Primary grade teachers' instructional adaptations for struggling writers: A national survey

Primary grade teachers from across the United States were surveyed about their instructional adaptations for weaker writers. Although many teachers were sensitive to struggling writers' individual needs, there was a sizable percentage of teachers (42%) who made few or no adaptations. The most common adaptations made by teachers addressed students' difficulties with the mechanics of writing or writing processes, such as planning and revising. Other adaptations that were relatively common involved providing extra conferences, minilessons, and reteaching. Percentage of classroom students with special needs and amount of time students spend writing each week both made a significant contribution to predicting the number of adaptations reported by teachers, once the contribution of all other variables was controlled.