The National Writing Project (NWP) has contributed enormously and consistently to the effort to help teachers help students learn to write. In the early 1970s, researchers such as Donald Graves and Janet Emig began studying the ways writers go about the task of thinking and producing polished writing. The NWP's book "Because Writing Matters" further chronicles the development of the field of composition pedagogy as well as the understanding of writing as a process, not only a product. This work evolved into what has become known to teachers as the "writing process," an approach that has stressed the importance of stages in writing: prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. Over the past 30-plus years, many teachers and schools have instituted various incarnations of process writing, often in the form of writing workshops. However, more than 30 years since the "writing process," the need for help for teachers is clear: teaching the writing process, as it has been understood, is not enough. For students to write well, they must learn content knowledge and the essential elements of effective writing, such as focus, organization, and appropriate voice and tone. [This article was authored by the Vermont Writing Collaborative. Founded by Eloise Ginty, Joanna Hawkins, Karen Kurzman, Diana Leddy, and Jane Miller, the Vermont Writing Collaborative is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping all students become powerful thinkers, readers, and writers. This article is adapted from their book "Writing for Understanding: Using Backward Design to Help All Students Write Effectively" (Vermont Writing Collaborative, 2008).]