The broad context of curriculum planning, staff development, and administrative decision making is the focus of this handbook for developing school writing programs. The guidelines and activities included in this handbook are meant to be suggestive; the ideas presented in this handbook will, in most cases, need to be shaped to suit the circumstances and needs of the local site. This handbook presents practical assistance based on the experience of a variety of school districts, large and small, rural and urban. The handbook describes a change process that continues over an extended period of time, since the approach taken assumes that in most cases a development project will involve major changes in both curriculum and instruction. Chapter titles include: (1) "How students learn to write"; (2) "Development of writing programs"; (3) "Evaluation of writing; (4) "Writing in content subjects"; and (5) "Conclusion." (Forty-eight figures are included; and a seven-page bibliography is attached.) (RS)