Writing scores down.The statistics are alarming: 70 percent of students in grades 4 through 12 are low-achieving writers. In the last national writing exam in 2002, only 22 to 26 percent of students in fourth, eighth, and 12th grade's scored at proficient level on the National Assessment of Educational Progress The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as "the Nation's Report Card," is the only nationally representative and continuing assessment of what America's students know and can do in various subject areas. . And 72 percent of fourth-graders, 69 percent of eighth-graders and 77 percent of seniors failed NAEP NAEP National Assessment of Educational Progress NAEP National Association of Environmental Professionals NAEP National Association of Educational Progress NAEP National Agricultural Extension Policy NAEP Native American Employment Program writing proficiency goals. The latest Carnegie Corporation of New York Carnegie Corporation of New York, foundation established (1911) to administer Andrew Carnegie's remaining personal fortune for philanthropic purposes. Initially endowed with $125 million, the foundation received another $10 million from the residual estate. report, Writing Next: Effective Strategies to Improve Writing of Adolescents in Middle and High Schools, lists 11 effective elements to improve writing achievement. The elements should be interlinked, but it remains to be seen what is an optimal mix. Elements such as process writing combined with having peers work in groups and prewriting pre·writ·ing n. The creation and arrangement of ideas preliminary to writing. will likely get the best results, the report claims. The National Council of Teachers of English Mission As stated on their official website, the NCTE ( National Council of Teachers of English) is a professional organization dedicated to "improving the teaching and learning of English and the language arts at all levels of education. says the report confirms other findings, which they stand by: that in classrooms where much time is spend on grammar exercises, student writing suffers and that more time needs to go to composing sentences. "Teaching how language works is the basis for good grammar instruction," says Kyoko Sato, NCTE NCTE National Council of Teachers of English NCTE National Centre for Technology in Education NCTE National Center for Transgender Equality NCTE National Council for Teacher Education (India) NCTE Network Channel Terminating Equipment president. 11 Effective Strategies to Improve Writing 1. Writing strategies: teaching students ways to plan and revise their work. 2. Summarization: teaching students how to summarize text, 3. Collaborative writing The term collaborative writing refers to projects where written works are created by multiple people together (collaboratively) rather than individually. Some projects are overseen by an editor or editorial team, but many grow without any of this top-down oversight. : helping adolescents work together to plan, draft, revise and edit their work. 4. Specific product goals: assigns goals for writing. 5. Word processing: using computers or word processors as supports for writing. 6. Sentence-combining: constructing more complex. sophisticated sentences. 7. Prewriting: organizing ideas for writing. 8. Inquiry activities: analyzing concrete data to help develop ideas. 9. Process writing approach: interweaving several writing activities in a workshop that stresses extended writing opportunities. 10. Study of models: providing students with chances to read analyze and emulate good writing. 11. Writing for content learning: using writing as a tool for learning content |
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