Transforming Student Writing Performance
A two-year study led by Dr. Steve Graham found significant gains in persuasive writing among 911 students.
Committed to Becoming Evidence-Based, Not Just Research-Based
While many educational interventions claim to be "evidence-based," most are actually "research-based." What’s the difference? "Research-based" interventions build on existing studies, whereas "evidence-based" means the approach has undergone multiple rigorous, controlled studies with repeated positive results. We’re not there yet, but we’re well on our way! We’ve tested the Pathway in two years of quasi-experimental (with treatment and control groups) research to ensure effectiveness.
About the Study
Beginning in 2022, lead researcher in writing instruction, Dr. Steve Graham, conducted a two-year study of the Writing Pathway with 911 students, which found significant gains in persuasive writing. In year two, middle school students made 9.3 times the growth than control students, with an effect size of 0.64. This translates to a 24-percentile point improvement. In other words, students starting at the 50th-percentile reached the 74th-percentile after using the Pathway for a year.
Key Findings
- ✦Middle school students improved 3.1 times more than control students in the first year of our research (n = 470), and 9.3 times more than control students in the second year (n = 441).
- ✦The Pathway and its professional learning has an effect size of 0.64. This translates to a 24-percentile point improvement. In other words, students starting at the 50th-percentile would reach the 74th-percentile after using the Pathway for a year.
- ✦Professional learning and support for cross-content teams of teachers was critical. We found significantly stronger student outcomes when we increased the professional learning support (from 6 one-hour sessions to 8, over the course of the school year).
- ✦The investment of leadership matters. In schools where a member of the school’s leadership team was an active participant in the professional learning, students made more progress and teachers felt more supported.
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