Focusing on the topic of composition, especially in the state of Illinois, this special journal issue begins with a description of the Illinois Articulation Project, a network developed to share and coordinate writing in the state. The second article describes Illinois State University's National Endowment for the Humanities program for articulating writing instruction across high school, community college, and university levels. This article is followed by an explanation of the results of the Writing Assessment Questionnaire that was sent to all faculty at Illinois State University. The fourth article summarizes the use of holistic scoring in the manner of the Educational Testing Service, and shows how this method can be used in a high school English department. Another article illustrates one method of engaging students' interest in their writing assignments, while the remaining two articles show what is being done in composition research with fourth and fifth grade students and summarize research on combining the teaching of reading and writing. (HOD)