Teaching Secondary Students to Write Effectively

Summary of evidence: 

Moderate Evidence

Eight studies contributed to the level of evi-

dence for this recommendation.

55

 Three studies 

meet WWC group design standards without res-

ervations,

56

 and five studies meet WWC group 

design standards with reservations (see Appen-

dix D).

57

 Seven studies found positive effects 

on at least one writing outcome;

58

 positive 

effects were found in the overall writing quality, 

genre elements, and word choice domains. The 

evidence was largely aligned with both steps of 

the recommendation, with six studies examin-

ing practices related to using exemplar texts 

(step 1) and teaching students to understand 

that writers and readers use similar strategies, 

knowledge, and skills (step 2).

59

 Three studies 

with positive effects provided a direct test of 

the recommendation, examining the recom-

mended practices without other important 

intervention components.

60

 The other four 

studies that found positive effects examined 

interventions that included other recommended 

practices, but the panel determined that inte-

grated reading and writing instruction was a 

critical component of the study interventions.

61

 

All of the studies were conducted in the United 

States except one, which was conducted in 

Germany.

62

 The student samples were diverse, 

including general-education students and Eng-

lish learners from 6th to 12th grade.

While the supporting evidence for this recom-

mendation had high internal and external 

validity, and there was a preponderance of 

positive effects on writing outcomes, this 

recommendation has a moderate level of evi-

dence. One study found indeterminate effects 

on writing outcomes

63

, and fewer than half of 

the studies provided a direct test of the rec-

ommendation. Two of the three studies that 

provided a direct test of the recommendation 

had a very short duration.

64