National Writing Project Publication Honored

Writing for a Change Wins Distinguished Achievement Award

For Immediate Release

BERKELEY, CA, June 22, 2007—The National Writing Project (NWP) has received a Distinguished Achievement Award from the Association of Educational Publishers (AEP) for its newest book, Writing for a Change: Boosting Literacy and Learning Through Social Action. AEP's annual awards recognize the most outstanding materials in the field of teaching and learning.

Writing for a Change is a collection of stories written by writing project teachers who used the social action process with their students to identify and address issues that affected their lives and communities. Ultimately the student-created projects produced powerful contexts for improving writing and reading. Written in collaboration with the Centre for Social Action in England, the book demonstrates that students of all ages can participate in the social action process and improve their literacy. Students featured in the book gained voice, authority, and passion for both reading and writing practice, and, more important, they learned to understand and take control of issues in their lives.

"It's so important that the work of successful classroom teachers is recognized and honored as a critical source of knowledge about teaching," said Elyse Eidman-Aadahl, one of the book's editors and director of national programs and site development for the NWP. "This award is all the more special because it values the special insights that teachers and students bring to the learning process."

The National Writing Project is the premier effort to improve writing in America. NWP's network of sites, located on nearly 200 university campuses, serves more than 135,000 educators annually. Through its professional development model, NWP develops the leadership, programs, and research needed for teachers to help students become successful writers and learners.

The Association of Educational Publishers is a nonprofit organization that serves and advances the industry of supplemental educational publishing. The membership of AEP represents the breadth of educational content developers delivering progressive educational products and services in both print and electronic formats to today's schools and colleges.