A two-part study intended to investigate what constitutes successful teacher response to student writing is described in this report. The described study consisted of a survey of response practices of 560 elementary and secondary school teachers who were among the most successful in their communities as judged by directors of the sites of the…

As part of a larger project, a ninth-grade class participated in a year-long exchange of writing with students in an inner-city London classroom. The larger project involved 10 San Francisco Bay Area sixth- through ninth-grade classes exchanging writing with nine inner-city London classes and a Swedish class. Students and teachers in each of the…

To gain insight into why students frequently misunderstand their teachers' written responses to compositions, this paper looks in depth at one promising ninth grade student's processing of teacher written comments in a response-rich classroom, considering the larger learning contexts that impinge on the student's interpretations. The various…

Discusses one student's persistence in misunderstanding her teacher's written comments on her papers. Notes that student and teacher bring different sets of information, skills, and values to each written response episode, and that mismatched expectations can occur even with high-achieving students. (SKC)