"How do I know if a student is intentionally writing poorly at the beginning of the semester and then writing up to his/her level at the end of the semester to make it seem that he/she has improved/learned?"

Almost nothing gets by students; therefore, many students (after learning one of the key principles of the LRO — development/improvement) may intentionally write very poorly at the beginning of the semester and slowly (or quickly) improve their writing, as to receive a higher grade.

There are two ways to help prevent this problem:

Because most students will think of this anyway, tell them that you have already thought of this and remind them that it is takes as much work to fake or lie.

Tell students (and follow through with it) that you look at all of their work and all parts of the LRO which gives you a strong foundation on which to base your assessment and evaluation. If a student is a strong writer, it will show in other strands of work (peer reviews, group work, etc.) .

Finally, remind students of the grading scale and, that in order to achieve an A or B, work has to be consistently of high quality.