About

We are a network of teachers dedicated to improving student writing by improving the teaching of writing.  We provide professional learning, resources, and expanded roles for teachers throughout the tricounties. 

The South Coast Writing Project (SCWriP) is an affiliated site of the National Writing Project (NWP) and the California Writing Project (CWP). We focus on improving the teaching of writing at every level of education and across all disciplines. Toward that end, we conduct our signature event, the Invitational Summer Institute in Composition and Critical Literacy, for selected outstanding teachers each summer. During this four-week think-tank, teachers from all grade-levels K to college, across all disciplines collaboratively investigate best practices in writing and literacy instruction through shared demonstrations of practice, readings, and an intense focus on our own writing and reading processes. The Summer Institute is the most powerful teacher learning available.

These summer institutes develop a cadre of teacher-leaders who conduct open enrollment and school site inservice programs for teachers, schools, school districts, and colleges throughout the central coast region of California. SCWriP is a vital resource for teachers and schools throughout the South Coast interested in improving the teaching of writing, from assignment through instruction to assessment. We strive to be a model of professional learning, teacher leadership, and reform.

In addition, SCWriP teacher-leaders also conduct Young Writers Camps for children throughout our tri-county service area. These camps offer students in grades 3-9 many opportunities to explore the varied facets of writing, regardless of their skill levels, in a supportive and stimulating environment. SCWriP also works with the Teacher Education Program at UCSB. SCWriP teacher-consultants work with credential candidates to enable them to incorporate the best practices in writing instruction into their developing practice as teachers.  

All our efforts are rooted in the philosophy, principles, and model of professional development developed by the Bay Area Writing Project, founded at UC Berkeley in 1974 by James Gray and Miles Myers and their colleagues in Bay Area schools and colleges. Our founders, Sheridan Blau, Carol Dixon, Stephen Marcus, and Jack Phreaner, recognized the power of bringing teachers together to share and inquire into writing instruction. The result is a network of teachers dedicated to improving our practice and our students’ abilities through ongoing experiences of writing, analysis of classroom practices, and examination of theory and research.  We hope you will join us.