NWP's Latest Research Results

Writing Project Professional Development Continues to Yield Gains in Student Writing Achievement

Date: July 15, 2010

Summary: NWP's latest research results demonstrate that professional development programs designed and delivered by NWP sites have a positive effect on the writing achievement of students across grade levels, schools, and contexts.

Key Findings
In 16 studies conducted in seven states, 103 of 112 comparisons show positive results in writing achievement favoring students in classrooms of NWP participants.

Student results are strong and favorable in those aspects of writing that the NWP is best known for, such as development of ideas, organization, and stance.

Students in Writing Project classrooms gained more often than their peers in the area of conventions as well, suggesting that basic skills also benefit from the NWP approach to teaching writing.

In the overall or holistic measure, in every case the improvement of students taught by teachers who participated in NWP programs exceeded that of students whose teachers were not participants.

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