Writing in its many forms is the signature means of communication in the 21st century. This simple truth heightens the urgency to help all of our nation's students become strong writers and effective communicators. The National Writing Project (NWP) pursues this goal by focusing the knowledge, expertise, and leadership of the nation's educators on…

Problem Statement: While gender as a variable is a significant research and discussion area in foreign language learning, computers are not only common tools in EFL writing classes but also a research subject in foreign language learning. Previous research indicates that female learners have negative attitudes on writing on computers and there…

Teachers are coming to understand the value of using a student's interests, habits, and questions as a starting point for instruction. In this article, Skinner introduces "Teenage Addiction," a voluntary seventh-grade after-school writing/popular culture club that helped students view popular culture through a critical lens and then write about…

This report describes student performance in third grade Reading Comprehension and fourth grade Reading and Writing from the spring 1998 administration of the Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP). In this second administration of CSAP, all third and fourth grade students in Colorado were accounted for. The report provides policymakers,…

This study used evidence from the 1996 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in mathematics and the 1998 NAEP main assessments in reading and writing to examine patterns of computer use and academic achievement in each of these three academic domains. It is concluded that the design of the NAEP data collection precludes using such…

This paper is intended to contribute to the debate about how to raise standards of literacy. It summarizes early evidence from HMI (Her Majesty's Inspectors) about the teaching of writing within the National Literacy Strategy and exemplifies good practice in the schools inspected by HMI. In some respects it breaks with tradition in quoting…

Technical education students need to realize high expectations and goals in writing. They have a plethora of purposes to be good communicators in written endeavors. This paper first outlines the reasons why they need to be careful with written communications, and then lists some of the purposes for which their communications are written. The paper…

This handbook gives teachers, reading specialists, administrators, or students concise, up-to-date information on the most popular assessment and evaluation tools in literacy. This second edition retains many of the tools reviewed in the first edition and adds 12 new tools. The first section reviews 24 tools that are teacher-made. The second…

The intent of the Washington State Writing Framework is to provide support for the development of writing benchmarks and instructional guidelines for individual school districts. The purpose of the writing framework is: to provide grade by grade overview of the Essential Academic Learning Requirements in writing; to complement the frameworks for…

Compares writing performance of Anglo American and Navajo students in grades 7 and 11 by gender and ethnicity. Finds, for example, that Navajo female students' writing is longer and more expressive than that of Navajo males. (Contains 40 references.) (PKP)

Discusses Linda Sue Park, the 2002 Newbery Medal winner, and includes excerpts of an interview with her. Notes that her diverse writing career began at an early age. Discusses writing Korean "historicals" and researching her other books. Identifies mentors as an important characteristic of both her life and work. (PM)

Examines intermediate grade students' intraindividual differences across different levels or units of written language in sequencing the elements of written language. Finds that performance at the word level does not predict performance at the sentence or paragraph levels and that performance at the sentence level does not predict performance at…

This 3-year study, with 150 deaf children, found that 2 sets of 4 tests accounted for 64 percent of variance in both reading and writing skills for subjects with deaf parents. For subjects with hearing parents, five tests accounted for 77 percent of variance in reading, but only two tests accounted for 49 percent of variance in writing. (DB)

Describes the Writing Center at Washtenaw Community College (Michigan). Asserts that a writing center staffed by English/writing faculty offers advantages in comparison to a tutorial facility in a separate learning center. (5 references.) (SL)

Presents the guide used by scorers of fourth-grade narrative writing from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in 1998, samples of students responses at each of the six levels of performance, and a discussion of the scoring method. (Author/SLD)