Effective student-centered writing instruction is the subject of this two-part report concerning the South Mississippi Writing Project, a cooperative effort between local public schools and the University of Southern Mississippi. The project was designed to combat illiteracy by providing teachers new tools for teaching writing, thereby improving student writing abilities. First, the report presents a description of a staff development program that utilizes student-centered instruction to train teachers to teach writing, and next, a teacher reports on the effectiveness of student-centered instruction for her personally and the resulting effect on the writing abilities of her students in a fourth-grade public school. (NH)