Rhetoricians, compositionists, writers, and teachers have long demonstrated the importance of writing to critical learning.  Writing provides a means to know, to understand, and to experience knowledge. 

The success of having people come to understand this power rests in effective writing instruction.  The National Writing Project seeks to improve and enhance writing instruction and experience in educational institutions.  Participants attend Summer Writing Institutes where they learn writing techniques.  At the completion of the institute, these trained Teacher Consultants (TCs) return to their schools and districts training others in the methods that they have learned.  In this way, teachers create a network of shared knowledge.  

An overview of some of the goals and assumptions of the writing project shows the importance of teacher knowledge and the application of writing strategies.  According to the 2000 National Writing Project Annual Report, the project is guided by the following beliefs:

Goals:

• to improve student writing and learning in K-16 classrooms;
• to extend the uses of writing in all disciplines;
• to provide schools, colleges, and universities with an effective professional development model;
• to identify, celebrate, and enhance the professional role of successful classroom teachers.

NWP Basic Assumptions

1. Writing is pivotal to learning, academic achievement, and job success.
2. Writing instruction begins in kindergarten and continues through university.
3. Universities and schools in collaboration can provide powerful programs for teachers.
4. Effective teachers of writing regularly write themselves.
5. Exemplary teachers make the best teachers of other teachers.
6. Teachers are the key to reform in education.
7. Professional development begins when teachers enter teaching and continues throughout their careers.
8. Writing is fundamental to learning in all subjects.
9. Real change in classroom practice happens over time.

Each writing project site seeks to accomplish these goals by offering summer institutes, providing continuity activities among the participants, and developing various courses and inservice programs that facilitate and continue to enhance the quality of and experiences with writing in today's schools.