A major goal of education reform is to incorporate the findings from clear, consistent, and convincing scientific research into the day-to-day operations of schools to help create a culture of evidence-based practices to promote high-quality instruction and, as a result, improved student outcomes. From 20 meta-analyses or qualitative research syntheses, a list of 36 writing instruction and assessment practices organized into 10 different essential component categories emerged and are described in this guide.
The Common Core Standards along with grade-level expectations and standards from most states now call for a strong emphasis on reading and writing nonfiction texts — from the beginning. This means that learners of all ages need to become acquainted with the structures and features of informational texts, both as readers and as writers. This guide offers strategies for using those features to enhance understanding and increase efficiency in seeking and recording information and to communicate ideas.
This practice guide offers educators specific, evidence-based recommendations that address the challenge of teaching writing in elementary school. The guide provides four recommendations: provide daily time for student writing; teach students to use the writing process for a variety of purposes; teach students to become fluent with handwriting, spelling, sentence construction, typing and word processing; and create an engaged community of writers.
Created for preschool through second grade teachers, our Teachers’ Guide lists typical reading achievements by grade level and suggests how teachers can foster the development of phonemic awareness, fluency, spelling, writing, and comprehension skills.
As students progress through schooling, they are often faced with the challenges of comprehending informational and content area text. Informational texts are known for their use of text features. This guide takes you on a teacher’s journey to understanding the importance of teaching text features and shows you how to apply some of these activities in the classroom and with your students.
Along with reading comprehension, writing skill is a predictor of academic success and a basic requirement for participation in civic life and in the global economy. Yet every year in the U.S., large numbers of adolescents graduate from high school unable to write at the basic levels required by colleges and employers. This report discusses 11 specific teaching techniques that research suggests will help improve the writing abilities of students in grades 4-12.
This report published by the Alliance for Excellent Education finds that while reading and writing are closely connected, writing is an often-overlooked tool for improving reading skills and content learning. Writing to Read identifies three core instructional practices that have been shown to be effective in improving student reading: having students write about the content-area texts they have read; teaching students the writing skills and processes that go into creating text; and increasing the amount of writing students do.
