Improving writing in social studies through professional development Effects on teachers’ beliefs, classroom practice and students’ writing

Although academic literacy is an important goal in secondary education, many students struggle with it, particularly with disciplinary writing. There is a need for a closer integration of writing with instruction in subject areas. We designed and implemented a practice-based professional development program aimed at improving teachers’ ability to teach writing within social studies. We distilled five design principles from meta-analyses of effective writing instruction, which teachers (twelve subject- and Dutch Language teachers) used to design lessons in their own classes. Effects of the program on teachers’ beliefs about writing instruction were measured with a questionnaire. Although no changes in beliefs were found, teachers indicated in a learner report that they had learned a lot about integrating writing in their lessons. After six months teachers reported that they felt more able to use the design principles and still used them in their lessons. Three interventions are described in more detail in this paper. Effects on students’ writing and knowledge of writing were measured using pre- and post-writing-tasks. Results showed a significant positive effect for the writing-instruction groups. We conclude that the professional development program enabled teachers to teach disciplinary writing within social studies and to improve students’ writing as well.