The Study

Michigan State University College of Education Professor Gary Troia and colleague Mary Maddox (Washington Research Institute) examined writing instruction in middle schools from the perspectives of special and general education teachers via focus groups and rating scales.

Findings

The authors note that we know virtually nothing about secondary teachers’ or special education teachers’ competency expectations or theories of literacy instruction and learning. The goal of their study was to help fill the research gap in the area of writing instruction. The researchers conducted two teacher focus groups, the first of which included eight special education teachers from a large metropolitan school district. Six of the eight taught in middle school and the other two in elementary school (these teachers had experience in secondary classrooms). The second focus group, conducted a year later, included 10 middle school teachers who worked in the same school district. Several of the teachers in both groups were teaching special education classes. In addition, before each focus group, the teachers completed surveys using a series of rating scales used in prior research. The researchers found that special education and general educators alike valued a balanced approach to teaching writing; both groups held a positive view of their teaching efficacy, and both groups were strongly influenced by their teaching context. However, the teachers were unsure how to enact a balanced literacy approach. Moreover, they identified a number of factors that negatively impacted their efforts to deliver effective and comprehensive writing instruction: requirements to teach voluminous subject matter content, large numbers of students, substantial variation in student backgrounds and abilities, diminished student motivation, barriers to successful inclusion of students with disabilities and meeting these students’ writing needs in the general education classroom, and underdeveloped or misaligned district-sanctioned writing curricula.

What It Means To You

Do you know the competency expectations and theories of literacy instruction and learning that undergird the work of the secondary school teachers in your district as they relate to writing instruction? How many of the negative factors identified by the teachers in this study exist in your schools? How can teachers and administrators work together to improve your district’s writing programs?

For More Information

Troia, G.A. & Maddox, M.E. (2004). Writing instruction in middle schools: Special and general education teachers share their views and voice their concerns. Exceptionality, 12(1), 19-37.