Building on previous support from the National Writing Project and the College Board, a grant from the Spencer Foundation is enabling Distinguished Professor Arthur Applebee and Distinguished Professor Judith Langer, both in the Department of Educational Theory and Practice, to examine the state of writing instruction in middle and high schools across the United States. During the first year, they reanalyzed existing national databases to develop an overall portrait of writing instruction and to identify regional differences and differential distribution of writing activities and writing instruction across demographic subgroups. This work resulted in an initial portrait of equality/inequality in opportunities to learn to write.

The research team is now examining in depth how writing is incorporated into each of the major academic subject areas, the cumulative experiences of individual students learning to write, and the contextual factors that support or inhibit effective opportunities for students to learn to write well in their secondary school coursework.