This study evaluates a new two-year intervention focused on student writing called Drive to Write. The intervention integrates technology coaching into a global history curriculum to create opportunities for focused student writing and revision and increased teacher feedback on writing.

While schools strive to integrate writing skills practice into multiple subjects, providing feedback for revision is time consuming, and teachers may feel overloaded and unable to add that task to their growing list of responsibilities. At the same time, anecdotes abound of computers sitting dormant in classrooms because teachers have not been trained in how to integrate them into daily practice and lesson plans. To address these shortages of time and training, Drive to Write technology coaches and instructional specialists provide teachers with ongoing support during the school year on integrating writing assignments and feedback into lesson plans and using free cloud-based technology to distribute, comment on, and grade assignments. 

New Visions for Public Schools, the school-support organization that is conducting the intervention, won a U.S. Department of Education Investing in Innovation (i3) development grant and contracted MDRC as its independent evaluator.