OSU Writing Project Awarded National Grant

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

The OSU Writing Project has been selected as a grant recipient for the National Writing Project College Ready Writers Scale-Up program, part of the Supporting Effective Educator Development funding from the U.S. Department of Education. The grant will support a year-long intensive professional development experience for area teachers in teaching argument writing to adolescents.

Shelbie Witte, associate professor and Watson Endowed Chair in the College of Education, serves as site director for the OSU Writing Project and is the principal investigator on the grant along co-director Pam Brown, professor in the College of Education, and Stillwater educator Annie Ortiz.

"Being selected as a grant recipient indicates a recognition of the expertise and commitment that OSU Writing Project teacher consultants have exhibited since 1992,” Witte said.  “It's proof positive that hard work in the craft of writing makes a difference."

OSU Writing Project faculty will recruit a strong cadre of area middle and high school teachers interested in learning about and providing professional development in teaching argument writing. 

"Oklahoma teachers selected to participate in this intensive professional development will have at their disposal a plethora of writing resources and pedagogical tools to use with their students,” Witte said.  “Our research clearly shows the impact of this work on student performance in the classroom and on assessments, so we anticipate the students who work with these teachers to have the very best instruction in argument writing in the state."

The OSU Writing Project also participated in the first round of the grant program, the College-Ready Writers Program, which significantly impacted teacher practices and student outcomes. The ground-breaking results were recently released and presented to leaders in Washington D.C. Read more about the work here: http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/4496

Educators interested in participating in this project may contact Dr. Witte at shelbie.witte@okstate.edu.