Ruth Culham, Ed.D., is the president of The Culham Writing Company andformer Unit Manager of the Assessment Program at Northwest RegionalEducational Laboratory in Portland, Oregon. She is the recognizedexpert in the traits of the writing assessment field and author of 6+1 Traits of Writing: The Complete Guide, Grades 3 and Up (Scholastic, 2003) and 6+1 Traits of Writing: The Complete Guide for the Primary Grades(Scholastic, 2005) plus other trait-based resources. She creates andconducts teacher workshops, and designs internationalinstitutes for writing assessment and instruction.