Teaching Secondary Students to Write Effectively

Meets WWC Group Design Standards With Reservations

Gallagher, 

Woodworth, 

and 

Arshan 

(2015)

Randomized 

controlled 

trial that 

needs to 

demonstrate 

equivalence

2,486 7th- to 

9th-grade 

students

44 rural 

high-poverty 

districts 

across 10 

U.S. states

Teachers received professional 

development through the National 

Writing Program’s College-Ready 

Writers Program to support collab-

orative teaching. They delivered 

instruction on argument writing in 

4- to 6-day units, using materials 

provided by the College-Ready Writers 

Program, and they used regular 

formative assessments to analyze 

student skills and needs.

Teachers taught their 

regular lessons.

audience = 

0.16*

organi-

zation = 

0.20*

use of 

evidence = 

0.20*

Olson 

and Land 

(2008)

c

Quasi-

experimental 

design

478 9th- to 

12th-grade 

students 

(majority 

mainstreamed 

English 

learners) 

Schools in 

2 school 

districts in 

Los Angeles 

County, 

California

Teachers received professional 

development through the Pathway 

Project on reading and writing strat-

egy instruction. They modeled the 

strategies in class and gave students 

time to practice and reflect on their 

use of writing strategies. They used 

an on-demand writing assessment 

to gauge student needs and prog-

ress. The intervention was imple-

mented over 2 school years, with 

effects measured after 1 year and 

after 2 years.

Teachers taught their 

regular lessons.

overall 

writing 

quality = 

0.71*

d

Olson 

et al. 

(2016)

e

Randomized 

controlled 

trial that 

needs to 

demonstrate 

equivalence

1,817 7th- to 

12th-grade 

students 

16 secondary 

schools in 

Anaheim 

Union School 

District, 

California

Teachers received professional 

development through the Pathway 

Project on reading and writing strat-

egy instruction. They modeled the 

strategies in class and gave students 

time to practice and reflect on their 

use of writing strategies. They used 

an on-demand writing assessment to 

gauge student needs and progress. 

The intervention was implemented 

over 1 school year.

Teachers taught their 

regular lessons.

overall 

writing 

quality = 

0.46*

f

Notes: All studies in this table meet WWC group design standards with or without reservations. Within each rating section, studies are 

listed alphabetically by first author.

Each row in this table represents a study, defined by the WWC as an examination of the effect of an intervention on a distinct sample. 

In some cases, multiple contrasts or studies were described in a single article. In these cases, the contrast or study that is most relevant 

to the recommendation is included in the table. 

For studies that included multiple outcomes in a domain, reported effect sizes and statistical significance are for the domain and calcu-

lated as described in the WWC Procedures and Standards Handbook 3.0 (pp. 28–29).

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