Our Results/Research

The Writing to Respond (WTR) process has been the hub of Buddinwriters and its success. WTR had been in use in the classroom for two semesters when it was shared with other classes within the same department. By the end of the third semester it spread to other departments. Once the school realized that the process supported the effective use of the varied Scholastic magazines that the school subscribed to, the process became a school-wide initiative used along with Silent Sustained Reading across all subject areas consistently.

By the end of its third year the students and school had experienced visible success.

Students who utilized the Writing to Respond (WTR) process for three consecutive years displayed the following results in comparison to students who had never encountered the process or who encountered the process for one semester.

• Students developed an appreciation for reading informational texts in class and on standardized tests.
• Students were able to respond to reading in writing with ease and with better success than their counterparts.
• Eighty percent of these students scored on the 50th percentile or better on reading test compared to those who did not experience the process.
•  Eighty-five percent of students who experienced the process for three semesters in two or more classes scored on the 70th percentile or better on standardized tests in reading and social studies.
• Eighty-eight percent of the seniors who experienced the process for three consecutive years met writing requirements to begin credited English classes at the college level.
• Students who experienced the Writing to Respond process for three semesters were more confident in their approach to the ACT writing test and performed better than students with less than one semester of exposure to the WTR process.