Introduction
In its 2003 report entitled The Neglected “R,” the National Commission on Writing called
for a revolution in writing education across the country and across grade levels. It suggested
that students’ in-school writing time should be doubled, that writing should be incorporated
into every subject area, that more homework time should be devoted to writing, and that best
practices in writing instruction should be more widely replicated (p. 28). At the time this report
was written, data from the 1998 NAEP showed that only 22% of twelfth-grade writers could
sufficiently organize and develop a persuasive essay (NAEP, p. 24). According to the most
recent results of the 2007 NAEP, 60% of twelfth-graders received a rating of “Sufficient” or
higher on their responses to a persuasive writing task (2007, p. 36). Thus, student writing
performance has improved. However, as of 2007, 40% of all twelfth graders were unable to
clearly state or develop their ideas in a persuasive essay (NAEP, 2007, pp. 36-37). When you
begin to break these statistics down further, the gap widens. Scores of students whose parents
did not go on to college were 11 points lower on average than the scores of students whose
parents had graduated from college (NAEP, 2007, p. 41). Also, males scored an average of 18
points lower than females. Scores of white students were significantly higher than scores of
other racial/ethnic groups, with little improvement between the 1998 NAEP and 2007 NAEP
results. Whites scored an average of 23 percentage points better than blacks and 20 percentage
points better than Hispanics in 2007 (NAEP, 2007, pp. 38-39). The NAEP data clearly indicates
that students are not spending enough time in their classrooms planning, drafting, and writing
nor are they investing the necessary time to write when they are at home. While some students
may have educated parents who can support them at home, many do not have the resources.
During my intervention, I knew it would be critical that students use class time to plan, draft
and revise their compositions while also giving them extended access to organizational tools
and techniques.
