In "The Writing Revolution," Peg Tyre traces the problems at one troubled New York high school to a simple fact: The students couldn't write coherent sentences. In 2009 New Dorp High made a radical change. Instead of trying to engage students through memoir exercises and creative assignments, the school required them to write expository essays and learn the fundamentals of grammar. Within two years, the school's pass rates for the English Regents test and the global-history exam were soaring. The school's drop-out rate — 40 percent in 2006 — has fallen to 20 percent.
The experiment suggests that the trend toward teaching creative writing was hurting American students. In a debate about Tyre's story, we asked a range of experts, from policymakers to Freedom Writers founder Erin Gruwell, to share their thoughts on Tyre's story. This page will be updated with new entries each day through mid-October.
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Fiction and poetry certainly have a place in America's schools. But when students don't learn how to articulate ideas, their options erode -- and our whole society is worse off for it.
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Technology alone can't fix America's schools. But it can help teachers make better use of their time.
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A high school student explains how she discovered the "two dimensions" of writing.
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Logic and grammar are important. But for students to truly own the English language, they need to read and write poems.
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Today's fashion is to throw away the textbook and to teach kids to think like mathematicians. The problem? They're not learning how to do actual math.
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At this San Francisco-based program, movement, theater, and glossy publications are all part of learning to read and write.
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If someone had taught all those engineers how to string together a proper sentence, Windows Vista would be a lot less buggy.
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One thing seems certain: Just giving out more writing assignments won't do the trick.
Left: Museo Nazionale Romano, Rome, right: Reuters
Every great writer has a strong voice. Helping students find their own is key to any "writing revolution."
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Some fiction and memoir programs are a waste of classroom time. Others sharpen students' thinking and provide them with unmatched insight. Good teachers know the difference.
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New Dorp's writing program is truly revolutionary. But bringing it to other schools will take a lot of hard work.
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It's all too easy for students to float away on abstract words. Here's how to get them back on solid ground.
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Teaching is a compassionate profession, and caring about kids' feelings should be a crucial part of helping them learn.
Kyoko Hamada
An Atlantic article studies a once-failing high school and draws conclusions about its turnaround. But there are other ways to interpret that story.
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The "writing revolution" may be on its way. But for some parents, it's not coming fast enough.
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Students need to master written language. But they also need rich topics to write about.
High school athletes are the pride of their communities. But if we want to inspire kids to write well, we should be putting our best young scholars on display.
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It takes more than a good grasp of grammar to teach students the true power of the written word.
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The woman who inspired the "writing revolution" described in a new Atlantic magazine story explains why her methods are neither rigid nor formulaic.
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A former South Bronx teacher recalls how his own idealism kept his class from learning how to write.
Arthur Applebee
Lucy Calkins
Emilie Coulson
William Fitzhugh
Jim Fredricksen
Erin Gruwell
Judith Hochman
Dorothea Lasky
Cindy O'Donnell-Allen
Robert Pondiscio
Daniel Willingham
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