Writeiq's marking framework, IWAF, is built on decades of writing-assessment research. This page sets out the methodology, the theoretical underpinnings, the trial programme, and the work in progress to publish the framework formally.
IWAF is a seven-dimension rubric for assessing extended writing across Years 3 to 12, developed by trained assessors and leading educators across Australia's government and independent school sectors. The dimensions are Voice, Structure, Cohesion, Vocabulary, Sentence Craft, Text Structure, and Conventions. Each is scored on a four-band scale - Emerging, Developing, Consolidating, Extending - against year-level-appropriate descriptors. Across nine years of schooling, the framework is the same; the descriptors that bind it to a year level change. That's how a single methodology can answer "is this a strong piece for a Year 4 writer" and "is this a strong piece for a Year 11 writer" in the same vocabulary.
IWAF 3.0 (the current version, calibrated April 2026) sets band thresholds at 0.31 / 0.56 / 0.80 against the maximum criterion score - the boundaries where mastery research and standard-setting procedure converge.
IWAF is not an opinion about writing. It is a synthesis of established assessment and instructional research, made operable for everyday classroom use.
The 0.80 threshold for Extending follows mastery-learning research from Bloom (1968) onward, refined through Guskey's school-implementation work and the Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO) mastery framing. 80% is where consistent, transferable competence begins.
The Text Structure dimension draws on the Sydney School genre tradition (Martin, Rothery, Christie) and Systemic Functional Linguistics. Different writing purposes have different shapes; the rubric reflects this rather than treating "structure" as a single skill.
Hattie & Timberley's "Where am I going / How am I going / Where to next" framing shapes the per-piece feedback structure: each marked piece returns a band, evidence, and one explicit next-step focus. Feedback is forward-looking by design.
Pearson & Gallagher's GRR model (1983, refined since) underpins the auto-generated lesson plans: I do, We do, You do. Every marked submission produces a lesson plan ready to teach against the patterns the cohort actually showed.
Rosenshine's Principles of Instruction shape the way the marker writes growth feedback: small, specific next steps the student can practise and the teacher can model. No generic "develop your ideas further" advice.
A full bibliography accompanies the IWAF methodology paper (in preparation). The references below are the load-bearing ones.
A marker is only as good as its agreement with informed human judgement. The trial programme runs in two complementary tracks - school-based field trials and a formal standard-setting study - that together establish how Writeiq performs across the writing schools actually do.
Schools running Writeiq through a complete assessment cycle, with their teachers double-marking a representative sample. The headline metric is exact-band agreement: how often the Writeiq band matches the teacher band, criterion by criterion. Trial sites are confirmed in the Ballarat High School pilot (target start: Term 2 2026, end of Term 2). A design validation partner runs continuous validation across both primary and secondary year levels.
A standard-setting study using the ACER Body of Work method - an established procedure in which expert markers review anchor pieces and agree on the band boundaries before any Writeiq scores are consulted. Run in Term 3 2026, the study produces a defensible empirical basis for the IWAF band thresholds at every year level.
An honest research page sets out what an instrument can do and what it cannot. The list below applies to Writeiq as it ships in 2026.
If you'd like to read the methodology in full, see anonymised trial data, or explore a research collaboration, we're happy to share. The IWAF whitepaper is in preparation; an early-access PDF is available on request to school leaders evaluating the platform.
hello@edsthetic.com.au · reference "IWAF research enquiry" in the subject line and we'll get back to you within two business days.