Our History of Results
NWP Research
The National Writing Project (NWP) and its research partners conduct research to examine the impact and reach of the work of the NWP network. In addition, we conduct research that investigates the ideas and topics of importance to the field of education that NWP is uniquely positioned to explore.
Supporting Teachers in Argument Writing Instruction at Scale: A Replication Study of the College, Career, and Community Writers Program (C3WP) (2023)
This study validates the effects of C3WP on student argument writing quality and provides evidence that C3WP also positively impacts students’ writing conventions. These three separate studies of C3WP spanned 228 diverse schools in 20 states, providing an unusually robust body of rigorous, independent evidence of program effectiveness.
Research Brief: SRI Finds Positive Effects of the College, Career, and Community Writer’s Program on Student Achievement (2021)
The National Writing Project’s (NWP) College, Career, and Community Writers Program (C3WP) is designed to improve students’ argument writing through intensive teacher professional development, instructional resources, and formative assessment. In this study, SRI International (SRI) conducted a 1-year random assignment evaluation of C3WP in grades 7–9 that found consistent program implementation and positive, statistically significant impacts on student writing achievement.
The Pathway to Academic Success: Scaling Up a Text-Based Analytical Writing Intervention for Latinos and English Learners in Secondary School (2020)
This study reports findings from a multisite cluster randomized controlled trial designed to validate and scale up an existing successful professional development program that uses a cognitive strategies approach to text-based analytical writing. The Pathway to Academic Success Project worked with partner districts affiliated with 4 National Writing Project (NWP) sites in southern California. Informed by a wide body of research on the efficacy of strategy instruction to enhance students’ academic literacy, the intervention aimed to help secondary school students, particularly Latinos and mainstreamed English learners, to develop the academic writing skills called for in the rigorous Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts.
Moving Teachers to the Center of School Improvement (2019)
Improvement networks give teachers the opportunity to play a key role in addressing problems within education.
Evaluation of National Writing Project’s College-Ready Writer’s Program 2015 SEED Grant (2019)
This technical report presents the results of NWP’s College, Career, and Community Writers Program (C3WP) in short-cycle impact analysis focused on 7th and 8th grade English Language Arts (ELA) teachers in high-needs districts.
Pathway Schools Initiative: Fundamental Evaluation Summary (2018)
This report summarizes the progress made by the schools that participated in the Pathway Schools Initiative through the 2017–18 school year on a fundamental set of outcome indicators: continuity in the PreK–3 enrollment pipeline, literacy instructional practices, teaching quality, effective school leadership, and student reading achievement.
Impacts on Students of a Short-Cycle Implementation of the National Writing Project’s College, Career, and Community Writers Program (2018)
In this study, the National Writing Project partnered with SRI to test the efficacy of a short-cycle implementation of NWP’s College, Career, and Community Writers Program.
UC Irvine Writing Project’s Pathway to Academic Success Program: An Investing in Innovation (i3) Validation Grant Evaluation (2017)
This technical report provides impact and implementation fidelity results from SRI’s Evaluation of the Pathway to Academic Success Project –i3 Validation Grant. The Pathway Project is a teacher professional development program designed by the University of California, Irvine Writing Project to enhance classroom literacy instruction so that English learners and their peers in high-need schools are prepared for success in core academic subjects and meet the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts.
Impact of the National Writing Project’s College-Ready Writers Program in High-Need Rural Districts (2017)
This paper reports on a district-randomized controlled trial of the National Writing Project’s College-Ready Writers Program (CRWP), implemented in high-need rural districts in 10 states, testing one instance of professional development paired with supporting curricular resources and a formative assessment tool designed to shift instruction to align with the new college- and career-ready standards in English language arts classes in grades 7–10.
Research Brief: Impact of the National Writing Project’s College-Ready Writers Program on Teachers and Students (2015)
SRI’s two-year random assignment evaluation found consistent program implementation and positive impacts of the National Writing Project’s College-Ready Writers Program (CRWP). CRWP had a positive, statistically significant effect on the four attributes of student argument writing—content, structure, stance, and conventions—measured by the National Writing Project’s Analytic Writing Continuum for Source-Based Argument.
Evaluating the Impact of Professional Development to Meet Challenging Writing Standards in High-Need Elementary Schools (2014)
This report describes the findings of a cluster randomized controlled trial to estimate the effects of a U.S. Department of Education Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED) grant for professional development on teachers’ writing instruction and student argument writing, while documenting the implementation of the SEED program and the contexts in which the program was executed.
Reliability of National Writing Project's Analytic Writing Continuum Assessment System (2013)
This article presents an investigation of the reliability of a rubric-based writing assessment system, the National Writing Project's (NWP) Analytic Writing Continuum (AWC), which applies both holistic and analytic scoring.
National Evaluation of Writing Project School Partnerships—Final Report (Executive Summary) (2012)
This is an executive summary of SRI’s examination of the effects of Writing Project partnerships on teacher practices and student writing. The cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) included a multimethod study to document how partnerships were developed and implemented in participating schools and sites.
National Evaluation of Writing Project School Partnerships—Final Report (with Appendices) (2012)
This is the final report on SRI’s examination of the effects of Writing Project partnerships on teacher practices and student writing. The cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) included a multimethod study to document how partnerships were developed and implemented in participating schools and sites.