According to recent studies, over half of students in 4th, 8th, and 12th grades lack the ability to write proficiently on standardized writing assessments. Revealed in recent studies is that many students enter college and are unable to write at the college level, as well as enter the workforce lacking writing skills. The problem is that most…

The mixed methods study examined effects of evidence-based minilessons on student attitudes and achievement in writing. Researched literature concluded there is a decline of writing in the United States that mostly begins near fourth grade and continues through high school and college. Factors contributing to this gap included: lack of teacher…

Emergent bilingual students in the U.S. often attend English-medium schools where their bilingual language resources are ignored and dismissed. Research suggests this is harmful for students, but little empirical work has examined how teachers in English-dominant schools can support students' biliteracy. To address this problem, this qualitative…

The Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects (CCSS) emphasize the importance of writing and specify that students should write for external, and, at times, unfamiliar audiences. Given the relationship between audience specification and quality writing in older…

In the early years of students' education, the foundation of writing makes a substantial impact on their writing ability as lifelong writers. G.W. Brooks ("Teachers as Readers and Writers and as Teachers of Reading and Writing," 2007) noted that teachers' perception of their own writing impacts their teaching of writing. Therefore, teachers must…