Describes the writing evaluation of an 11th-grade English class in which precourse and postcourse samples are graded by a team of English teachers. (EL)

Uses complaints leveled against English teachers in l912 to support three points about the crisis in literacy: (1) the "writing crisis" is not new, (2) teaching basics will not solve crisis, and (3) solution to problem should be based on what is known about history and theory of composition instruction and about successful and unsuccessful methods…