NWP now has sites on about 200 additional campuses, where teachers attend training seminars, and has partnerships with K-12 schools throughout the country. Washington says the project sponsors about 7,000 individual programs collectively a year, nationally reaching 135,000 participants — not including the students who are ultimately impacted by the programs.
Based on the “Nation’s Report Card: Writing 2007,” by the National Assessment of Educational Progress, writing skills of eighth- and 12th-graders improved last year. Despite the gains, only a third of eighth-graders and less than a fourth of high school seniors tested at or above the proficient level.
“Too few students scored at the top of the chart — at the proficient and advanced levels in writing,” Washington said when the “Nation’s Report Card” was released in April. “We must use these results to continue to identify the most effective instructional practices to move students toward the higher levels of writing achievement.”
Washington is the first woman and the first A f r i c a n - American to lead the NWP since it was founded in 1974. Washington earned a doctorate at The Ohio State University in 1988, a master’s from Central Michigan University and a bachelor’s at Ohio State.
Her recent writings include “Fostering Women’s Multicultural Alliances as an Academic Administrator,” in the spring 2007 issue of the online publication On Campus With Women published by the Association of American Colleges and Universities.
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