Intended to help teachers, curriculum directors, school administrators, and school board members follow through on their commitment to teach students how to become better writers, the techniques and resources described in this booklet are arranged into seven chapters. The first chapter examines whether the "writing crisis" is fact or fiction, and discusses the test results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress and the California Survey of Basic Skills. The second chapter focuses on activities of the Bay Area Writing Project and other writing projects throughout the state of California. The third chapter deals with various approaches several California cities have taken, such as individualized language arts or the workshop/laboratory approach. Successful classroom techniques are detailed in the fourth chapter, among them using students as evaluators, choosing good topics, observing students as they write, prewriting, and motivating the student. Evaluation and assessment are the focus of the fifth chapter, which considers the types of tests available, types of scoring, evaluation in the classroom, and state or school district testing. The sixth chapter discusses what is known about writing, emphasizing grammar, prewriting, reading, oral language, sentence combining, and writing practice. The final chapter discusses the use of computers in writing, especially the use of the word processor and how it will shape the student as writer. (HOD)