A Snapshot of Writing Instruction in Middle Schools and High Schools.

Abstract

There have been many changes in policies and practices influencing the teaching of writing over the past 30 years—the advent of high-stakes testing, the press for evidence-based practice, and the availability of new technologies for writing and research. However, we have very little evidence about the extent to which such changes have influenced actual classroom practice. We began the four-year National Study of Writing Instruction (NSWI) with this concern in mind. In the May 2009 issue of English Journal, we reported on our analysis of data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress to provide a first look at changes in the teaching of writing over the past 30 years. In this article, we provide a more detailed look, drawing on data collected from visits to 260 English, math, social studies, and science classrooms in 20 middle schools and high schools in five states (schools all chosen for reputations for excellence in the teaching of writing), interviews with 220 teachers and administrators, and with 138 students in these schools, and a national survey of 1,520 randomly selected teachers. A full description of methods and procedures for the various phases of the National Study is available at http://albany.edu/cela. The most recent extensive previous study of writing instruction is Applebee’s Writing in the Secondary School: English and the Content Areas, based on data collected during the 1979–80 school year. The earlier study combined case studies of writing across the curriculum in two contrasting high schools with a national survey of writing across the curriculum. The results of that study indicate that writing instruction 30 years ago was a relatively simple affair: the typical assignment consisted of a few sentences setting out a topic, given in class and finished up for homework. Students were expected to write a page or less, to be graded by the teacher. Almost no class time was given over to writing instruction, or even to introducing the assignment. When students were asked to write, the teacher took an average of just over three minutes to introduce the assignment, answer the inevitable procedural questions (How many pages? Single or double spaced? Can it be in pencil?), and ask the students to start writing (Applebee 74). Things have changed since 1980, but in what ways and how much? That is the focus of this article, for which we analyzed the amount of writing currently required, the audiences for student work, the impact of high-stakes tests, the approaches to writing instruction, and the impact of technology in the core subject areas in middle schools and high schools across the United States. Because so much has changed over the 30 years, the present article addresses a number of issues in curriculum and instruction that were not salient in the earlier study. The discussion to follow will make comparisons over time when possible, using findings from the current study to provide a baseline for understanding present practice.

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