Advocacy in Troubling Times: Framing the Work of First-Year Writing

Linda Adler-Kassner, Eastern Michigan University

Session Description: Reports about writers and writing, from those in mainstream newspapers to those published by groups like the Spellings Commission on Higher Education and Project Achieve, are gloomy. According to these documents, students’ abilities are faltering, and educators (from K-college) are often failing to address what is portrayed as a gaping need.

The “solutions” to these proposed problems contained in influential reports (such as those from the Spellings Commission or Project Achieve’s “Ready or Not”) have profound implications for first-year writing programs. They include using state-mandated NCLB tests for college admission and placement (including writing placement), and as a baseline from which to measure student learning.

If first-year writing programs are to maintain curricular integrity, we must both represent the work that we do in clear and accessible terms, and assess the effectiveness of that work. This session will help participants identify projects that they can develop and/or conduct in their programs, and learn to frame that work to advocate for their programs.