Preliminary Report on Writing Instruction in America’s Schools Reveals Persistent Patterns of Instruction and Performance
The National
Study of Writing Instruction has released a report
that paints a portrait of writing instruction in
U.S. middle and high schools over the last decade.
A reanalysis of existing NAEP data bases shows that:
•
Student writing
achievement has held steady across the years, as
has the gap between higher and lower SES
students and between Whites and Black or
Hispanic students;
•
The decade saw an increase
in emphasis on writing and the teaching of
writing, both in English classes as well as
across the curriculum, although that emphasis
may already have peaked and be on the decline;
•
Students still spend
little time each week on writing, in particular,
on the kind of extended writing required for
success in higher education.
