Sounds-Write is a systematic synthetic phonics approach that has been successfully used to teach students to read and spell for the last two decades. This volume brings together twelve case studies -- written by practitioners -- of implementation of the Sounds-Write programme in different settings and geographical contexts (Europe, US, Australia).…

The Italic Handwriting Series developed for public schools in Portland, Oregon, emphasizes a continuous flow in handwriting development and instruction and is designed to allow a more natural transition from print to cursive. Italic writing was first implemented during 1983-84 at the kindergarten through fourth-grade levels, with an additional…

A developmental writing program created for grades three through six is described in this paper. The first half of the paper describes the four-phase instructional model, which includes teacher-directed prewriting activities; successive drafts; editing by the writer, by peer editors, and by the instructor; and a publishing stage. The second half…

This booklet outlines procedures for evaluating a school district's writing program that was designed to overcome the adverse educational and social effects of minority group isolation by improving the academic achievement of minority group students. The first section describes how the writing program addressed three of the school district's…

This is the final report of the Using the Second "R" Project, which was designed to provide elementary school teachers in the Cleveland (Ohio) public schools with a kit of instructional strategies and evaluative instruments for use in the development of their students' creative writing skills. The report contains a narrative account of the needs…

In the Berkeley Unified School District, funds from the Emergency School Aid Act (ESAA) were used to establish programs in communication skills, particularly writing and motivation for writing, in schools with enrollments which were more than 50 percent minority. Perhaps the most impressive achievement of the program was an unintended side-effect:…

A study described the 1989-90 Chapter 1 Children's Art Carnival Creative Reading program, and assessed the effectiveness of its implementation. The program's primary purpose was to improve literacy through participation in creative arts activities coordinated with instruction in reading and writing. The program served 310 elementary school…

Reports the evaluation of the Right to Write Project, a program of the Burlington City Schools in Burlington, North Carolina. Results indicate that the program, serving 97 teachers and all students in fourth through ninth grades, had a significant effect on students' writing performance and their recognition of correctly written prose. (RH)

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…

During school year 1991-92, the Whole Language Network (WLN) expanded to include 90 teachers in grades kindergarten through six in three school districts participating in the New York City Board of Education's Comprehensive Instructional Management System-Communication Arts project. The Network assisted teachers in using the whole language…

To determine whether a comprehensive, cooperative learning approach can be used effectively in elementary reading and writing instruction, a study evaluated the Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition (CIRC) program. Experimental subjects, 11 third- and fourth-grade CIRC classes, worked in heterogeneous learning teams for all reading,…

This paper discusses monitoring the school literacy program. Teachers make many educational decisions about how reading and writing should be taught in the classroom. Some teachers makes these decisions intuitively, but a systematic process of monitoring is more effective. When teachers monitor the school's literacy program, they track the reading…

Describes how one school district integrated the use of word processing technology with its developmental writing program. Notes that findings of the pilot program indicated that students using word processors significantly improved the quality of their writing compared with students not using word processors. (MM)

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:…

Intended to help educators choose the most appropriate word processing products for elementary school writing instruction, this report provides extensive information on 12 word processor and 13 writing activity software products. A list of components, general descriptions, comments and evaluations are included for each product. The products…