About HWP

The mission of the National Writing Project (NWP) is to improve the teaching of writing and improve learning in the nation’s schools. Through its exemplary professional development model, the NWP recognizes the primary importance of teacher knowledge, expertise and leadership. A not-for-profit professional organization, the Hoosier Writing Project is one of 200 sites of the NWP in the nation; these sites have promoted best-practice writing instruction to over 2 million educators since 1973’s initial project at the University of California, Berkeley. National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) results indicate that US students overall need work in writing; between 1984 and 1996, scores for 11th grades declined, while those for students in the Grades 4 and 8 were unchanged. Significantly, studies have demonstrated that students taught by writing project teachers show improvement in writing scores. Therefore, one of the goals of the Hoosier Writing Project is to expose Indiana teachers to ideas and practices proven to be effective in the nation's schools.