The National Study of Writing Instruction - University at Albany

Overview of the National Study of Writing Instruction
The National Study of Writing Instruction (NSWI) is a collaboration between the Center on
English Learning & Achievement at the University at Albany and the National Writing
Project at the University of California—Berkeley, with additional support from the College
Board and the Spencer Foundation.
The study began in the recognition that there has been no systematic, large-scale
examination of writing and writing instruction in the middle and high school years since A.
Applebee’s Writing in the Secondary School (Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of
English, 1981) which gathered data in 1979-80. Because so much has changed in the 30
years since that study, NSWI did not attempt a direct replication of the earlier study.
Rather, it sought to understand the impact of the variety of changes that have taken place,
including the profession’s understanding of effective instruction (e.g., S. Graham and D.
Perrin, Writing next: Effective strategies to improve writing of adolescents in middle and high
schools (Washington, DC: Alliance for Excellent Education, 2007), the impact of new
standards and assessments in core subject areas, the spread of new technologies, and
professional development initiatives such as the National Writing Project.
Results from the study are being and will be reported in a variety of venues; this report is
designed as a resource that describes in detail the methods and procedures that were used
for data collection and analysis in each of the four years of data collection and analysis,
including the instruments that were developed to study curriculum and instruction. The
sections that follow describe the methods used in each of the four years:
Year 1: Analysis of Existing National Assessment Data
Year 2: Year-long Case Studies of 6 New York Schools
Year 3: Studies of Schools with Local Reputations for Excellence in the Teaching of
Writing
Year 4: National Survey of Writing Instruction in Middle and High Schools
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