Institute of Education Sciences Grant Funds Tool to Support Writing Instruction

Funded through a grant from the Institute of Education Sciences in 2021, Writing Architect is a tool aiming to “assist teachers in connecting evidence-based writing instruction with students’ needs as identified in a digital classroom written composition assessment. The goal is to improve late elementary students’ written composition in response to text (informational writing) and to use assessment results more effectively for instructional purposes.” Led by researchers at Michigan State University and piloted in Michigan elementary schools through 2025, the project aims to create “an integrated tool that combines digital assessment of writing with differentiated instructional recommendations, and the support needed to implement differentiated writing instruction.” By “gathering feedback from teacher users, teaching experts, and writing experts,” the project highlights the power of keeping “humans in the loop” when designing edtech tools.