The nine articles in this guide discuss the problems involved in teaching writing and offer suggestions for improving writing instruction. The first article presents responses given by educators to a nationwide survey concerning the causes of writing problems, concluding that until recently the biggest problems were untrained teachers and a lack of research. The second article contains answers given by Donald Graves and Donald Murray to questions about teaching writing and about how administrators can improve writing programs in their schools. The third article explains a technique by which students learn "real world" writing, and offers a detailed report on standards for writing programs developed by the National Council of Teachers of English, and the fourth lists 13 ingredients for successful writing programs that emerged from interviews with writing experts, administrators, and teachers. The fifth and sixth articles provide suggestions for writing instruction in elementary and secondary schools, respectively, while the seventh article gives descriptions of the best known writing programs in the United States. The eighth article discusses the principal's role in the writing program, and the final one explains different types of writing evaluation. (FL)