An interest in writing practices in the state of Kansas led to a statewide survey of middle school teachers to examine key writing practices and issues. Questions focused on teacher preparation, beliefs, self-efficacy, and sense of responsibility to teach writing; use of evidence-based writing practices; the role of assessment; technology; types…

The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization promoted the creation of a model instrument for individual assessment of students' foundational writing skills in the Spanish language that was based on a literature review and existing writing tools and assessments. The purpose of the "Early Grade Writing Assessment"…

The aim of this study was to analyze whether children with and without difficulties in handwriting, spelling, or both differed in alphabet writing when using a keyboard. The total sample consisted of 1,333 children from Grades 1 through 3. Scores on the spelling and handwriting factors from the "Early Grade Writing Assessment" (Jiménez,…

In September, 2016, the National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER) and the National Center for Education Research (NCER) of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) convened a group of experts to discuss and provide input on research needs in the area of middle and high school writing for students, including English learners (ELs) and…

This article draws on my experience as an adjunct professor in the Master's program of the Department of Mexican-American Studies at a large public university in California. Seeing my students' struggles with writing, I conceived of a set of practices of writing mentorship anchored by a series of writing workshops held in Summer 2012. In this…

Children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) have demonstrated general spelling and writing difficulties. We investigated the sensitivity of children with SLI to the consistent spelling of root morphemes, a feature to which young typically developing children demonstrate sensitivity. We asked children with SLI and two groups of typically…

To respond to the articles in the current issue, I begin with an amalgamated conception of a transactional universe of reciprocal reading and composing processes that includes cognitive and social processes. Next, I situate the four studies in the current issue according to their epistemological emphases in the transactional conception. Three…

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of email modeling and scaffolding on the social writing quality of students with cognitive disabilities. Ten students from a university-affiliated lab school (mean age = 19.3; SD = 1.2) with an average of IQ of 55.30 (SD = 5.98) and 10 teacher candidates in a university teacher education…

Conducting focus groups with target audiences to assess user needs is a critical step in the process of designing and developing a web-based writing environment. This descriptive study examined focus group data gathered to address two questions: First, do data from focus groups affirm and expand our understanding of writing and writing development…

The earliest hypothesis concerning the phonetic-phonological roots of reading and writing learning disabilities is usually attributed to Boder in the U.S. literature. Yet by following a trail of references to work in psychology and education conducted some 30 years earlier in the USSR, we find the seeds of this idea already well established in the…

This study examined the effectiveness of using primary sources to support close reading in social studies among students with disabilities in grade 7 middle school resource rooms. The setting is a middle school in a suburban school district located in Western New York. Two resource rooms of 10 students with reading or writing difficulties were…

The primary aim of this study was determining Grade 1 cognitive predictors of students at risk for writing disabilities in Grades 2 through 4. Applying cognitive measures selected to align with theoretical and empirical models of writing, tasks were administered to Grade 1 students assessing fine-motor, linguistic, and executive functions: 84 at…

The primary aim of this study was determining Grade 1 cognitive predictors of students at risk for writing disabilities in Grades 2 through 4. Applying cognitive measures selected to align with theoretical and empirical models of writing, tasks were administered to Grade 1 students assessing fine-motor, linguistic, and executive functions: 84 at…

The number of international branch campuses globally has skyrocketed in the last fifteen years, rising from 183 to 232 between 2011 and 2015 alone. This case study looks at the ways that two highly selective American universities adapted their educational policies, programs, and practices at international branch campuses in a Persian Gulf country…

Writing is a basic skill in language and believed to be the hardest one to teach and learn (Walters, 1987) as the writer must transcribe his/her thoughts while maintaining control over a number of aspects varying from word choice and spelling to overall text structure and layout. In addition to its multifaceted nature, writing requires a huge…