Dear OWP TCs--

Remember the opportunity I forwarded to you a couple
of months ago about forming a Middle School
Partnership with NWP?  Your school could receive $8000
to $12,000 each year for three years if it is selected
as one of the participants for the study.

Several of you had questions or showed an interest in
participating.  I recently received another bulletin
from NWP, which I am pasting below.  If you're still
interested, please read all the information to see
what the partnership would entail and let me know if
your school might want to apply.

Thanks.

Janis

Subject:         NWP Special Bulletin
Date:    Mon, 14 May 2007 16:30:19 -0700
From:   "National Writing Project"
<[log in to unmask]>


NWP has commissioned SRI International to conduct a
four-year national evaluation of writing project
professional development conducted with partnership
schools
(http://www.writingproject.org/cs/nwpp/print/nwpr/2368).

We have been working collaboratively with SRI to
design a study that satisfies rigorous evidentiary
requirements but at the same time provides useful
information to us while respecting and valuing our
network of education professionals.

In order to conduct this national evaluation, we will
need at least 32 writing project partnerships
involving middle grades (5-8) and/or middle schools
from across the country. Since these partnerships need
to be new programs involving schools that have not
accessed writing project professional development and
services before, NWP will provide incentive funding in
the form of $12,000 annually for programmatic support
to each school that agrees to participate in the
study. Schools may be selected either to receive
professional development or to delay professional
development and serve as a comparison school for a
time prior to beginning their professional
development. However, regardless of the selection, the
incentive funding will continue each year for the four
years of the evaluation.

We hope that, in addition to providing for a rigorous
evaluation, this incentive funding will allow your
site to reach out to middle grades/middle schools in
your area that may not have been able to access
writing project professional development in the past.

--- Alix Gallagher <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Dear Site Directors and Leaders,

Thank you for expressing interest in the national
evaluation of the NWP on our first site director
survey. We are currently contacting you to ask you to
complete a 2nd survey by August 15th, which includes
nominating 2-4 specific schools for participation in
the study. The purpose of the survey is to provide you
with much more information about the study and to
enlist your help in identifying schools to
participate.The NWP has made generous financial
resources available to all schools that are selected
for participation. These resources should enable
participating sites to reach more schools serving
middle grades, their teachers, and their students than
would otherwise be possible.

Attached is the link to the NWP evaluation page on
SRI's website. In the upper right hand corner of this
webpage you can access three important documents:
1) The survey, due August 15th. The survey opens with
an FAQ section. Although the FAQ are long, please read
them carefully because they describe the study, the
incentives for participation, and the participation
requirements in great detail.
2) A school committment form. In each school you
nominate, please have an administrator read the form
and sign it, and then return it to you by August 10.
Please collect these forms from all the schools you
nominate and mail them by August 17th to:
    Alix Gallagher
    SRI International
    333 Ravenswood Ave.
    BS 379
    Menlo Park, CA 94025

3) A Principal Brochure, which contains key
information about the study and how it will benefit
all schools that participate. (This will be posted
during the week of 7/9).

Here is the link to the NWP evaluation page:
http://policyweb.sri.com/cep/projects/displayProject.jsp?Nick=nwp


Once we receive the surveys, we will begin selecting a
stratified random sample of schools. If you nominate
schools that are eligible for the study (as defined by
the FAQ), neither the number of schools you nominate
(2-4) nor the types of schools that you nominate will
affect your chances of being selected in any known
way. What is critical is that you nominate only
schools that are willing to participate in the study.

To answer any questions you might have about the
study, the survey, or how to recruit schools, SRI will
be hosting a series of conference calls. The dates and
times are listed in the FAQ. The first call is
scheduled for next Tuesday, July 10th, at at 9
(PDT)/12pm (EDT). To participate, please send an
e-mail to Eileen Behr at: [log in to unmask] Eileen
will send you call-in instructions. At any time, you
may also send specific questions to Alix Gallagher,
the Project Director, at: [log in to unmask]

Thank you in advance for your responses. We are
looking forward to working with you on this study in
the coming years.

Sincerely,
Alix Gallagher
Project Director
--
H. Alix Gallagher, Ph.D.

Senior Researcher

SRI International

(650) 859-3504

--
H. Alix Gallagher, Ph.D.

Senior Researcher

SRI International

(650) 859-3504