Writing Instruction Software and Common Core State Standards: Instructional Partners or Strange Bedfellows?

• In Event: 53.032 - The Roles of Instructional Practices and Assessment in Literacy Learning

Abstract

This descriptive study focused on how teachers implementing Common Core State Standards for literacy used writing instruction software. Data sources included an online teacher survey, backend system data, interviews, classroom observations, and daily instructional logs. Data from 70 teachers’ classrooms indicate that the writing software played a major role in the composition, feedback, and revision phases of writing but not in planning compositions. System data showed that students spent an average of 3.32 days using the software on each assignment. A majority of teachers supplemented the software’s feedback with their own, using the software’s teacher-student communication features. Teachers valued the software’s instantaneous feedback to students on writing conventions because it allowed them to focus on deeper aspects of student writing.

Authors

• Barbara M. Means, Digital Promise

• Lauren Cassidy, SRI International

• Kaily Yee, SRI International