Teachers College Reading and Writing Project

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Teachers College Reading and Writing Project (TCRWP or "The Project") was founded and is directed by Lucy Calkins, The Robinson Professor of Children's Literature at Teachers College, Columbia University. Its mission is to help young people become avid and skilled readers, writers, and inquirers through research, curriculum development, and in-school professional development.^[1] TCRWP develops methods and tools for the teaching of reading and writing through research, curriculum development published through Heinemann, and professional development with teachers and school leaders. TCRWP supports the Reading Workshop and Writers Workshop approaches through its Units of Study curriculum.^[2][3][4] The project involves thousands of schools and teachers in New York and around the country in an ongoing, multi-faceted in-service community of practitioners engaged in the application and continual refinement of approaches to helping children become effective writers and readers.^[5]

Curriculum and research[]

TCRWP was founded by Lucy Calkins in 1981.^[1] Prior to founding the Project, Calkins was a researcher working with Donald Graves on the first research study on writing funded by the National Institute of Education.^[6]

After founding the Project, Calkins developed methodologies designed to increase the amount of writing in classrooms, such as the use of texts as models for writing.^[7] In its early years, the work of the Project was focused primarily on supporting writing instruction, later this focus widened to include reading and support for all components of balanced literacy. By 2013, the Project had affiliations with over 600 schools and an extensive involvement in New York City's education system, working with hundreds of districts and whole cities such as Chicago, Albany, and Seattle, as well as internationally in Israel, Sweden, Jordan, and others.^[8] Curriculum developed by Project staff supports a balanced literacy approach to reading and writing instruction that is in wide use across the United States.^[9] Calkins and TCRWP have tailored the approach to the Common Core Standards by increasing the amount of nonfiction, including more discussion of difficult texts and decreasing the amount of time devoted to personal writing.^[9] The "Writer's Workshop" model is based on the idea that children are natural writers.^[5] According to the New York Times, TCRWP and Lucy Calkins have been "architects" of New York City's balanced literacy program in schools. New York Magazine referred to Calkins as "looked upon nationally as a godmother of whole-language learning."^[10] Balanced Literacy took off under Mayor Michael Bloomberg who mandated the approach in 2003, and turned to Lucy Calkins as an early advocate of the approach, which factored into the "Reading Wars" nationally in the debate between phonics vs. whole-language instruction.^{[10][9] [11]} The Units of Study have been adopted and implemented by some of the lowest-performing schools in the city, "Renewal Schools," through an initiative by Chancellor Carmen Farina to help schools meet Common Core standards. In New York City schools that work closely with TCRWP, 20% more students performed at or above standards on the state's English Language Arts test in 2016.^[12] At least 10,000 New York City teachers have attended Project workshops and TCRWP holds millions of dollars in city contracts.^[13]

The TCRWP has published Units of Study in Writing for Grades K-8, Units of Study in Reading for Grades K-8, and Units of Study in Phonics for Grades K-1. The Units of Study curriculum guide books and "workshop" model centers on independent student work in combination with teacher modeling and one-on-one and small-group guidance.^[14] The Project has also published a Classroom Library Series through Heinemann, which includes books for grades K-8 from more than 50 different publishers. These books are designed for students who read both on grade level and below, and each library contains between 450 and 700 titles spanning from fiction and nonfiction genres such as classics, sports, science, mystery, fantasy, biography, and history, and features a strong social justice component.^[12]

The Project also jointly operates Reading Rescue, a literacy intervention program, in hundreds of schools in New York City.^[15]

In October 2020, APM Reports published a statement by The Teachers College of Reading and Writing Project discussing recent research findings that will lead to what TCRWP referred to as a "rebalancing" of their curriculum. [1] The primary change is that Calkins' believes that early readers need more focused instruction on phonics and decodable words. [2]

Professional development[]

The Project creates learning progressions for students through curricular calendars provided to schools and works weekly with principals, literacy coaches, and teachers to bring the curriculum to life.^[16] TCRWP also provides training at Teachers College, Columbia University year-round including multi-day training institutes and one-day workshops for teachers and school leaders.^[17][18]

TCRWP works in thousands of classrooms and schools around the world. More than 170,000 teachers have attended the Project's week-long institutes, and over 4,000 participants return each year for Saturday Reunions. Over 4,000 teachers attend summer institutes and TCRWP works during the year with about a third of the city's 80,000 teachers.^[19]

Notable partnerships[]

