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How a Louisiana school district used a method of writing instruction to boost literacy and learning across the curriculum

Teachers and administrators in Monroe, La., knew they had a problem: Many students couldn鈥檛 write.

鈥淚f there was a test question that required writing,鈥� recalls secondary supervisor Jerry Mayhall, who at the time taught current events to high school students, 鈥渢hey most likely just wouldn鈥檛 do it. I was just, like, 鈥榃rite something 鈥� just put something down.鈥欌�� Rochelle Williams, director of special education, says if her students were given a writing prompt, they would just copy the prompt.

Students 鈥渄id not have a clue where to start,鈥� says Serena White, Monroe鈥檚 former director of curriculum and instruction and later its chief academic officer. 鈥淓ven on standardized tests, where it was high stakes, they would freeze up and put down very little or nothing at all and turn it in. So what I saw, as a district leader walking around, was students who weren鈥檛 prepared for the task given to them.鈥�

Monroe, a city of about 48,000, has a challenging student population. Median household income is less than half the national average, and about 80 percent of the district鈥檚 8,500 students are economically disadvantaged. About the same percentage are Black. As in many districts with similar challenges, reading and writing scores were low.