The model of writing project sites was established by Jim Gray and has remained ever since as a collaborative effort between university faculty and educators in nearby schools.  For stability and accountability in handling a stream of public and private funding, it has been important that a university "host" each site.  As a result of faculty advocacy, hundreds of universities have chosen to do so.  Attached to this wiki page, you will find resources for this advocacy.  Please feel free to add your own input to these resources.

How writing projects serve university needs: Mike's list

On year, as Mike Mathis talked with site leaders about their business planning, he compiled a list of arguments that sites have used successfully to express how they serve the purposes of their university sponsors.  Sites have used these to alert their administrators to the “indispensability” of their writing projects.  Here's Mike's list: 

• The site’s network of teachers and their activities provide a perfect opportunity for recruitment of advanced-degree candidates.

• The site can marshall its resources of skilled personnel and specialized practical knowledge for designing and providing credit-bearing, tuition-revenue-generating course work for both graduate level and continuing education programs for local education professionals (and potential degree candidates).

• The site can provide liaison services for making quality teachers and classrooms available for both university research efforts and student-teacher placements.

• The site can link university colleagues with the national network of educators with similar interests and systems for the sharing of knowledge that are maintained by the NWP and its sub-networks.

• The site can facilitate high-quality professional development for campus staff.

• The site can play an important role in associating the campus with important national funding agencies, both public and private, with whom the national network is accustomed to doing business.

• The site can be an important “poster child” for a university foundation.

• The site can be an important arena for addressing and testing solutions to important education policy issues.

• The site can provide an important, constructive and highly visible “presence” of the university in surrounding communities.

• The site can implement the university becoming a satisfying professional home for literacy educators.