A practicum was developed to address deficiencies in students' writing skills. The program goals were to assess the students' abilities to use prewriting strategies, to use supportive elements in writing, and to evaluate students' progress using pre- and post-attitude surveys and writing samples. The target group was 20 eighth-grade journalism students with mixed socio-economic backgrounds, During the 12-week implementation period, journalistic skills geared towards producing an issue of the school newspaper were the focal point of the students' writing efforts. Students worked individually and in small groups to complete activities which focused on writing skills at the prewriting stage. Evaluation of the effectiveness of the program included analyses of data, a comparison of the writing samples using the rubric designed by the Florida Writing Assessment program, and attitudinal surveys completed by the students. Results indicated improvements in writing skills achievement and attitudes. Three tables of data are included; the Florida Writing Assessment rubric, survey instruments, pre- and posttests, and an editorial chart are attached. Contains 17 references. (Author/RS)