so much from your corrections. Writing has never been my strong subject, but I appreciate your patience with me. :) This is my last year with Schola...I am going to college this coming fall so I guess this will be the last paper I send you. :( Thanks again for all your work!"

"First I just want to thank you for your work in grading our papers. I think you do a great job... I think you are very fair and good on your grading. Writing has never been one of my good spots. :-) "

"Thank you for your help with my writing this year. I'm not sure whether I improved much, but at least I can recognize when my writing is bad now :) I've read and re-read your 'PEP talk' paper many, many times... What helped most of all for me were some of the tips on grammar and style, like making the verbs active and stronger. Also re-reading it reminded me to stay in one tense. I guess I didn't realize before how big a difference verb conjugations can make in a paper. I think going over it before starting my papers helped me to get mentally prepared for writing... I'm going to work with my mom over the summer doing some exercises to help me improve and eventually I hope to be able to write a paper with much less dread."

General Comments from Parents

"Cindy, just to thank you for an accessible way to enter the land of the progym (with the new "Progym: Classical Writing Workouts")... which up until a couple of months ago, was unfamiliar to me and my husband. It is so overwhelming sometimes to learn about something new and feel so inadequate to teach it or learn it well enough to share with my boys. I have a post-graduate degree in Painting and I love to read, but I am pioneering for my family... and want so much more for my children and ourselves."

(Also on the new "Progym: Classical Writing Workouts") "I do like the workbook format; it is easy to read and walks you through the process in small chunks. I know for myself, when I have some familiarity with something but may not fully understand or feel very comfortable with it, it is easier for me to use if it is broken down in smaller parts. I think you have done that very well and it will be very useful for someone very new to the progym.... As hard as we try, I am finding that because I was not classically educated myself, I cannot be an expert in every area that I am attempting to teach. Your workbook would be of great assistance to me in an area that I am not an expert in!"

(On a message board, addressed to a parent-educator) "YES! YES! Check out Cindy's services. I had always thought that my children would not have been prepared well enough to benefit from Cindy's tutorials. But, as with many of my 'classical' discoveries, I am finding the ("The Progymnasmata: Preliminary Rhetoric Exercises" tutorial) exercises to be very profitable with my 14yo ds, and actually easier to work with than other 'helter-skelter' approaches I had tried with our older children. Thanks, Cindy, for your offerings."

"I've been meaning to write and say thank you for the SL class ("The Scarlet Letter: A New Look" tutorial). It was a little bit of a stretch for S---- which is good. She learned a lot. I'm really glad that she had the opportunity to do this. As we have continued in her Literature book this week, she noticed that the questions are easier to answer now after having experienced the interaction in this class."

"I do so appreciate the comments you made on J's writing this year. It is so hard for me to be objective with my own children's writing. I like the way you make corrections and yet affirm what is good. I have also enjoyed perusing your website and hope to use it to improve writing instruction for the rest of my children."

"I was badly in need of some feedback concerning his writing and when you sent his first evaluation back, I was so happy I could hardly sleep. No kidding. Your evaluations encouraged me greatly. I had not done any formal teaching of essay writing, but he did read...many...books of worth. Just wanted to let you know you made my day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

General Comments from Students

" I wanted to let you know that I got my test scores for my English AP's just a few days ago. I got a five on both tests! Thank you for all your help!"

"Thank you for the course....You have a gift for explaining composition. I always found grammar difficult to apply. I have a long way to go but I am well on my way....I will keep an eye out for more of your courses."

Comments on "Grammar and Composition for Real People"

"The text is the best. THE BEST. I own On Writing Well, Make Your Words Work, Strunk and White, and several others. The Write Way combines nuts and bolts teaching with an engaging style. I loved it."

"I enjoyed the assignments and found them challenging.... The book was very easy to understand and I plan to use it as a reference book for my future newsletters."

What did you especially like about the course you took? "It was self-study; the instructor had a sense of humor, and her evaluations were prompt and precise. The course was time well spent. I truly feel that I have learned something."

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Cindy Marsch / Writing Assessment Services / CMarsch786@aol.com / revised June 2005