Date
9-2008
Department
School of Education
Degree
Doctor of Education (EdD)
Chair
Randy Dunn
Primary Subject Area
Education, Elementary
Keywords
writing, elementary, workshop, writer's workshop, process writing
Disciplines
Education
Recommended Citation
Smithson, Marla S., "Academic Effects of Writer's Workshop" (2008). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 110.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/110
Abstract
The purpose of this dissertation was to study the effects of a process writing curriculum, Writer’s Workshop, on the writing achievement of fifth grade students as measured by the Georgia Fifth Grade Writing Assessment. The study used three years of data and a total of 321 subjects in determining improved writing scores. The investigation equated and compared the performance levels using a Chi-square contingency table, finding that the group prior to implementation surpassed the performance of the cohorts in the following two years. An independent samples t-test evaluated scale scores from the latter two years, resulting in no significant difference between the two groupings. Data also includes interviews from the principal and academic coach. The discussion cites several reasons for the findings and suggests continued use of the curriculum with alterations.