The following school reform experts, national literacy leaders, educational consultants, and authors have partnered with or been guest speakers at TCRWP:

David A. Adler
Kwame Alexander
Roy Peter Clark
Billy Collins
Christopher Paul Curtis
Kate DiCamillo
Walter Dean Myers
Andrea Davis Pinkney
Carmen Farina
Michael Fullan
Jack Gantos
Nikki Giovanni
Elfrieda "Freddy" Hiebert
Patricia MacLachlan
Naomi Shihab Nye
Katherine Paterson
Matt de la Peña
Patricia Polacco
Diane Ravitch
Jason Reynolds
Pam Muñoz Ryan
Seymour Simon (author)
Sarah Weeks
Mo Willems

List of publications for teachers[]

^[3] Calkins, Lucy, et al. Units of Study for Teaching Reading: Middle School Grades, Introductory Bundle. Heinemann, 2017.
Calkins, Lucy, et al. Up the Ladder. Heinemann, 2017.
Calkins, Lucy and the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project Staff. Units of Study for Teaching Reading Series, Grades K-5. Heinemann, 2015.
Cruz, Colleen. The Unstoppable Writing Teacher. Heinemann, 2015.
Calkins, Lucy and the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project Staff. Units of Study in Argument, Information, and Narrative Writing Middle School Series, Grades 6-8. Heinemann, 2014.
Calkins, Lucy, et al. Writing Pathways: Performance Assessments and Learning Progressions, Grades K-5. Heinemann, 2014.
Martinelli, Marjorie and Kristi Mraz. Smarter Charts for Math, Science, and Social Studies: Making Learning Visible in the Content Areas. Heinemann, 2014.
Calkins, Lucy and the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project Staff. Units of Study in Opinion, Information, and Narrative Writing, Grades K-5. Heinemann, 2013.
Calkins, Lucy, et al. Pathways to the Common Core. Heinemann, 2012.
Martinelli, Marjorie and Kristi Mraz. Smarter Charts. Heinemann, 2012.
Ehrenworth, Mary. A Quick Guide to Teaching Reading Through Fantasy Novels, 5-8. Ed. Lucy Calkins. Heinemann, 2011.
Lehman, Christopher. A Quick Guide to Reviving Disengaged Writers, 5-8. Ed. Lucy Calkins. Heinemann, 2011.
Calkins, Lucy. A Quick Guide to Teaching Second-Grade Writers with Units of Study. Heinemann, 2009.
A Principal's Guide to Leadership in the Teaching of Writing. Lucy Calkins and Laurie Pessah. Heinemann, 2008.
Cruz, Colleen. A Quick Guide to Reaching Struggling Writers, K-5. Ed. Lucy Calkins. Heinemann, 2008.
Paez, Marika. A Quick Guide to Teaching Informational Writing, Grade 2. Ed. Lucy Calkins. Heinemann, 2008.
Picard Taylor, Sarah. A Quick Guide to Teaching Persuasive Writing, K-2. Ed. Lucy Calkins. Heinemann, 2008.
Porcelli, Alison and Cheryl Tyler. A Quick Guide to Boosting English Acquisition in Choice Time, K-2. Ed. Lucy Calkins. Heinemann, 2008.
Schwartz, Shanna. A Quick Guide to Making Your Teaching Stick, K-5. Ed. Lucy Calkins. Heinemann, 2008.
Up Close. Amanda Hartman. Heinemann, 2008.
Calkins, Lucy and the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project Staff. Big Lessons from Small Writers. Heinemann, 2005.
Calkins, Lucy, et al. One to One. Heinemann, 2005.
Ehrenworth, Mary and Vicki Vinton. The Power of Grammar. Heinemann, 2005.
Cruz, Colleen. Independent Writing: One Teacher, Thirty-Two Needs, Topics, and Plans. Heinemann, 2004.
Ehrenworth, Mary. Looking to Write. Heinemann, 2003.
Calkins, Lucy. Raising Lifelong Learners. Heinemann, 2000.
Calkins, Lucy. The Art of Teaching Reading. Heinemann, 2000.
Calkins, Lucy, et al. A Teacher's Guide to Standardized Reading Tests. Heinemann, 1998.
Calkins, Lucy. The Art of Teaching Writing. Heinemann, 1994.
Calkins, Lucy and Shelley Harwayne. Living Between the Lines. Heinemann, 1990.
Calkins, Lucy and Shelley Harwayne. The Writing Workshop: A World of Difference. Heinemann, 1987.

References[]