The National Commission on Writing Series of Reports: Letters to the President
Date: March 1, 2009
Summary: 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 Commission's latest in its series of reports is "Letters to the President: Students' Voices."
Letters to the President: Students' Voices
This report from the National Commission on Writing 
features writing that was selected from the online publishing project, Letters to the Next President, co-sponsored by NWP and Google.
The Letters to the Next President website featured 6,466 letters from 212 schools across the country on topics such as global warming, the economy, health care, education, and immigration.
Excerpt from Letters
We Cannot Do It Without You
by Sarah W., Cupertino, Calif.Mr. President,
I honestly do not believe you are in any way uneducated about the problems facing our country. In fact, I am sure you are aware of the issues in far more depth than I. I cannot provide you with any more statistical information, nor can I provide insight on ways to create the economic stability our country so needs, but I do believe that I can provide you with the voice of one who is directly experiencing the effects of our economy in respect to the skyrocketing values of health insurance.Every month I have to have an MRI to watch for the return of a malignant brain tumor I successfully had removed twice before. I drive up to Lucille Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford University in California and the moment we step inside the door the feelings of desperation and anxiety are almost tangible. I hear the low voices of parents discussing, arguing, and praying for some way to pay for their child's health care. The horrifying reality is, if they cannot afford it, which is too often the case, they are turned away and forced to watch their children suffer and sometimes slowly die before their eyes. How can we ask these parents to do this? . . .
Full Report
For more, read the full report (PDF).
Writing, Technology, and Teens
Teens write a lot, but they do not think of their emails, instant and text messages as writing. This disconnect matters because teens believe good writing is an essential skill for success and that more writing instruction at school would help them.
Excerpt from Report
Teens who communicate frequently with friends, and teens who own more technology tools such as computers or cell phones do not write more for school or for themselves than less communicative and less gadget-rich teens. Teen bloggers, however, are prolific writers online and offline.
- 47% of teen bloggers write outside of school for personal reasons several times a week or more compared to 33% of teens without blogs.
- 65% of teen bloggers believe that writing is essential to later success in life; 53% of non-bloggers say the same.
Full Report
For more, read Writing, Technology, and Teens (PDF).
Writing and School Reform
The fourth report from the National Commission on Writing, Writing and School Reform, summarizes the learning from five hearings held across the country in 2004. These hearings brought together diverse educators and administrators to discuss how to take the most effective writing instruction that is available to some students and make it widely available to all. Discussions focused on how to
- make writing central to the school reform agenda
- ensure that curricula in schools provide the necessary time for students to use writing to learn and to learn to write
- advance writing assessment that is fair and authentic
- guarantee that students have access to, and opportunities to compose with, current technologies, including digital technologies
- provide comprehensive professional development for all teachers to improve classroom practice.
The hearings provided an active next step to the commission's first report, The Neglected "R," and gave those in the field an opportunity to respond to that report's recommendations and to speak from firsthand experience about the challenges of teaching writing. Advice came from across the educational spectrum—everyone from parents to teachers to university presidents.
Perhaps the most dramatic testimony centered on the issue of standardization. Teachers, in particular, were emphatic in their views that off-the-shelf programs do not create a nation of thoughtful writers and thinkers. "Reform should value what teachers know," said Valerie Taylor at the Austin hearing, "not impose scripted solutions on them. Reform should reflect the complexity of the challenge, instead of pretending the answers are simple."
Full Report
For more, read the full report.
Writing: A Powerful Message from State Government
"Clear communication is an essential government function in democratic society. Because writing is how agencies communicate with each other and their constituencies, all of us have a stake in the clarity and accuracy of government writing."
-Bob Kerrey, chair of the National Commission on Writing, July 2005
In its latest report, the National Commission on Writing finds state governments place a high value on the writing skills of their employees, often providing training for professional employees deficient in writing skills.
Based on a National Governors Association survey of 49 of 50 state human resource directors, Writing: A Powerful Message from State Government finds at least two-thirds of professional employees at the state level have some writing responsibility. The report concludes that writing is an even more important job requirement for state employees than for the private-sector employees studied in the commission's previous survey of major U.S. corporations.
Full Report
For more, read the full report.
Related Articles
When Every Word Counts
The Washington Post, July 24, 2005
Poor Writing Costs Taxpayers Millions
Associated Press, July 4, 2005
Writing: A Ticket to Work . . . Or a Ticket Out
"In today's workplace writing is a 'threshold skill' for hiring and promotion among salaried (i.e., professional) employees. Survey results indicate that writing is a ticket to professional opportunity, while poorly written job applications are a figurative kiss of death."
- Writing: A Ticket to Work . . . Or a Ticket Out, September 2004
As advanced technology in the workplace plays a more significant role, good writing skills are increasingly valued by big business, according to the second report from the National Commission on Writing.
As one executive noted, "[T]he need to write clearly and quickly has never been more important than in today's highly competitive, technology-driven global economy."
The numbers back up that statement. According to survey responses from 120 major corporations affiliated with Business Roundtable in the commission's report, employers spend billions annually correcting writing deficiencies.
To prepare students for rewarding work in the future, the National Commission on Writing calls on schools and colleges to focus on writing across the curriculum and at all grade levels.
Full Report
For more, read the full report.
Related Article
No Hemingways Here: Employers Say Workers Need Help to Improve Writing Ability
Associated Press, September 14, 2004
The Neglected "R": The Need for a Writing Revolution
"American education will never realize its potential as an engine of opportunity and economic growth until a writing revolution puts language and communication in their proper place in the classroom...Of the three 'Rs,' writing is clearly the most neglected."
-The Neglected "R": The Need for a Writing Revolution, April 2003
This groundbreaking report, released in April 2003, argues that writing has been shortchanged in the school reform movement of the past twenty years and must now receive the attention it deserves. Among the recommendations outlined in the report:
- The amount of time and resources devoted to student writing should be at least doubled
- Writing should be taught in all subjects and at all grade levels
- All prospective teachers should be required to take courses in how to teach writing
- New technologies should be developed to improve the teaching and assessment of writing.
Full Report
For more, read the full report.