Teaching writing strategies with tiered supports for middle school students with and without special needs: a case study

Abstract

The effect of writing strategy instruction on three middle school students’ narrative writing performance in actual classrooms was investigated. The results indicated that the writing strategy instruction improved writing performance of students with and without disabilities, as well as students who were English language learners when provided with tiered supports. Future research is needed on faculty development on writing strategy instruction and the implementation of other evidence-based writing instruction.

Keywords:

• Disabilities
• inclusion
• middle school
• strategy instruction
• writing instruction

Disclosure statement

We have no known conflict of interest to disclose. Preliminary data was presented in a conference poster (Vander Hart & Power, 2020).

Note: The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, Nanho Vander Hart, upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nanho Vander Hart

Nanho Vander Hart is an associate professor and director of special education at Assumption University in Worcester, Massachusetts. Her research interests include inclusive education, class-wide peer tutoring, handwriting, writing, and special education teacher preparation.

Mara Power

Mara Power is a doctoral student in the Educational Psychology Department at the University of Connecticut. Her research interests include interrogating teacher preparation, multi-tiered systems of support, and disproportional discipline.