WAC+&+The+Connection+to+Secondary+Education

As noted in the //Reference Guide to Writing Across the Curriculum//, the emergence of American high schools had a direct correlation to the the development of college prepatory programs. Therefore, the distribution of academic areas followed the same format of those seen at the universities. "Though in the late nineteenth century and first half of the twentieth century only a small percentage of high school students went on to college....high schools...framed their curricula along the lines of the university courses. Thus language arts in the secondary schools were taught in English class" (7). In the midst of the 21st century, we have not seen much change in this structure resulting in similar obstacles to WAC on both the secondary and post-secondary level.

As the Common Core Standards are instituted in elementary and secondary schools nationwide over the coming years, the pendulum will swing back from its success on the collegiate level and begin to influence curriculum decision-making in all areas of education. The following is a short news clip focusing on one school's implementation of a WAC program:

[|One School's Answer to the Literacy Crisis]

Many of today's primary and secondary teachers were not in their chosen career at the impetus of WAC in the 70s and 80s. Therefore many are not aware of the WAC initiative and will require professional development training. One avenue to explore are electronic / social networking outlets that educators can use to build a professional learning network where initiatives like [|WAC are discussed.] It is obvious from the comments on the blog post that teachers are interested in this pedagogical idea yet some are still holding on to misinformation about what writing across the curriculum looks like in the classroom. To make the focus grammar instruction is to undermine all the decades of research and writing dedicated to the WAC movement. Similar to the university and college campuses across the country, secondary schools will need to initiate a grass-roots movement through faculty workshops and follow-up seminars to ensure that the true meaning of WAC is understood and implemented in order to guarantee the success of this ever-evolving, never-relenting process of writing in America.