Improving Writing of College-Bound Students with Rubrics: An English Department's Collaborative Journey through Teacher Leadership

• Published in: The Clearing house Vol. 89; no. 6; pp. 179 - 184
• Main Authors: Forrest, Scott N., Moquett, Kerry D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington Routledge 01.11.2016; Taylor & Francis Inc
• Subjects: Academic Discourse; Academic readiness; Academic writing; California; Collaboration; College Bound Students; College Readiness; College students; cycle of inquiry; Educational leadership; English Departments; English Teachers; High School Students; Higher education; mastery based learning; Professional Development; professional learning community; Scoring Rubrics; Secondary School Teachers; Student writing; Teacher Collaboration; Teacher Leadership; Teachers; Writing Improvement; Writing Instruction; Writing Skills; California
• ISSN: 0009-8655; 1939-912X
• DOI: 10.1080/00098655.2016.1196103

A high school English department collaboratively addressed the issue of college-readiness in writing while utilizing a focused four-phase leadership model to guide their efforts. Although this discussion highlights the strategic use of writing rubrics, it is the intention to share the benefits of using the four phases of collaborative teacher leadership model with a clear path that strategically uncovers instructional problems, identifies solutions, and analyzes data within a sustainable process. This discussion illustrates how the leadership model guided the department in identifying core causes of students' struggles with academic writing and solutions of strategically using writing rubrics to guide students to higher levels of mastery.