This program profile describes a restructure of the PhD exam intended to enhance graduate-level instruction and advisement within the Rhetoric and Composition program at Georgia State University. We explain how a mix of institutional constraints and mentorship opportunities drove revisions to our doctoral exams and processes of doctoral…

In this program profile, we describe the stretch/studio program recently implemented at the University of New Mexico. This program responds both to an institutional move away from remediation and to the large number of linguistically and racially diverse students at our institution. In this profile, we describe the new program's curriculum, which…

In the U.S., international enrollment trends have increased the pedagogical imperative to address multilingual graduate student writers' linguistic needs/growth in the process of their developing disciplinary expertise. In the context of this internationalization effort, what can two disciplines--Applied Linguistics and Composition--constructively…

In 1990 Helon Howell Raines published "Is There a Writing Program in This College? Two Hundred and Thirty-Six Two-Year Schools Respond," in which she reported on her study, via survey and eight follow-up telephone interviews, of two-year college writing programs across the country. Raines asked questions about departmental and institutional…

Given complaints about preparation of international students for their writing-intensive courses, a director of first-year writing and an undergraduate researcher at a Midwestern research university conducted a needs assessment based on Kaufman's model. Instruments used included a survey, interviews, and analysis of commentary on sample papers.…

A developmental writing program created for grades three through six is described in this paper. The first half of the paper describes the four-phase instructional model, which includes teacher-directed prewriting activities; successive drafts; editing by the writer, by peer editors, and by the instructor; and a publishing stage. The second half…

Describes an inservice and preservice training program for writing teachers at the secondary and postsecondary levels at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Includes a description of a one-day writing workshop and of a graduate course with a laboratory component. (HTH)

Describes the West Virginia Writing Project, a long-term inservice training project based on team teaching, on-site consultants, and teacher input. (HTH)

The social context activity model of adult literacy instruction posits that literacy is a relative phenomena and literacy needs are specific to the individual and the social context within which the individual operates. Instruction is based on the concept of activity with a prospective focus on the formation of students' shared and personal…

With 138 sites nationwide and over 70,000 teachers participating each year, the National Writing Project offers readily available opportunity for improved writing instruction. Essentially a staff-development program, the project is based on the belief that the key agent in educational change is the teacher. (Author/MLW)

Describes the Northwest Writing Network, a collaborative model that brings together parents, administrators, and public school teachers (preschool through secondary) with Northwest Missouri State University staff and national consultants to share information, disseminate ideas, and investigate new approaches to the teaching of writing. (RS)

Describes North Carolina's model of community college faculty development that coordinates the improvement of curricula and instruction with professional development activities. Discusses the strategy of basing projects at individual colleges while targeting single curriculum areas statewide and lists curriculum improvement projects since 1985.…

A review of the literature on individualized instruction in writing centers and other places reveals several histories, theories, and rationales for such instruction. Suggested models of instruction emphasize the progress of the individul through conferences, individualized assignments, high levels of peer interaction, and grade negotiation. The…

This article is a descriptive account of a professional learning community established among university professors, university teacher candidates, a school district instructional supervisor, the high school principal, a high school literacy coordinator, and teachers of a Mid-Atlantic high school in the United States. This learning community…

Several years ago, the English faculty at the Schuylkill Campus of Pennsylvania State University entered into a cooperative venture with the campus learning center to use computer-assisted instruction in the basic rules of grammar as part of the remedial English course. The software used for the lab is the Houghton Mifflin English Microlab…