Enhancing Writing Quality in Secondary Classrooms

A Study of the Writing with Purpose Routine

Authors

  • Suzanne Myers University of Kansas
  • Jocelyn Washburn University of Kansas

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.62704/3n93ba10

Keywords:

writing instruction, adolescent literacy, motivation, instructional methods

Abstract

Research suggests that students may become more skilled writers when they write for a meaningful purpose (Block & Strachan, 2019). Measures of adolescent writing performance in the U.S. reveal a need for adolescents to improve their writing skills, warranting the exploration of instructional approaches that engage students in writing for meaningful purposes. This study examined the influence of an instructional routine called Writing with Purpose on four high school English language arts classrooms in a Midwest U.S. school. Using a pre/post design, 37 student writing samples were evaluated using three validated tools. Results showed statistically significant improvements in paragraph structure and all six traits of writing, with medium to large effect sizes. Findings suggest the Writing with Purpose routine may be an effective instructional approach for improving adolescent writing quality.

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Author Biographies

  • Suzanne Myers, University of Kansas

    Suzanne Myers, Ed.D., is an Assistant Research Professor and Co-Director of the Center for Research on Learning at The University of Kansas. She has worked in the education field for more than 20 years as a high school English teacher, District Curriculum Coordinator, and State Education Agency Coordinator for Academic Standards and Leader of K-12 ELA Standards and Assessment. She is National Board Certified in Adolescent/Young Adult English Language Arts. Her current work and research centers on secondary literacy instruction, digital/connective literacies, adaptive professional learning, and virtual instructional coaching. Her work has been funded by the U.S. Department of Education, the Library of Congress, and various state agencies and educational organizations. She has served as Principal Investigator or Co-Principal Investigator on grants totaling more than $34 Million and helps to lead the CRL's long-term vision and strategic direction. She can be reached at suzannemyers@ku.edu.

  • Jocelyn Washburn, University of Kansas

    Jocelyn Washburn, Ph.D., is an Assistant Research Professor, Co-Director, and Director of Professional Development for the Center for Research on Learning (CRL) at The University of Kansas. She provides leadership to the international network of Strategic Instruction Model (SIM) Professional Developers and helps to lead the CRL’s long-term vision and strategic direction. She has been a special education teacher, instructional coach, district literacy coordinator, and regional technical assistance coordinator. Her research focuses on adolescent literacy, evidence-based practices, professional learning models, and educator collaboration. Dr. Washburn is a principal investigator for federally funded research to iteratively design, test, and scale professional learning tools for coaches as well as a technology-based adaptive writing intervention, using artificial intelligence. She has received funding from the U.S. Department of Education, Library of Congress, state departments of education, and local school districts. She can be reached at jwashburn@ku.edu.

References

Kansas English, vol. 107

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Published

2026-06-30

Issue

Vol. 107 (2026)

Section

Scholarly Articles

License

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Enhancing Writing Quality in Secondary Classrooms: A Study of the Writing with Purpose Routine. (2026). Kansas English, 107. https://doi.org/10.62704/3n93ba10