Best Practices in Writing Instruction

Well established as a definitive text--and now revised and updated with eight new chapters--this book translates cutting-edge research into effective guidelines for teaching writing in grades K-12. Illustrated with vivid classroom examples, the book identifies the components of a complete, high-quality writing program. Leading experts provide strategies for teaching narrative and argumentative writing; using digital tools; helping students improve specific skills, from handwriting and spelling to sentence construction; teaching evaluation and revision; connecting reading and writing instruction; teaching vulnerable populations; using assessment to inform instruction; and more.

New to This Edition

• Chapters on new topics: setting up the writing classroom and writing from informational source material.
• New chapters on core topics: narrative writing, handwriting and spelling, planning, assessment, special-needs learners, and English learners.
• Increased attention to reading–writing connections and using digital tools.
• Incorporates the latest research and instructional procedures.

See also Handbook of Writing Research, Second Edition, edited by Charles A. MacArthur, Steve Graham, and Jill Fitzgerald, which provides a comprehensive overview of writing research that informs good practice.

Steve Graham, EdD, is the Warner Professor in the Division of Educational Leadership and Innovation at Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Arizona State University. He is also Research Professor in the Learning Science Institute at the Australian Catholic University in Brisbane. Dr. Graham is editor of the Journal of Educational Psychology. He has coedited several books, including Handbook of Writing Research, Second Edition; Handbook of Learning Disabilities, Second Edition; and Best Practices in Writing Instruction, Third Edition. He is the coauthor of three influential Carnegie Corporation reports: Writing Next, Writing to Read, and Informing Writing. Dr. Graham has received numerous awards, including the Sylvia Scribner Award from Division C of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), the Career Research Award from the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), the Kauffman–Hallahan Distinguished Researcher Award from the CEC Division of Research, the Samuel A. Kirk Award from the CEC Division of Learning Disabilities, the Distinguished Researcher Award from the special education interest group of the AERA, and the Wiederholt Distinguished Lecturer Award from the Council of Learning Disabilities. He was elected to the Reading Hall of Fame in 2018 and is a fellow of AERA, Division 15 of the American Psychological Association, and the International Academy for Research in Learning Disabilities.

Charles A. MacArthur, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of Special Education and Literacy in the School of Education at the University of Delaware. A former special education teacher, Dr. MacArthur has been conducting research on writing development and instruction for struggling writers since the 1980s. Most recently, he was principal investigator on two grants to develop and examine the efficacy of a writing curriculum for college basic writing courses. Other research projects have focused on the development of a writing curriculum for students with learning disabilities, writing strategy instruction, decoding instruction in adult education, speech recognition as a writing accommodation, project-based learning in social studies in inclusive classrooms, and first-grade writing instruction. Dr. MacArthur is a Fellow of the American Educational Research Association and a recipient of a research award from the Council for Exceptional Children. He has served as coeditor of the Journal of Writing Research and the Journal of Special Education, has published over 125 articles and book chapters, and is coeditor or coauthor of several books.

Michael Hebert, PhD, is Associate Professor in the Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. His primary research interests include the development and testing of writing interventions for students with disabilities, examining the impacts of writing on reading outcomes, and writing assessment. He is the coauthor of two influential Carnegie Corporation reports: Writing to Read and Informing Writing. Dr. Hebert is currently the principal investigator of an Early Career Development and Mentoring grant from the National Center for Special Education Research, with his project focused on developing an informational text writing intervention for fourth-grade struggling writers. He was previously a fellow in the Experimental Education Research Training program supported by the Institute of Education Sciences. Dr. Hebert serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Educational Psychology.