ALBANY, N.Y. (January 26, 2007) - Two University at Albany professors of educational theory and practice have received an additional $100,000 grant to continue examining the teaching and learning of writing in core academic subjects in middle and high schools nationwide.
The new grant brings the total for the first two years of the project to $300,000.
Judith A. Langer, distinguished professor, founder and director of the Albany Institute for Research in Education (AIRE), and director, Center on English Learning & Achievement (CELA) and Arthur N. Applebee, leading professor in the department of educational theory and practice, and director, Center on English Learning & Achievement (CELA),were awarded the funding as heads of the National Study of Writing Instruction, a jointly funded project of the College Board and the National Writing Project.
During the first year, the project reanalyzed existing national databases to develop an overall portrait of writing instruction and to identify regional differences and differential distribution of writing activities and writing instruction across demographic subgroups. The work resulted in an initial portrait of equality/inequality in opportunities to learn to write, as well as changes in instruction over the past 30 years.
During this second year, the project is examining in depth how writing is incorporated into each of the major academic subject areas, the cumulative experiences of individual students learning to write, and the contextual factors that support or inhibit effective opportunities for students to learn to write well in their secondary school coursework.
