National Commission Calls for a Writing Revolution
Panel Says Most American Students Must Improve Writing to Meet Demands of College Success and Career
Former Senator Bob Kerrey Named to Lead 5-Year Writing Challenge
Chicago, April 25, 2003--The amount of time and money devoted to student writing must be dramatically increased in school districts throughout the country, and state and local curriculum guidelines must require writing in every curriculum at all grade levels. Educators also must engage the private sector in developing ways to apply technology to the teaching and assessment of writing. These are among the key recommendations included in The Neglected "R": The Need for a Writing Revolution.
The report was produced by the National Commission on Writing in America's Families, Schools, and Colleges, a blue-ribbon group made up of university leaders, public school superintendents, and teachers, and assisted by an advisory panel of writing experts. The new report also calls for the immediate launch of an implementation campaign, the Writing Challenge to the Nation. College Board President Gaston Caperton announced today that this Writing Challenge will be led by former Senator Bob Kerrey, current president of New School University in New York City, former governor of Nebraska, and accomplished author.
In agreeing to accept this challenge, Bob Kerrey said, "I have agreed to accept the honor and responsibility of leading this effort because of the value I place on writing. From poetry to letters to stories to laws, we must learn to write in order to participate in the range of experiences available to us as human beings. Our spiritual lives, our economic success, and our social networks are all directly affected by our willingness to do the work necessary to acquire the skill of writing. In a very real way neither our democracy nor our personal freedoms will survive unless we as citizens take the time and make the effort needed to learn how to write."
Writing Is an Essential Skill
The report stresses that writing is essential to educational and career success. Writing allows students to "connect the dots" in their knowledge and is central to self-expression and civic participation. The report says, "Students must struggle with the details, wrestle with the facts, and rework raw information and dimly understood concepts into language they can communicate to someone else. In short, they must write." Yet, The Neglected "R" argues that writing has been shortchanged in the school reform movement launched 20 years ago this week with the release of A Nation at Risk. Despite the best efforts of many educators, writing has not received the full attention it deserves. Writing must now be put squarely at the center of the school agenda.
In releasing the report, Commission Chair C. Peter Magrath, president of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, said, "Writing must be an important focus beginning in elementary school. The writing weaknesses of incoming college students cost our campuses up to $1 billion annually. And business leaders complain about the writing skills of new employees."
Writing: The Current State
The Neglected "R" makes these important points about the current state of writing:
- most fourth-grade students spend less than three hours a week writing, which is approximately 15 percent of the time they spend watching television;
- nearly 66 percent of high school seniors do not write a three-page paper as often as once a month for their English teachers;
- 75 percent of seniors never receive a writing assignment in history or social studies; and
- the senior research project has become an educational curiosity, something rarely assigned because teachers do not have time to correct such projects.
Citing NAEP research, the report says that at grades 4, 8, and 12, about one student in five produces completely unsatisfactory prose, about 50 percent meet "basic" requirements, and only one in five can be called "proficient."
According to the report, recent analyses indicate that by the first year of college, more than 50 percent of the freshman class are unable to produce papers relatively free of language errors or to analyze arguments or synthesize information. The report notes that "complaints about the inadequacy of undergraduate writing programs and problems associated with leaving the teaching of writing to inexperienced graduate students have gathered dust on shelves for decades."
Toward a Writing Revolution
To respond, the Commission calls for a writing revolution, building on work that is already in progress. It recommends that governors and legislators incorporate writing into state school standards, with an eye to doubling the amount of time and increasing the financial resources devoted to writing. "Writing will not be improved on the cheap or by hectoring teachers," the Commission states.
"Very few things are more important to improving student achievement than restoring writing to its proper place in the classroom," said Commission Vice-Chair Arlene Ackerman, San Francisco superintendent of schools. "Writing is how we can teach students complex skills of synthesis, analysis, and problem solving. These skills will serve them well throughout life."
The Commission also asks legislators and policymakers to work together to create a National Conference on Literacy and Writing. "Nothing can alert the general public to the significance of this issue more quickly and powerfully than what President Theodore Roosevelt once called the 'bully pulpit,'" the report notes.
To help alleviate the lack of time confronting teachers, the Commission recommends that federal telecommunications policy "be extended to cover financing the hardware and software required in schools and colleges (and training for faculty and teachers)" and that a major research effort be launched to apply new and developing technologies to improving writing. The report states that exploration should include "the use of emerging programs to enhance the ability of students and teachers to assess writing samples; and the development of software to measure student writing competence in formal standardized assessments."
Writing Is Everybody's Business
Another recommendation calls for major efforts to improve teacher training in all disciplines. "Writing is everybody's business," says the report, calling on teachers in history, social studies, science, and mathematics to add writing to their instruction.
Finally, the report calls for a new commitment to measuring writing quality, insisting that assessment composed only of multiple-choice tests is not adequate to this "demanding task." The report states, "An authentic assessment of writing depends on requiring the student to produce a piece of prose that someone reads and evaluates."
The Writing Challenge to the Nation, also proposed in the report, is a five-year effort to be led by Bob Kerrey and supported by American philanthropy. "The Commission hoped to highlight the significance of writing in society and point people in the right direction," said Gaston Caperton, president of the College Board and an ex officio member of the Commission. "The Writing Challenge to the Nation will translate the recommendations of the Commission into tangible steps to improve writing," said Caperton. "Building a widespread, sustainable program is what the next five years will be all about."
Copies of the report are available online or by calling (212) 713-8240 and requesting item number 997548.
Contact
Chiara Coletti, The College Board, (212) 713-8052
Sandra Riley, The College Board, (212) 713-8052