This study investigated the nature of written instructor responses to student writings and the relationship of these written responses to the quality of subsequent student work in urban elementary and middle schools. Most of the 22 instructors who submitted the study's body of student writings (n=114) provided their students with some sort of written feedback, and most of their students incorporated that feedback into their subsequent drafts. Instructors tended to focus most on standardizing their students' written output, with measurable success. Student papers received little feedback about content or organization, and these qualities generally did not change over successive drafts. Despite the proliferation of reform programs targeting urban schools, classroom teachers may need more support to improve the skills and knowledge necessary to implement reform practices in the teaching of writing. The present study could help focus these reform efforts by helping teachers improve the quality of their feedback on student writing at both the elementary and secondary level. (Contains 7 tables, 3 figures, and 29 references.) (SLD)