Research-based Policy Statements on Writing

• Writing is a process that occurs across time and employs a set of strategies.  These include prewriting or invention, drafting, revision, and editing, which are recursive and essential.  Timed writing tests can truncate or distort the process of writing.
(Emig, 1971; Perl, 1979; Sommers, 1980)

• Students whose teachers have special training in writing instruction perform significantly better than those with untrained teachers.
(Pritchard & Marshall, 1994)

• Writing fosters learning in all disciplines.  It is a tool for thinking, which makes it integral to every subject at every scholastic level.  Skill in writing is developed and refined through practice, which means students should have frequent opportunities to write across the curriculum.
(Emig, 1977; Langer, 2001)

• High-stakes testing can shift instruction away from feedback and revision aspects of writing, thereby leading to a reductive approach to writing.
 (Ketter and Pool, 2001; Scherff and Piazza, 2005)

• Even with a valid rubric, the interpretation of individual evaluators shapes the evaluation of writing.  Moreover, there is a disjunction between what is good for large-scale assessment and what is good for teaching writing.
( Novak, 1996)

Emig, J. (1971). The Composing Processes of Twelfth Graders. NCTE Research Report No. 13. Urbana, IL: NCTE.

Emig, J. (1977). Writing as a mode of learning. College Composition and Communication, 28 (2), 122-128.

Ketter, J. & Pool, J. (2001).  Exploring the impact of a high-stakes direct writing assessment in two high school classrooms.  Research in the Teaching of English, 35 (3), 344-393.

Langer, J.A. (2001). Beating the odds: Teaching middle and high school students to read and write well.  American Educational Research Journal,38 (4), 837-880.

Novak, J.R. (1996). Establishing validity for performanced-based assessments: An illustration for collections of student writing. Journal of Educational Research,  89 (4): 220-233.              

Perl, S. (1979). The composing processes of unskilled college writers. Research in the Teaching of English, 13 (4): 317-336.

Pritchard, R.J. & Marshall, J.C. (1994). Evaluation of a tiered model for staff development in writing.  Research in the Teaching of English, 28 (3), 259-285.

Scherff, L. & Piazza, C. (2005) The more things change the more they stay the same. Research in the Teaching of English, 39 (3), 271-304.

Sommers, N.  (1980). Revision strategies of student writers and experienced adult writers. College Composition and Communication, 31 (4), 378-388.