NWP Research Reports

Read the most recent research reports about the effectiveness of the National Writing Project.

NWP Research Brief (2008)
This Research Brief summarizes nine studies that examined the effects of NWP professional development programs on teacher practices and student writing achievement in schools and districts served by writing project sites. The results demonstrate positive effects on the writing achievement of students of writing project teachers across a range of grade levels, schools, and contexts. More ›

Local Site Research Initiative: Summary Report of National Results, Cohorts II and III (2004-2005, 2005-2006) (2008)
This growing national portfolio of locally defined research projects studies the impact of the writing project model on teachers and students in a range of contexts, all featuring intensive professional development partnerships between NWP sites and schools or districts. More ›

Local Site Research Initiative: Summary Report of National Results, Cohort III (2008)
Four NWP sites conducted independent, rigorous comparative studies examining the impact of their professional development programs for teachers. Results demonstrate that the improvement of students taught by NWP-participating teachers exceeded that of students in classes whose teachers were not participants. This report summarizes these studies and identifies important learnings that derive from them. More ›

Teachers' Assessments of Professional Development Quality, Value, and Benefits: Results From Seven Annual Surveys of Summer Institute Participants (2008)
This report by Inverness Research Inc. presents the results of seven years of data gathering in which teachers judged the quality of NWP professional development institutes and assessed the benefits they, and ultimately their students, gained from participation. More ›

Making a Difference: The National Writing Project's Inculcation of Leadership Over 30 Years (2008)
This paper examines the professional experiences and contributions of participants in the NWP during the first 20 years of the project's life. It focuses on how the NWP exerted an influence over large numbers of individuals as they matured into leaders within the profession. More ›

Local Site Research Initiative: Research Studies Continue to Show Impact of NWP Programs (2007)
Sites that participate in the Local Site Research Initiative are developing their capacity to conduct research, using the information they gather to improve their own programs and contribute to the body of evidence demonstrating the effectiveness of NWP. More ›

The National Writing Project Legacy Study (2007)
NWP's Legacy Study examines the professional experiences and contributions of those who participated in local writing project sites over the period 1974–1994. The study represents a systematic effort to assess and document the NWP's investment in teachers as educational leaders. More ›

A Cognitive Strategies Approach to Reading and Writing Instruction for English Language Learners (2007)
This article by Carol Booth Olson and Robert Land appeared in NCTE's journal Research in the Teaching of English. It describes a study conducted by members of the UC Irvine Writing Project site in partnership with a large urban school district primarily serving families of low socioeconomic status. More ›

Teachers, Writers, Leaders (2007)
Using data from NWP's Teacher Leadership Vignette Study, Linda Friedrich and Ann Lieberman describe—in this article from Educational Leadership—how teachers take on leadership roles and how building community is crucial to their success. More ›

Transforming Writing: Teacher-Consultants Lead Change in Their Schools (2007)
Of the thirty-one teacher-consultants who participated in NWP's Vignette Study by writing narratives about their leadership work, ten described facilitating change in their own schools as they worked alongside their colleagues. More ›

Changing Teaching from Within: Teachers as Leaders (2007)
Why do teachers become leaders in their schools and communities, and how do they move into positions of leadership? The stories in this sampling from NWP's Vignette Study offer both inspiration and successful strategies. More ›

2006 Client Satisfaction Report (PDF) (2006)
More than 98 percent of participants rate the quality of the summer institute as excellent. Learn more about how participants rated their experiences in these survey results from Inverness Research Associates. More ›

Local Site Research Initiative: Summary Report of National Research Results, Cohort II (2006)
Rigorous comparative studies from five NWP sites (located in California, Missouri, Mississippi, Nevada, and New York) indicate positive effects on student writing based upon independent national scoring. Students of teachers who participate in writing project programs demonstrated statistically significant differences on at least one measure of student writing performance in four of the studies. More ›

The Process Approach to Writing Instruction: Examining Its Effectiveness (2005)
In a chapter from Handbook of Writing Research, authors Ruie J. Pritchard and Ronald L. Honeycutt review theory and research on the writing process model, as well as research concerning the NWP's influence on teacher professional development and on advancing the pedagogical principles associated with the writing process. More ›

Local Site Research Initiative: Cohort I Summary Report (2005)
A report on the activities and results of the first year of the research initiative. More ›

AED Final Evaluation Report on the National Writing Project (PDF) (2002)
The final report from a three-year Academy for Educational Development study of the National Writing Project. More ›