Provides an overview of the Portfolio Placement Project (PPP) at the University of Arizona; explores the concept of validity as it relates to the PPP; explores the concept of reliability within the PPP; and argues that the PPP has had enormous positive impact on the curriculum of the University of Arizona and the schools whose students submit…

Presents two educators' stories: one that illustrates the Writing Program Administrator's need for improvisation when faced with pre-existing forms of hiring rationales, and another that considers how the required teacher preparation course may actually contribute to the instability of the writing program. (SG)

Examines the relationship between the foremost writing program director at a college or university and the writing center director. Compares the nature and status of the two positions and the background of the people who hold them. Finds program directors enjoy a more privileged place in institutional structures and that the professionalization of…

Presents research that demonstrates how local institutional practices can preclude benefits of portfolio evaluation. Finds that communal portfolio assessment shifts the primary site of authority negotiation for new composition teachers (teaching assistants) from their relationships with students to their relationships with their more experienced…

Finds that 10 students with experience tutoring at the Writing Center felt that this experience improved their classroom teaching, helping them understand the practical implications of student-centered theory and making them more committed to practicing it in the classroom. Offers two case studies showing how one-to-one teaching in the Writing…