About the National Commission on Writing

In an effort to focus national attention on the teaching and learning of writing, the College Board established the National Commission on Writing for America's Families, Schools, and Colleges in September 2002. The decision to create the Commission was animated in part by the Board's plans to offer a writing assessment in 2005 as part of the new SAT®, but the larger motivation lay in the growing concern within the education, business, and policy-making communities that the level of writing in the United States is not what it should be. Although there is much good work taking place in our classrooms, the quality of writing must be improved if students are to succeed in college and in life. The addition of a writing component to the SAT and the establishment of a writing commission respond directly to that concern. We hope that the work of this Commission and the agenda it lays out will help create a writing revolution in the United States.

Members of the National Commission on Writing for America's Families, Schools, and Colleges

Bob Kerrey (Chair)	President, The New School, NY
Arlene Ackerman	Christian A. Johnson Professor of Outstanding Educational Practice, Teachers College, Columbia University
Nancy G. Barile	Teacher of English, Revere High School, MA, 2006 Winner New England Region Winner, Bob Costas Grant for the Teaching of Writing
Robert Bruininks	President, University of Minnesota, MN
Larry R. Faulkner	President, Houston Endowment
Sharon M. Floyd	K-12 English Language Arts Coordinator, Saginaw Public Schools, MI
Michele Forman	Social Studies Teacher, Middlebury Union High School, VT
E. Gordon Gee	Chancellor, Vanderbilt University, TN
Lyn Ikoma	Biology Teacher, Chatsworth Senior High School, CA
James Moeser	Chancellor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC
David E. Shulenburger	Vice President for Academic Programs, National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges
Ronald A. Williams	President, Prince George's Community College, MD
Joseph Wise	Superintendent for Duval County Public Schools, Jacksonville, FL
Nancy Zimpher	President, University of Cincinnati, OH

Ex-Officio Members

Gene A. Budig	President Emeritus, American League, University of Kansas and West Virginia University
Gaston Caperton	President, The College Board
C. Peter Magrath	President Emeritus, National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges

National Advisory Panel

Richard Sterling (Chair)	Executive Director, National Writing Project
Elizabeth A. Davis	Teacher-Consultant, DC Area Writing Project, John Philip Sousa Middle School, DC
Gail E. Hawisher	Professor of English and Director, Center for Writing Studies, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Sarah Hudelson	Associate Dean, College of Education, Arizona State University
Bernard Phelan	Teacher, Homewood-Flossmoor High School, Flossmoor, IL,
Jacqueline Jones Royster	Executive Professor for African Studies, Professor of English, and Executive Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, The Ohio State University
Liz Campbell Stephens	Director, Central Texas Writing Project, Texas State University
Patricia Lambert Stock	Professor of Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures; English; and Education, Michigan State University and Past President, National Council of Teachers of English