This conference proceedings reflects the substance of the 3-day Conference on Written Communication, sponsored by the Ohio Department of Education and designed to provide professional growth opportunities for more than 350 school administrators, teachers, and university and state department personnel. The papers in the proceedings present a review of current theory and research and provide suggestions for practical application. Papers in the proceedings are: "Can Children Plan?" (Marlene Scardamalia); "Assessment of the Chicago Area Writing Project" (Betty Jane Wagner); "Stories: A Prelude to Writing" (Victor M. Rentel); "Children's Literature: An Impetus to Composition" (John Warren Stewig); "The Ohio Writing Project: Training Professional Teachers of Writing" (Mary Hayes);"WRITING-into, out of, beyond LITERATURE" (Nancy Kersell); "Ohio Writing Project Community Based Writing" (E. Ann Johnson); "Revise before Editing" (Paul Eschholz); "'Skills'--Do They Exist?" (John Downing); "Contexts for Writing" (Martha L. King); "The Process of Writing" (Christine San Jose); "Business Writing: Observations and Implications for Teaching Composition" (Lee Odell); "Early Development into Writing: Observing and Responding to Children's Language Behavior" (Barbara S. Pettegrew and Christine C. Pappas); "Using Children's Literature as a Springboard to Writing" (Mary Lou White); "Reading, Writing, and Thinking in Secondary Schools" (T. Stevenson Hansell); and "Rewriting Prewriting" (Kevin C. McHugh). The agenda for the conference is attached. (RS)