What We Believe: Basic Assumptions

The following list of assumptions forms the foundation for the work of the National Writing Project in Vermont:

• Teachers of writing must write themselves.

•There is a common feeling across K-12 and college communities that student writing abilities must become stronger.

• This common concern can best be addressed through cooperatively-planned university-school programs.

• Student writing improves when writing instruction improves.

• The best teacher of teachers is another teacher.

• Change can best be accomplished by those who work in the schools, not by transient consultants who appear briefly, never to be seen again, and not by packs of teacher-proof materials.

• Classroom practice and research have generated a substantial body of knowledge on the teaching of writing.