A Kansas survey: Teaching writing to middle school students

Abstract

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 of writing assigned; adaptations for struggling writers, and the use of the 6+1 Trait Writing Model of Instruction & Assessment. Findings indicated that teacher preparation to teach writing during pre-service and in-service was lacking. Many teachers did indicate they were seeking professional development on their own. CCSS states writing should be occurring in most disciplines. This doesn’t appear to be happening in most middle school classrooms although most teachers agree that it should be. The needs of struggling writers may not be met because teacher use of adaptations with struggling writers may be linked to their self-efficacy to teach writing, which is low. Teachers are not using 11 evidence-based practices with any frequency even though these practices have been identified to be effective. Many teachers don’t believe standardized assessments play a role in classroom writing practices. Numerous teachers are assigning a variety of writing assignments and opportunities, but this seems to depend on the discipline they teach. Most teachers state that access to technology is no longer a problem, even though they are not using it for writing instruction. In addition, the 6+1 Trait Writing Model of Instruction & Assessment is never used by about one fourth of the teachers in this survey.