Evaluation of the College, Career, and Community Writers Program

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SRI conducted three large-scale studies of a national writing education program, generating new evidence on improving source-based argument writing across districts and grade levels.

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The National Writing Project developed the College, Career, and Community Writers Program (C3WP) in response to more rigorous academic standards emphasizing source-based argument writing. Designed to strengthen instruction in grades 4–10, C3WP integrates instructional resources, formative assessment, and embedded supports to help teachers enact high-quality writing instruction.

From 2012 to 2021, SRI conducted three independent, federally funded randomized evaluations of C3WP across diverse contexts. These included a district-level randomized controlled trial in 44 rural districts across 10 states, a within-teacher randomized controlled trial in 12 high-need schools in urban and rural contexts across five states, and a scale-up study involving 48 districts. Across the three studies, SRI examined program implementation and student outcomes, finding positive and statistically significant impacts on student writing achievement and contributing to a rigorous, multi-study evidence base on improving argument writing at scale.

Our work

Students’ ability to analyze texts and informational sources and construct evidence-based arguments is critical for college, careers, and civic participation. As states adopted rigorous college- and career-ready standards, argument writing emerged as a central—and challenging—expectation for students. While new standards raised expectations for students, they also highlighted a critical gap: teachers needed coherent, research-based supports to translate ambitious writing standards into daily instructional practice.

To address this challenge, the National Writing Project developed the College, Career, and Community Writers Program (C3WP) – an approach to teaching argument writing designed to strengthen students’ argument writing drawing on non-fiction texts. C3WP integrates instructional resources, a formative assessment tool, and sustained professional development for teachers to deepen their understanding of argument writing, support meaningful shifts in classroom practice, and improve the quality of student writing.

Over nearly a decade, SRI conducted a set of experimental studies examining C3WP across varied contexts. These studies included a district-level randomized controlled trial in 44 high-need rural districts across ten states, a within-teacher randomized controlled trial testing a short-cycle implementations in rural and non-rural settings in 12 schools across five states, and a large-scale replication study that randomized 48 high-need rural districts to examine program impacts, implementation, and scaling of the program to new contexts.

Data collection included student writing assessments, teacher surveys, instructional logs, documentation of participation in professional learning, and interviews with teachers and program staff. Across studies and contexts, findings showed positive and statistically significant impacts on student writing achievement and evidence of shifts in instructional practice. Together, the results offer a robust evidence base on the effectiveness of C3WP and insights into how an intervention can be implemented and scaled in diverse, real-world settings.

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Associated fields of research