Writing is one of the most important forms of communication we have, yet many find it to also be one of the most challenging tasks to do, and in the case of educators, to teach. Becoming a proficient writer is one of the most important lifelong skills teachers can help students develop, but many educators do not have ample preparation to teach writing. While teaching writing is of critical importance, writing preparation comprises a smaller portion of literacy education research and practice and is not as well understood or implemented as reading preparation. The present dissertation investigated teacher preparation for writing instruction as provided either in teacher preparation programs or through professional development opportunities (see Chapters 2, 3, and 4). The dissertation consists of three related explorations of teacher preparation for writing instruction intended to become three independent manuscripts. The second chapter, a systematic literature review, sought to develop an understanding of what the extant research shows about writing instruction delivered in teacher preparation programs and via professional development. Examining the mode and frequency of how writing methods instruction is delivered resulted in the recognition that there remain fewer teacher preparation courses solely devoted to writing instruction. Writing is most often included in literacy methods courses that tend to privilege preparation for reading instruction over writing. Fifty elements of writing instruction were coded and analyzed, finding the prevalence of instruction on the writing process and genre study across both preservice and in-service preparation. The Writing Workshop model was frequently identified as a framework for providing writing instruction. The third chapter, a mixed-methods survey study, focused solely on elementary and special education teacher preparation programs and sought to gain insight into how writing instruction is currently being provided. A detailed survey that incorporated the same list of 50 writing elements was sent via email to intentionally selected teacher preparation programs in eight states. Programs were purposefully selected to elicit responses from a diverse population of teacher preparation programs. Consideration was given to geographic diversity, varying levels of student performance on Common Core State Standards-aligned assessments, and state literacy policy related to the adoption of, or lack thereof, science of reading approaches to literacy instruction. A request for respondents to share syllabi and volunteer to participate in interviews was embedded in the survey questionnaire. Surveys were sent to 180 Institutions of Higher Education and 38 responses were received. Those responses secured 24 syllabi and six interviews. Together the survey responses, syllabi, and interviews supported that there are still few courses devoted to writing methods instruction across states of varying assessment levels and policy positions, but writing instruction overall seems to be increasing in both elementary and special education teacher preparation programs. Only minor differences were seen among states at low-, mid-, and high levels of performance on state assessments. States with policies aligned to the science of reading had a greater percentage of courses that included writing instruction for both elementary and special education teacher preparation according to survey results. In response to the need for writing instruction to be provided through PD for teachers who are already working in classrooms, recommendations for PD opportunities were offered in Chapter 4. Written for school district administrators, this chapter explained the need for teachers to have more preparation for writing instruction and contained suggestions for both formal and informal ways to accomplish this.
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