Rockefeller Joins West Virginians to Promote Writing Skills

Press Release

ROCKEFELLER JOINS WEST VIRGINIANS TO PROMOTE WRITING SKILLS

~Senator Reintroduces Legislation to continue the National Writing Project~

Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) today met with West Virginia teachers and leaders of the National Writing Project to discuss efforts to promote strong writing skills in the classroom.

Rockefeller also announced that he has introduced legislation to reauthorize the National Writing Project, a grant program aimed at improving writing skills.

"Writing is one of the most essential elements of communication," said Rockefeller. "Words have the power to change the world. In today's day and age, teachers must have the resources and the training they need to help empower their students to develop finely-honed skills."

The National Writing Project Act of 2007 reauthorizes the use of grants from the Department of Education to provide training for teaching writing in all subject areas. Experienced teachers will continue to share and develop the latest and most successful instructional techniques and then lead similar local workshops and training sessions for their colleagues.

Last year, over 3000 West Virginia teachers participated in the National Writing Project. There are three Writing Projects Sites in West Virginia: the Central West Virginia Writing Project at the Marshall University Graduate College in South Charleston, the Marshall University Writing Project in Huntington, and the National Writing Project at West Virginia University in Morgantown.

A poll conducted by Belden Russonello & Stewart announced yesterday that Americans overwhelmingly want writing taught throughout school curriculum. Research shows that students taught by National Writing Project teachers demonstrate more improvement and higher overall writing performance than their peers.

The National Writing Project is a No Child Left Behind program.

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