Evidence-based practices in writing

[Excerpt] Since the publication of the first and second editions of Best Practices in Writing Instruction (Graham, MacArthur, & Fitzgerald, 2007, 2013), little has changed in how writing is taught in the majority of classrooms in the United States. Teachers report they devote little time to teaching writing beyond grade 3, and students do little writing in or out of school for academic purposes (Applebee & Langer, 2011; Brindle, Harris, Graham, & Hebert, 2016; Gillespie, Graham, Kiuhara, & Hebert, 2014; Graham, Cappizi, Harris, Hebert, & Morphy, 2014). This stands in stark contrast to the other members of the three R’s—reading and mathematics—subjects in which schools and teachers have devoted considerable effort to improving students’ performance.

The general lack of attention to improving writing instruction nationwide during this and the last several decades should not distract from the phenomenal job that many schools and teachers do when teaching writing (Wilcox, Jeffrey, & Gardner-Bixler, 2016). Rather, what these educators have accomplished illustrates what is possible when we squarely focus our efforts on providing effective writing instruction. In fact, it is clear that we now have the instructional “know-how” needed to ensure that students become skillful writers. Reports from the Carnegie Corporation of New York (Graham, Harris, & Hebert, 2011; Graham & Hebert, 2010; Graham & Perin, 2007c) and the Institute of Education Sciences (Graham, Bollinger, et al., 2012; Graham et al., 2016) show we possess many tools for improving the quality of students’ writing.