Schools neglect writing, commission charges

5/6/03 -- The amount of time and money devoted to student writing must be dramatically increased if students are to succeed in college and careers, reports the National Commission on Writing in America's Schools and Colleges.

According to The Neglected "R": The Need for a Writing Revolution, released April 25, state and local curriculum guidelines should require writing in every curriculum at all grade levels. The report also recommends that educators engage the private sector in developing ways to apply technology to the teaching and assessment of writing.

The commission, a blue-ribbon group of university leaders, public school superintendents, and teachers, and assisted by an advisory panel of writing experts, launched a five-year campaign to implement the recommendations. That effort will be headed by Bob Kerrey, president of New School University in New York City, and a former U.S. senator and governor of Nebraska.

The Neglected "R" says writing is important because it allows students to "connect the dots" in their knowledge and is central to self-expression and civic participation.

The report argues that writing has been neglected by the school reform movement, with the result that students have poor writing skills.

Among the report's findings:

• Nearly 66 percent of high school seniors do not write a three-page paper as often as once a month for their English teachers.

• Seventy-five percent of seniors never receive a writing assignment in history or social studies.

• Most fourth-grade students spend less than three hours a week writing, which is approximately 15 percent of the time they spend watching television.