II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1015 

To reauthorize the National Writing Project. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 28, 2007 

Mr. COCHRAN (for himself and Mr. ROCKEFELLER) introduced the following 

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To reauthorize the National Writing Project. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Writing 

5 Project Act of 2007’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) The United States is facing a continuing 

9 crisis in writing in schools and in the workplace. 

10 (2) The writing problem has been magnified by 

11 the rapidly changing student population, the growing 


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1 number of English language learners, the increasing 

2 numbers of adolescents who are low-achieving writ3 ers, the shortage of adequately trained teachers, and 

4 the specialized knowledge required of teachers to 

5 teach students with special needs who are now part 

6 of mainstream classrooms. 

7 (3) Nationwide reports show that nearly one8 third of high school graduates are not ready for col9 lege-level English composition courses. 

10 (4) Writing is a threshold skill for both employ11 ment and promotion. Deficiencies in writing skills 

12 have resulted in annual private sector costs for pro13 viding writing training that are as high as 

14 $3,100,000,000. 

15 (5) Writing is a central feature in State and 

16 school district education standards in all disciplines. 

17 (6) Since 1973, the only national program to 

18 address the writing problem in the Nation’s schools 

19 has been the National Writing Project, a network of 

20 collaborative university-school programs. 

21 (7) Evaluations of the National Writing Project 

22 document significant gains in student performance 

23 in writing and effective classroom practices. 

24 (8) The National Writing Project has become a 

25 model for programs to improve teaching in such 


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1 other fields as mathematics, science, history, civics 

2 and government, geography, reading and literature, 

3 technology, performing arts, and foreign languages. 

4 (9) Each year, more than 135,000 teachers di5 rectly benefit from National Writing Project pro6 grams in nearly 200 sites located in all 50 States, 

7 the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of 

8 Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands. 

9 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF THE NATIONAL WRITING 

10 PROJECT. 

11 Subpart 2 of part C of title II of the Elementary and 

12 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6701 et 

13 seq.) is amended to read as follows: 

14 ‘‘Subpart 2—National Writing Project 

15 ‘‘SEC. 2331. PURPOSES. 

16 ‘‘The purposes of this subpart are— 

17 ‘‘(1) to support and promote the expansion of 

18 the National Writing Project network of sites so 

19 that teachers in every region of the United States 

20 will have access to a National Writing Project pro21 gram; 

22 ‘‘(2) to ensure the consistent high quality of the 

23 sites through ongoing review, evaluation, and tech24 nical assistance; 


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1 ‘‘(3) to support and promote the establishment 

2 of programs to disseminate effective practices and 

3 research findings about the teaching of writing; and 

4 ‘‘(4) to coordinate activities assisted under this 

5 subpart with activities assisted under this Act. 

6 ‘‘SEC. 2332. NATIONAL WRITING PROJECT. 

7 ‘‘(a) AUTHORIZATION.—The Secretary is authorized 

8 to award a grant to the National Writing Project, a non9 profit educational organization that has as its primary 

10 purpose the improvement of the quality of student writing 

11 and learning (hereafter in this section referred to as the 

12 ‘grantee’) to improve the teaching of writing and the use 

13 of writing as a part of the learning process in our Nation’s 

14 classrooms. 

15 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS OF GRANT.—The grant shall 

16 provide that— 

17 ‘‘(1) the grantee will enter into contracts with 

18 institutions of higher education or other nonprofit 

19 educational providers (hereafter in this section re20 ferred to as ‘contractors’) under which the contrac21 tors will agree to establish, operate, and provide the 

22 non-Federal share of the cost of teacher training 

23 programs in effective approaches and processes for 

24 the teaching of writing; 


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1 ‘‘(2) funds made available by the Secretary to 

2 the grantee pursuant to any contract entered into 

3 under this section will be used to pay the Federal 

4 share of the cost of establishing and operating teach5 er training programs as provided in paragraph (1); 

6 and 

7 ‘‘(3) the grantee will meet such other conditions 

8 and standards as the Secretary determines to be 

9 necessary to assure compliance with the provisions 

10 of this section and will provide such technical assist11 ance as may be necessary to carry out the provisions 

12 of this section. 

