To determine the impact of Composition Aides (CA's)--aides hired to assist teachers in giving students increased writing practice--on student opportunity to write in the District of Columbia Schools, a study investigated the characteristics of CA's, their usefulness, and the amount of time they spent performing various activities. During May and…

A study assessed the effects of the Mason program (a supplementary language arts program in which expository writing is introduced) on writing skills, such as writing mechanics, expression, and related thinking skills. These skills were measured by standardized tests and by actual writing performance. Subjects, approximately 400 second grade…

Describes a British writing assessment project intended to discern age-specific characteristics of writing and the project's subsequent assessment model. Evaluates samples of two kinds of writing, autobiography and argument, using the model. (HTH)

A study examined the changing conceptions about the writing instruction of three teachers who participated in the Teachers College Writing Project. Three New York City elementary school teachers were selected from a larger sample of 10 teachers who participated in a larger study of the same project. The teachers were selected because they had…

A study examined three recent language arts textbook programs for grades one through six to determine the frequency of writing activities, the nature of the writing tasks, and the frequency of process-approach activities such as selecting topics, prewriting, sharing, revising, and publishing. The programs analyzed were Scott, Foresman's "Language:…

A study examined whether computers equipped with speech synthesis devices could facilitate children's writing. It was hypothesized that children using the devices would write longer stories, edit more, and produce higher quality stories than children not receiving feedback from a speech synthesizer. Subjects were 48 children, three girls and three…

A study investigated the effectiveness of the Success for All (SFA) program developed at Johns Hopkins University. The program emphasizes prevention of failure, personal tutoring, family-school program, and regular evaluation of student progress. In 1996, the program involved schools in northern Israel--Arabic and Jewish, religious and secular.…

This study examined the effectiveness of the first year of a project designed to support the use of computers to improve the writing skills of middle level students. Subjects, 2,285 students from all of the 16 school districts in Delaware, engaged in daily writing activities on computers using the process approach to writing. One teacher from each…

A study examined methods for helping students earn their Literacy Passport, mandated for all students by the Virginia Department of Education, prior to entering the ninth grade, beginning in grade 6. Teachers were trained at North Accomack Elementary School (Virginia) in the use and implementation of the writing process and in writing to a prompt.…