A Proven, Research-Based Model for Improving Writing, Teaching, and Learning
For more than thirty years, the National Writing Project, through its network of university-based sites around the United States, has offered effective professional development programs to help schools improve writing instruction and student achievement and to develop educational leaders. NWP is the only federally funded education program that focuses on writing.
Research indicates that students whose teachers have participated in NWP programs show significant gains in writing performance. Click here to download a report on this research.
The NWP approach to professional development is based on core principles, which inform the programs that NWP sites, such as the Capital District Writing Project, develop for schools in their regions:
- Knowledge about the teaching of writing comes from many sources: theory and research, the analysis of practice, and the experience of writing. Effective professional development programs provide frequent and ongoing opportunities for teachers to write and to examine theory, research, and practice together systematically.
- Teachers who are well informed and effective in their practice can be successful teachers of other teachers as well as partners in educational research, development, and implementation. Collectively, teacher-leaders are our greatest resource for educational reform.
- Writing can and should be taught, not just assigned, at every grade level. Professional development programs should provide opportunities for teachers to work together to understand the full spectrum of writing development across grades and across subject areas.
- There is no single right approach to teaching writing; however, some practices prove to be more effective than others. A reflective and informed community of practice is in the best position to design and develop comprehensive writing programs.
On the basis of these principles, NWP sites such as the Capital District Writing Project design and implement inservice and related professional development programs specifically for local schools and districts. These programs support and develop the expertise of teachers in those schools and districts so that they are better able to meet the unique educational challenges facing them.
The National Writing Project has been called “an exemplar of an educational improvement infrastructure.” (See investing in improvement of education_lessons from NWP, 2008.)
