The Proof of the Pudding: Seeking Validation of a Writing Project's Power

Abstract

In this article, leaders of the North Carolina Writing Project explore whether students of teachers who attended Writing Project summer institutes out-performed other teachers' students on state writing tests. The authors accordingly developed a test to compare the writing of those students with the writing of students of non-writing project teachers. The test, however, produced no significant difference in the writing of the two groups. Seventeen years later, the authors compared the longevity of writing project teachers with that of comparable non-writing project teachers to see if the institutes infused a spirit of professionalism and self-efficacy in participants that other teachers did not possess. This comparison affirmed the authors' beliefs: writing project teachers had greater staying power than comparable teachers.