Date of Conferral

1-1-2011

Degree

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

School

Education

Advisor

Maryanne H. Longo

Abstract

Only one quarter of American students in Grades 4, 8, and 12 were considered at or above the proficient level in writing in 2002 and 2007. The purpose of this quantitative study was to identify the effect of the instructional strategy known as writer's workshop on students' writing achievement. Writer's workshop is an instructional strategy involving daily writing and systematic lessons. The research question guiding this study examined the writing achievement of students taught through writer's workshop versus students taught through the county's writing curriculum which utilizes journal writing on a regular basis but does not involve systematic lessons or daily writing. Writer's workshop was implemented in 3 Kindergarten classrooms, totaling 45 students, and scores from these students were compared to the scores of the students in the control group, totaling 45 students, none of whom had been exposed to writer's workshop. The participants were 90 Kindergarten students enrolled in a suburban elementary school in the southeastern United States. The students were randomly placed in experimental and control conditions. A pre- and posttest derived from a 10 stage developmental writing rubric was used to measure writing achievement. An independent-measures t test on posttest scores determined a significant difference in writing achievement when the writer's workshop strategies were integrated into the curriculum. Results from this study may contribute to positive social change by maximizing young learners' academic success, confidence, and self-image as their written communication abilities and skills improve.

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