Adolescent writing and writing instruction: introduction to the special issue

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a renewed focus on literacy and adolescents. This hasbeen spurred in part by concerns that the majority of students in the United States donot read or write well enough to meet grade-level demands (see reports from Leeet al., 2007; National Center for Education Statistics, 2012; Salahu-Din, Persky, M National Commission on Writing, 2004).These concerns have led to calls to improve the literacy skills of adolescents. In2004, for example, the Carnegie Corporation of New York sponsored a document,Reading Next, which proposed a list of promising practices for effective adolescentreading programs (Biancarosa & Snow, 2004). The push to make reading instructiona larger and more integral part of the national reform agenda with adolescents wasreiterated and expanded in short order by other voices interested in educationalpolicy (see ACT, 2007; International Reading Association, 2006).At the same time that policy makers were advocating for more readinginstruction in the secondary grades, a push also began to make writing and writinginstruction more prominent. In 2003, The National Commission on Writing releasedthe report, The Neglected ‘‘R’’, which argued that writing must be placed ‘‘squarely