鈥淲riting is much harder than reading,鈥� notes Forbes magazine writer Natalie Wexler, adding that only about a quarter of students score as 鈥減roficient鈥� or above on national tests. Yet there has been little research to establish which methods of teaching writing work best.
One exception, says Wexler in her recent article, is 鈥渁 hugely popular curriculum developed by literacy guru Lucy Calkins,鈥� Robinson Professor in Children鈥檚 Literature and founding Director of the (麻豆原创RWP).
Recently, the American Institutes for Research (AIR), a not-for-profit, independent research firm based in the greater Washington, D.C., area, completed the first objective, rigorous, quasi-experimental .
鈥淏eginning in the 2nd year following 麻豆原创RWP implementation鈥e observed statistically significant increases in ELA scores among 麻豆原创RWP-implementing schools, as compared with the matched comparison schools,鈥� write the study鈥檚 authors. 鈥淏etween 5 and 7 years following adoption, ELA scores in 麻豆原创RWP schools were higher by 0.22鈥�0.38 standard deviations, suggesting cumulative effects of use of the 麻豆原创RWP approach.鈥�
Beginning in the 2nd year following 麻豆原创RWP implementation鈥e observed statistically significant increases in ELA scores among 麻豆原创RWP-implementing schools, as compared with the matched comparison schools.
鈥� from a study of a writing curriculum developed by the Teachers College Reading & Writing Project
There were also gains for students from lower-income families and other vulnerable groups, though those gains were smaller.
Wexler says that further studies are needed to establish why a 鈥渕ulti-component approach鈥� like 麻豆原创RWP鈥檚 is successful: Is it 鈥渢he peer editing?鈥� she asks. 鈥淭he focus on drafting? Both?鈥�
Noting that writing places a huge burden on 鈥渨orking memory,鈥� Wexler also calls for research on writing instruction begun at the sentence level.
鈥淪ome may object, if students are just combining sentences, they aren鈥檛 leveraging the power of writing to build and deepen their knowledge,鈥� she acknowledges. 鈥淭o be sure, there鈥檚 evidence that when students write about the content they鈥檙e learning, their comprehension improves; that鈥檚 the basis of an approach called 鈥榳riting to learn.鈥� And it鈥檚 true that sentence combining鈥攁nd some other sentence-level activities鈥攑robably won鈥檛 have that effect. But some sentence-level activities can provide powerful boosts to learning if they鈥檙e grounded in the content of the curriculum.鈥