The study investigated the relation between district culture, student achievement, and student attitudes about their schools. Perceptions of students as expressed in more than 2,000 essays written about their schools were explored. Seven cultural categories were examined for differences across grade levels and districts. Statistical differences…

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…

After reviewing results from the Nation's Report Card in Writing, this article presents data from a survey of Latino students, the largest ethnic group of students at Northeastern Illinois University. These data suggest that the Hispanic students at Northeastern are similar to their national Hispanic peers in several ways, such as the levels of…

The study was conducted to determine whether there is a relationship between the Coordinated School Health Program (CSHP) and student academic performance. Data were collected from schools and the community for three reports for 50 states and the District of Columbia (DC). The School Health Policies and Programs Survey (SHPPS), the National…

The teaching of highly valued scientific writing skills in the first year of university is challenging. This report describes the design, implementation, and evaluation of a novel written assignment, "The Personal Response" and accompanying Peer Review, in the course, Human Biology (BIOL1015) at The University of Queensland. These assignments were…

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of formulaic writing such as the five-paragraph theme (FPT) or essay for the purpose of earning high scores on high-stakes writing assessments. This qualitative descriptive study analyzed more than 1000 essays from Delaware Grade 8 and 10 writers, written for a statewide…

This survey research on National Writing Project (NWP) teachers and comparison teachers (N=35) in a southeastern state found that the NWP teachers wrote more than the comparison teachers did and that the participating teachers' writing was associated with students' achievement in writing. The pattern of the impact of writing life on achievement…

Improving students' writing achievement begins by creating a community of writers among teachers. These practices help staff learn more deeply.

It has been almost 30 years since the last systematic look at writing instruction in middle schools and high schools in the United States (Applebee, Writing). Since that report, there have been a number of significant changes in the contexts in which teachers teach and in which their students learn to write. Stretching back to the 1969-70 school…

Business undergraduates wrote unfavorable and persuasive letters either individually (121 controls) or in groups of 4 (92 experimentals). Analysis of variance tests revealed the group writing projects to be of higher quality, significantly for unfavorable letters. Both controls and experimentals wrote better persuasive letters than unfavorable…

A national literacy professional development project reduced the achievement gap for students experiencing difficulties in reading or writing in 91 of New Zealand's schools. It was based on two premises: coherence within and between the multiple levels of the schooling and educational administration systems, and a focus on evidence-informed…

The effects of a secondary academic intervention, embedded in the context of a positive behavior support model, on the writing of second-grade students at risk for emotional and behavioral disorder and writing problems were examined in this study. Students were taught how to plan and draft a story using the self-regulated strategy development…

This study explored the extent to which the reading-to-write construct is the sum of one's reading and writing abilities or an independent construct. The investigation included an analysis of (a) test tasks, (b) the relationship of test task scores and scores on reading and writing measures, and (c) the effects of proficiency level and educational…

This study examined student perspectives about writing by interviewing both typically developing and struggling writers in Grades 2 through 8. The findings revealed a progressive developmental pattern of writing knowledge in which novice writers place more emphasis on the physical product and local meaning, while more experienced writers focus on…