An action research project developed a program for improving writing skills. The targeted population consisted of second through fifth grade students in two districts in growing middle to upper class communities, located in suburbs southwest of Chicago. The need for improving writing skills was evidenced by classroom teacher observations,…

The data gathered for this study supported the hypothesis that first grade students can revise and edit original writing projects without experiencing any significant loss in motivation. This hypothesis was confirmed after the students had finished writing and revising three original stories while utilizing three separate revision strategies. The…

To link writing assessment more closely to writing pedagogy, a project added a process instrument--a self-evaluation or "postwrite"--to a formal holistic writing assessment. Subjects were 348 freshman composition students at Goucher College. The postwrite asked students, after they had finished writing an essay, to answer four questions…

A study determined how exposure to learning writing as process through writing workshops would affect the attitudes of fifth grade students. Subjects had no experience with writing as process. At the outset of the school year, the participants, 23 fifth-grade students in a northeastern New Jersey school, were administered the "Emig-King…

A study (part of the New Zealand Writing Project) investigated how teachers respond effectively to their students' writing. Several related issues were investigated, including whether "good" teachers of writing at various levels differ in approach and techniques used, and which practices bring about improvement at different ages.…

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 investigated the effectiveness of a program for increasing students' abilities to self-assess writing. The targeted population consisted of a class of second-grade students in an upwardly mobile community located in the suburban Chicago area of Arlington Heights, Illinois. The inability to self-assess writing was documented through teacher…

A study investigated the effectiveness of an adapted Writing to Read (WTR) program that focused on the writing process and included the "Stories and More" software for literature-based emphasis. Over 1000 writing portfolio samples were collected from kindergarten through second grade students in 29 classrooms in 6 California school…

An action research project addressed the problem of inadequate student knowledge of writing strategies and students' negative attitudes toward the writing process. The targeted population consisted of early childhood, first grade, and third grade students in two growing, lower/middle class communities located in the western suburbs of a large…

A study focused on the problems of poor performance in classroom assignments and state-wide writing assessments of middle grade students in the practicum setting. The goals of the practicum plan were: (1) to improve teacher competency in the steps of the writing process; (2) to improve student attitudes about writing; and (3) to improve writing…