13 ‘‘(c) TEACHER TRAINING PROGRAMS.—The teacher 

14 training programs described in subsection (b) shall— 

15 ‘‘(1) be conducted during the school year and 

16 during the summer months; 

17 ‘‘(2) train teachers who teach grades kinder18 garten through college; 

19 ‘‘(3) select teachers to become members of a 

20 National Writing Project teacher network whose 

21 members will conduct writing workshops for other 

22 teachers in the area served by each National Writing 

23 Project site; and 

24 ‘‘(4) encourage teachers from all disciplines to 

25 participate in such teacher training programs. 


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1 ‘‘(d) FEDERAL SHARE.— 

2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para3 graph (2) or (3) and for purposes of subsection (b), 

4 the term ‘Federal share’ means, with respect to the 

5 costs of teacher training programs described in sub6 section (b), 50 percent of such costs to the con7 tractor. 

8 ‘‘(2) WAIVER.—The Secretary may waive the 

9 provisions of paragraph (1) on a case-by-case basis 

10 if the National Advisory Board described in sub11 section (e) determines, on the basis of financial 

12 need, that such waiver is necessary. 

13 ‘‘(3) MAXIMUM.—The Federal share of the 

14 costs of teacher training programs conducted pursu15 ant to subsection (b) may not exceed $150,000 for 

16 any one contractor, or $300,000 for a statewide pro17 gram administered by any one contractor in at least 

18 five sites throughout the State. 

19 ‘‘(e) NATIONAL ADVISORY BOARD.— 

20 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The National Writing 

21 Project shall establish and operate a National Advi22 sory Board. 

23 ‘‘(2) COMPOSITION.—The National Advisory 

24 Board established pursuant to paragraph (1) shall 

25 consist of— 


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1 ‘‘(A) national educational leaders; 

2 ‘‘(B) leaders in the field of writing; and 

3 ‘‘(C) such other individuals as the National 

4 Writing Project determines necessary. 

5 ‘‘(3) DUTIES.—The National Advisory Board 

6 established pursuant to paragraph (1) shall— 

7 ‘‘(A) advise the National Writing Project 

8 on national issues related to student writing 

9 and the teaching of writing; 

10 ‘‘(B) review the activities and programs of 

11 the National Writing Project; and 

12 ‘‘(C) support the continued development of 

13 the National Writing Project. 

14 ‘‘(f) EVALUATION.— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall con16 duct an independent evaluation by grant or contract 

17 of the teacher training programs administered pur18 suant to this subpart. Such evaluation shall specify 

19 the amount of funds expended by the National Writ20 ing Project and each contractor receiving assistance 

21 under this section for administrative costs. The re22 sults of such evaluation shall be made available to 

23 the appropriate committees of Congress. 

24 ‘‘(2) FUNDING LIMITATION.—The Secretary 

25 shall reserve not more than $150,000 from the total 


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1 amount appropriated pursuant to the authority of 

2 subsection (h) for fiscal year 2008 and each of the 

3 5 succeeding fiscal years to conduct the evaluation 

4 described in paragraph (1). 

5 ‘‘(g) APPLICATION REVIEW.— 

6 ‘‘(1) REVIEW BOARD.—The National Writing 

7 Project shall establish and operate a National Re8 view Board that shall consist of— 

9 ‘‘(A) leaders in the field of research in 

10 writing; and 

11 ‘‘(B) such other individuals as the Na12 tional Writing Project determines necessary. 

13 ‘‘(2) DUTIES.—The National Review Board 

14 shall— 

15 ‘‘(A) review all applications for assistance 

16 under this subsection; and 

17 ‘‘(B) recommend applications for assist18 ance under this subsection for funding by the 

19 National Writing Project. 

20 ‘‘(h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

21 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this subpart 

22 $30,000,000 for fiscal year 2008 and such sums as may 

23 be necessary for each of the 5 succeeding fiscal years.’’. 

Æ 


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